Before the Bucs and Cowboys kicked off for the last game of the Super Wild Card Weekend, all of the excitement was over the return of center Ryan Jensen to the starting lineup. Jensen injured his knee on the second day of training camp and has been out ever since, so it was the first time in a long time that we saw him in a Bucs jersey.

Jensen played in all 82 snaps in his first and only game of the season. We saw some vintage Jensen, too, as he brought some attitude when he pushed Micah Parsons out of Tampa Bay’s huddle in the first half. Unfortunately, later on he received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for a post-play skirmish. But even that was classic Jensen.

Overall, it was good to see the Bucs’ center back to playing for the first time in a year. It also makes for fewer questions about how he’ll look next season.

Jensen Reveals Injury 

There was one question that still needed to be answered, though. What exactly was the injury that Jensen was dealing with? The details were extremely vague up to this point, with Todd Bowles not giving any direct answers during the year. Speaking with the media for the first time since his injury, Jensen cleared it all up.

“It was a pretty severe injury, ” Jensen said. “Which a lot of people I know were confused why I didn’t have surgery. I ended up tearing my MCL, my ACL, my PCL, I flipped my meniscus, I had a fracture and I had another little bone chip thing. It was a major injury. I was as fortunate as I could be with the way injury happened where I didn’t have to have surgery and it was able to heal on it’s own. Yeah, five months and trying to come back off of that, it was – some call it dumb, but I’m a football player and football players play football.”

Bucs C Ryan Jensen and LG Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It gave him a greater appreciation for this five-month long process.

“It was tough,” Jensen said. “I learned a lot about myself. It’s a very lonely moment when you are laying on the field and you know your season is probably over. It was a test mentally alongside physically. Obviously, wanting to be on the field with my brothers and competing and fighting and stuff like that. It was a tough five months.

“There are a lot of silver linings that come with it. I was able to take my kids to school early on, just little things like that, to try to make a really bad situation a good situation. So, little things that I haven’t been able to do over the last 10 years. It was kind of cool, kind of humbling and made football that much more special. When I came back a couple of weeks ago and had my 21-day window open, that first day… life’s better with a helmet on. It’s just a ton of fun. Unfortunate it ended this way, but I’m excited to get back to work soon.”

Bucs’ Enforcer Recaps His Return To Action

The mere fact that Jensen was able to rehab the injury and play a game this season is commendable. He knew if he was going to play, he had to be all in.

Bucs QB Tom Brady, C Ryan Jensen, OT Donovan Smith and LB Micah Parsons – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“There was no question,” he said. “If I was going to go, I was going to go. They would’ve had to drag me off that field. There was no question in my mind that I was going the whole game.”

Knowing that the Bucs’ starting center was able to hold up and power through it for the whole game was a great sign. Jensen expressed that it’s not about him and he wanted to do it for all of his Bucs teammates that are fighting together.

“It means everything,” Jensen said. “This is why we do it – we do it for each other. After a year where I was not able to run out of the tunnel and be with my guys – it sucked, so today was a pretty surreal moment, and I’m proud of myself for everything with this year and getting out there and giving it my all and trying to help this team win.”