'FIGHTING A DEIFFERENT FIGHT' Tom Brady's knee issues caught the attention of former bengal Reggie Williams, who is fighting to save a leg.

'FIGHTING A DEIFFERENT FIGHT' Tom Brady's knee issues caught the attention of former bengal Reggie Williams, who is fighting to save a leg.
Injuries are part of the NFL -- that is standard NFL coachspeak. But there is not an orthodox answer on how to overcome them for the player, for the franchise, as several teams this weekend approach their season’s halfway mark. It took Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman the season opener to clearly discern that his wobbly left knee could not hold up in 2008, and without him the Chargers routinely limp on defense. Running back Reggie Bush learned this week that his surgically repaired knee could keep him shelved for a month. Dallas is stymied over quarterback Tony Romo’s pinkie injury. And Tom Brady, already out for 2008, has reportedly undergone three additional surgeries to clean infection on his left knee, possibly leaving his 2009 season in jeopardy. That Brady news grabbed the attention of former Cincinnati Bengals middle linebacker Reggie Williams. Infection in a surgically repaired knee? Williams is an expert on that. He traveled from his home in Orlando to New York on April 14 for surgery on his right knee to clean out infection from previous surgery. He was scheduled to spend three months here. But one surgery turned into nine surgeries since April to clean multiple infections, the last surgery on Sept. 5. His New York stay is growing on seven months now.This NFL player from 1976 through 1989 played all 14 of his pro seasons for the Bengals. His passionate, rugged play helped the Bengals reach two Super Bowls. It also took a surgical toll on his knees. Fifteen total surgeries on his right knee. Three on his left knee. Both knees replaced in a 2005 surgery. It is the pain of the swollen right knee that hinders him most today. He walks on crutches, dragging the right leg along. Often the pain in it is unlike anything he experienced on the field during his playing career. He said the knee talks to him. He talks to it. Williams was far more than a football player during his career. This ’76 Dartmouth graduate from Flint, Mich., was a member of Cincinnati’s city council while a player. He later became a general manager in the now defunct World League of American Football and an executive vice president at Disney. He left Disney last fall to prepare for his surgical battles. He stays connected to the NFL, whether his thoughts are sought on the next Players Association leader to replace Gene Upshaw or why his Bengals are 0-7 now. Williams, 54, has always viewed himself as an ambassador of the NFL but even more important to him, as an ambassador for communities and mankind. Growing up in the turbulent '60s where towering men with initials -- JFK, RFK, MLK -- impacted him on the difference an individual can make, Williams believes in that challenge for today’s NFL players. He said he lives a life where he has put others’ needs first. Now it is time to put his right knee first, he said. "My focus now has to be at peace with this knee," Williams said. "My goal is to walk with dignity and no pain. The big obstacle now is range of motion in the right knee. There is very little. I can’t drive a car. It’s tough walking down and up steps. I want to go from modulating pain to eliminating pain. The pain in this knee affects the hips, the back and leads to other pains. And they are all competing. When you take something from one part of the body in surgery and put it in another -- as has been the case with my knees -- an athlete knows his body and is going to feel that difference. My whole body, I feel like somebody put coffee in my chili. "There is no more wiggle room with this. I have been losing bone in this knee. This is the final showdown. It’s been a different kind of journey. The next step is to be cleared to begin rehabbing it." He is asked if this struggle could lead to amputation of the right knee and below -- or the entire right leg? His eyes and his face harden. "I am fighting a different fight right now," Williams says. He uses a photograph of arrows stuck into one of his idols, Muhammad Ali, as inspiration. He uses singer Al Green’s "How can you mend a broken heart?" each day as a battle cry. "His music, that song, was a gift to me," Williams said. "It’s not just about failed relationships. I hear it as how do you mend lots of pain and maintain that lust for life? It is a reminder of how much you want to live again." Football is a collision sport. Williams did his share of colliding. From his rookie year in 1976 -- "I entered the league without a scar" -- through 1978, he was vibrant in health, he said. He felt his right knee begin to lock up during the 1979 season. And then in 1980, his fifth in the league, he made a pick and was tackled by then Cleveland running back Greg Pruitt. That tackle and resulting injury forced the first of his 15 right-knee surgeries. Looking back, looking forward, Williams would not change the brutal nature of pro football. He heard Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu say recently that contac