Seahawks WR David Moore has a wild way he manages the pain of injuries
Sep 24, 2019, 2:56 PM | Updated: 5:15 pm
Seahawks WR David Moore had a 29-yard reception in Sunday's loss to New Orleans. (Getty)
(Getty)
“You’re the craziest dude I ever met,” Seahawks wide receiver David Moore said while recalling what he told his football-playing older cousin in high school. He was referring to the way his cousin got through pain.
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“He would say one thing that got me through stuff – (which) is he would put pressure where his injury was. He would put a lot of pressure there until he’d get pretty much immune to the pain.”
The memory was sparked in an interview with 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny, Dave and Moore in which he was asked how he gets past the pain in his fractured shoulder.
“(My cousin) would ask me if I was injured or if I was hurt, and I really didn’t know the difference,” Moore said. “He was like, ‘If you’re injured, you really can’t play. If you’re hurt, you can play. So what is yours?’ And I would tell him I was sitting out so I was injured, but I was really just hurt.”
While seemingly deranged, there was method to the madness. Moore took the field for the Seahawks on Sunday for the first time since the injury, logging a 29-yard reception from quarterback Russell Wilson.
“I tried it in college, the rest of high school – now I don’t even think about it. I tried to sleep on my shoulder when it was hurting, I tried to do all kind of stuff to keep the pain on,” Moore said.
Toughness is an understatement for the third-year wide receiver, but he doesn’t solely credit the family remedy.
“I would say adrenaline takes a lot of it,” he explained. “Once you go out there, your adrenaline kicks in and you don’t feel much.”
Perhaps it’s Moore’s kinesiology degree that makes him more confident that he can push his own limits. He admits the Seahawks training staff was intent on holding him back, but they still caught him trying to run routes at practice. A cracked shoulder is usually a 4-6 week healing process, but not for No. 83.
“I told them I wanted to try to make a quick one,” he said. “I didn’t want to sit out too long.”
Toughness extends beyond Moore’s physical prowess, as well. The Seahawks drafted three wide receivers this April, which any player could easily take as a slight. Not David Moore.
“I took it as a challenge – I thought it was more fun, honestly, just having a lot of people out there and sharing the same dream as everybody else, watching everybody shine and do what they love to do,” he sais. “That’s just fun to me – a challenge is a challenge, competition is competition. It’s all fun, it’s just football.”
That mentality served the 24-year-old well, as on Sept. 2 he was named to the Seahawks’ 53-man roster despite having been injured at the time.
Healthy enough to play now (well, hurt but not injured), Moore looks toward the future with determination. His goals are team goals.
“Consistency – just going out there and playing the roles they want me to play,” he said with a smile. “Just go out there and be available at the position they want me to play.”
Crazy or not, you can’t doubt his process. It’s taken him this far and we have yet to see just how bright his future in Seattle will be.
Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jessamyn McIntyre on Twitter.
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