Seattle Seahawks’ Lofa Tatupu undergoes knee surgery
The Seattle Seahawks’ team physicians performed an arthroscopic surgery on middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu’s both knees, and he is doing well after the surgery.
The surgical procedure was performed by Ed Khalfayan and Mike McAdam at the team’s surgical facility on Thursday.
Tatupu was selected in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft, overall pick number 45, by the Seahawks. A couple of teams had rated him lower and the Seahawk’s General Manager, Tim Ruskell, took criticism for trading two fourth round picks to move up nine
places in order to get Tatupu, since he was known as a bit slow and undersized.
However, Tatupu had a breakout rookie season, establishing him as one of the top defenders in the league. He led the Seahawks to win the NFL and the team’s first Super Bowl appearance in history by sacking 104 tackles. He also went to the Pro Bowl in his
rookie season. As if that wasn’t good enough, he got selected to the Pro Bowl in 2006 and 2007 seasons to retain his supremacy.
In March 2008, the team signed Tatupu for a six-year contract extension worth $42 million up till year 2015, $18 million of which is guaranteed from years 2008 to 2010. The extension made him one of the highest linebackers in the league, resulting in Tatupu
saying, “I’m going to end my career with the Seahawks.”
In a game against the Arizona Cardinals on October 19th, 2009, Tatupu injured the pectoral muscle in his left leg after colliding with his teammate, Deon Grant. Following his injury he was unable to perform for the remaining season, which came as a huge
blow to the Seahawks, since they were already experiencing a troubling season.
It was Tatupu’s first major injury after missing only one game in his first four seasons as a professional.
Tatupu had never missed a game during the 2010 season; however he avoided several practices due to his paining knees. He opened every single regular season game and also started in the NFC West champions’ two playoff games.
This season, Tatupu accumulated 88 tackles, one sack, two forced fumbles and one interception. He returned that one interception 26 yards for a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers in Week 13. He has also blocked a total of eight passes.
Some of the best games of his career came during the year 2007, two of which were against the Philadelphia Eagles. In the Monday Night Football game, he had four sacks and three interceptions off of A.J. Feely, returning one of the interceptions for a touchdown.
He then showed up again in their next game against the Eagles, intercepting three passes and returning them for 110 yards. Strangely enough, Feely threw more yards off on interceptions to Tatupu than any of his own receivers.
Although it has not been confirmed, Tatupu will most likely be ready to start training camp before the start of the 2011 season.
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