Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver revealed to the *Milwaukee Journal Sentinel* on Monday that the ankle and knee injuries he sustained in Super Bowl XLV were much worse than originally thought.
The ankle injury, originally diagnosed as a sprain -- and the lockout -- forced the 12-year veteran to wear a walking boot for two months.
"You hear sprain and think, three, four, maybe five weeks," said Driver, adding he experienced shooting pain from the knee down to the ankle.
"It just didn't feel right. Then when I saw it on film -- the hit -- it was like what (running back) Ryan Grant sustained early in the year. Mine was exactly the same, or worse. I just didn't understand how my leg or my ankle could snap in half."
So Driver, 36, who made himself into a three-time Pro Bowl selection through a rabid offseason workout regimen, had to take it easy, something the lockout helped facilitate.
"I did exactly what they wanted me to do. I didn't try to rush the healing process," Driver said. "The lockout gave me the opportunity to heal and not try to rush back to prove to people or prove to the media I'm not done yet.
"If I didn't show up for OTAs, and I'm hurt and everything, people would say I may be winding down.
"It always seems like every year I've got to go in and I've got to prove myself. At this point, I am the starter and no one can take that from me."
Driver, 36, has seven 1,000-yard seasons, and he is just 41 yards away from becoming the Packers' all-time leader in receiving yards. Despite the Super Bowl injuries, and a quadriceps injury sustained earlier in the 2010 season, Driver's resolve is as strong as ever.
"I know I can play at a high level," Driver said. "I'm going back to have fun. I have two years left on my contract; I want to play those two years out -- as a starter."
