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"Bone-crusher" hit left impression on Bryce Fisher
By Bill Coats
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/05/2005

Rams defensive end Bryce Fisher, the reigning NFC defensive player of the month, never saw the train that plowed over him Oct. 24 in Miami. At least, it felt like a train.

"That was a bone-crusher ... the biggest hit I've ever seen in football," coach Mike Martz said. "I mean, that was an ugly hit."

Fisher was sprinting downfield to cover a punt return when Dolphins rookie Tony Bua barreled in from his left side. At 6 feet 3 and 272 pounds, Fisher had a size advantage over the 5-11, 212-pound Bua, a linebacker by trade. But Bua had the element of surprise going for him.

The full-speed, blind-side collision dropped the unsuspecting Fisher in his tracks, and the effects lingered.

"I don't want to make excuses, but it shook me," Fisher said. "I couldn't breathe right for a couple of weeks, and I was coughing up blood for another 10 days or so."

Fisher, who had earned a starting spot for the first time in his four-year NFL career, stayed in the lineup. But after collecting 38 tackles and 3 1/2 sacks in the first seven games, he mustered a mere eight tackles and no sacks in the four outings after the Miami game.

In the five games since then, Fisher seems to have finally shrugged off the residue of the Bua hit and regained his early-season form.

"You just don't recover (quickly) from something like that," Martz said. "He's just kind of now picking up where he left off. Because he was going great guns at that point."

Fisher received the league award after recording 31 tackles and five assists in the stretch from Dec. 5 through Sunday.

Interestingly, Fisher had big games the past two weeks coming off the bench, with rookie Tony Hargrove taking over the starting role on the right side. Fisher had seven tackles and a sack against Philadelphia and 10 stops and two sacks vs. the New York Jets.

He finished the regular season as the team leader in sacks, with 8 1/2. Left defensive end Leonard Little, who had totaled 39 sacks over the previous three seasons and played in the 2004 Pro Bowl, wound up second with seven.

But Fisher emphasized that if foes hadn't been concentrating on slowing Little, the stats would've looked different.

"The way teams set their protections, it's to account for Little," Fisher said. "I've been lucky that I've gotten some one-on-one matchups against running backs and tight ends, and I've taken advantage of some of those opportunities."

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