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The healing touch

The task of getting the Bucs through the aches and pains of a typical game falls upon Todd Toriscelli and his crack training staff.

By ROGER MILLS

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 13, 2000

TAMPA -- When the Bucs got to One Buc Place after arriving from Miami on Sunday night, members of the medical staff were set up in the training room ready to administer care.

And they were needed.

Early the next morning, trainer Todd Toriscelli and his crew were there again with ice and heat wraps, various forms of electronic stimulations and loads of good ol' aspirin.

For an organization that boasts three All-Pros and six players leading fan voting for the Pro Bowl, its most valuable employees this time of year might be the training staff.

"They are absolutely critical," safety John Lynch said. "I can't say enough about Todd and his staff and how they are willing to work. I mean, we get off the plane and they're in there getting guys treatment. I know because I've been there, and they're there meeting you the next morning as soon as you come in." The Bucs are hesitant to allow Toriscelli or other training staff members to be interviewed, but the players are well aware of his role.

"He's an important man with an important job," linebacker Derrick Brooks said.

Added Lynch: "They do a great, great job. When it comes down to it, at this time of the year everybody is going to have nicks and bruises, everybody is going to have injuries. You have to find a way to get through them."

That reality became clear early in Sunday's game against the Dolphins. In the first quarter, three starters suffered injuries that could have sidelined them for the rest of the game. But they returned to make significant contributions.

The first was strongside linebacker Shelton Quarles, who rolled his ankle and limped off in the first quarter. At the time of the injury, the team announced Quarles' return was questionable. With a new ankle wrap, Quarles was back in the game by the second quarter, and his interception of a Jay Fiedler pass led to a 38-yard field goal by Martin Gramatica.

Midway through the first quarter, Lynch surfaced from a pileup with his left arm dangling awkwardly from his side. Lynch dislocated the shoulder three weeks earlier against the Bears. He returned two plays later after the shoulder was back in place.

Fans likely watched in stunned silence when Brooks hobbled off with a bruised right knee. After being tended to, he returned to tip the Fiedler pass that Quarles picked off.

"I know my teammates will take me out there (with a bruised knee) more than half the guys going full speed," Brooks said.

"If I can get out there running a little bit, they're going to want to see me on the field. That game was that important to us. We can't afford anyone not being able to play. No excuses."

Therein lies one of the ingredients that makes Toriscelli's job easier. According to Lynch and Brooks, players have to want to play, even with banged-up body parts.

"Now, obviously, there are some injuries you just can't play with, and that's understandable," Lynch said. "But I think we have had some guys here where, if you asked the doctor, he'll tell you you shouldn't play. But, you still went out there and did it.

"I think it says a lot for how much we want to win it."

Coach Tony Dungy said his players, like those on most of the teams in the playoff stretch, are aware that this is the time to suck it up.

"I think we have some guys that are very tough-minded, and I think we all realize the urgency of where we are right now," Dungy said.

"Guys coming back in the ballgame (have) realized that you have to give it everything that you've got. And that's important; you win games with people like that, with a mind-set like that."

But if Toriscelli and his staff can't help, Lynch said, there's always one more alternative.

"I've played for a lot of years and tried to shoot things up, but I'll be the first to tell you that there's no more powerful drug than adrenaline, and that's the truth," Lynch said.

"There are situations where you see guys not able to walk on Saturday and somehow able to fly around out there on Sunday. It's an amazing thing."

Todd Toriscelli

AGE: 38.

BORN: Steubenville, Ohio.

FAMILY: wife, Chris; son, Shane (6); daughter, Jenna (4).

EDUCATION: bachelor's in athletic training, Ohio University (1984); master's in physical education, North Carolina (1985).

EXPERIENCE: head athletic trainer, Kansas State, 1990-92; head athletic trainer, University of Miami, 1993-94; head trainer, Stanford, National Athletic Trainers Association liaison to the NCAA Football Rules Committee, 1995-96; head trainer, Buccaneers, 1997-present.

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