Alex Smith Has Gruesome Leg Injury Like Ex-Redskins QB Joe Theismann, Out For Season

Redskins' Alex Smith (Photo: Getty Images)

Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith is out for the rest of the 2018 season after a gruesome leg injury that broke his tibia and fibia in a game against the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Alex Smith Breaks Leg In Brutal Fashion

Smith was carted off the field after a sack led to an awkward fall where his body weight fell on his contorted leg. The compound fractures he suffered to his lower leg mirrored that of the infamous Monday Night Football injury to former Washington quarterback Joe Theismann, which happened exactly 33 years prior to Smith’s.

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“It was just an eerie moment,” Theismann said after the game. “It was surreal. You see him go down in a pile and then there’s a shot that showed his leg bent and I turned away right after that. I feel so bad for him. The memory is vivid, It’s like all of the senses, all of the people, all of the memories, everything that happened in that instance all comes back to me. … If there is a positive aspect, it’s that so much of medicine has changed.”

Washington was down 17-10 when Smith suffered his injury. He was pushing downfield before the sack came, and was visibly disgruntled and in pain when carted off the field, and was replaced by backup Colt McCoy, who finished the drive with a nine-yard strike to tight end Jordan Reed.

McCoy will start the game against the Dallas Cowboys for the Thanksgiving matchup, although the team is currently working out potential replacements among the likes of E.J. Manuel, T.J. Yates, and Mark Sanchez.