With father ailing, Springs plays on

While his Washington Redskins teammates focused on the Arizona Cardinals last week, cornerback Shawn Springs had a more serious and urgent concern.

Springs missed nearly the entire week of practice to be with his father, former college and NFL star Ron Springs, who lapsed into a coma at a Dallas hospital 10 days ago after checking in to have a cyst removed from his arm. According to news reports, the elder Springs is on a respirator, showing no signs of brain activity and is not expected to recover.

Yet to the surprise of just about everyone, his son returned to Redskin Park today. And today he played more than he or anyone else expected, helping the defense carry a nonproductive offense in a 21-19 win over the Cardinals at FedEx Field.

Springs had figured to see limited action. But with cornerbacks Fred Smoot (hamstring) and Carlos Rogers (knee) hobbled by injuries, Springs played most of the game. He tallied seven unassisted tackles and a pass deflection.

“He played his butt off,” quarterback Jason Campbell said.

Springs said he hadn’t even stretched during the week.

“I’ve been sitting in the hospital,” he said. “I didn’t think I would play at all, really, but unfortunately [Smoot] went down in the first quarter, so I had to be out there.”

Said Smoot: “They build us up like we’re Superman, but we’re people. His dad is in the hospital. I just tip my hat to him. He proved a lot to his team today.”

Smoot stayed in contact with Springs throughout the week “just to be a shoulder for him to lean on,” he said. “It’s one of those things, man, I can’t put into words and I don”t think y”all reporters can put into words what he”s going through right now.”

The Big Ten rushing leader at Ohio State in 1977 and a key player for the Dallas Cowboys, Ron Springs has suffered from serious health problems in recent years. A diabetic, he had his right foot amputated because of a staph infection and received a kidney transplant in March from former Cowboys teammate Everson Walls.

Springs, 50, was scheduled to attend Ohio State’s football game against Michigan State yesterday. Buckeyes players wore a decal of his number 23 on their helmets. Meanwhile, his son kept a constant presence at the hospital before deciding to rejoin his teammates.

Shawn Springs said playing against the Cardinals was easier than the previous week’s game in Green Bay because he learned about his dad only two days before that game and could not be there.

“Today wasn’t too bad,” he said.

Springs said Packers quarterback Brett Favre, who famously played in a “Monday Night Football” game in 2003 shortly after his father died, inspired him. Favre threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns to lead his team to a 41-7 win over the Oakland Raiders.

“The Green Bay game was tough,” Springs said. “But we were playing Brett Favre, and I thought about him and how he has dealt with several situations like that, and his father dying, and how he went out and played on Monday night against the Raiders. When I thought about playing against him, I thought if he can do it, maybe I can do it, too.”

Meanwhile, Smoot and the rest of the Redskins family rallied around Springs.

“He was at peace being back in that environment with his teammates and his coaches after a very difficult week,” assistant head coach-defense Gregg Williams said. “He still has some difficult time ahead.”

“I’ve been through that and I told him that, having your father being extremely sick,” coach Joe Gibbs said. “His dad is one of the tougher guys I’ve seen and I”m sure Shawn thought his dad would like for him to play in the game. The message I left with him was that we were praying for him and to do what you have to do.”