The Similarities Between Alex Smith And Joe Theismann's Gruesome Injuries Are Like A Twilight Zone E

Stay with us here — this all happened in real life, and there were so many similar or outright identical elements at play, as enumerated by the NFL Memes Twitter account shortly after ESPN aired the Alex Smith documentary, Project 11, on May 1, 2020. Let's start with the type of injury and the date when it occurred. Joe Theismann broke his right tibia and fibula on November 18, 1985, and Smith broke the very same bones exactly 33 years later, on November 18, 2018. The injuries both took place during a Washington Redskins home game. Feeling creeped out yet? We're just getting started.

When it came to the defensive stars involved in the unfortunate plays, there were two three-time Defensive Player of the Year winners mentioned — Lawrence Taylor for Theismann's injury, and J.J. Watt for Smith's. And it can be argued that the injuries could have been avoided if both QBs had better protection from their offensive line; the '85 Redskins were missing Joe Jacoby when Theismann got hurt, and the '18 Redskins had Trent Williams sitting out. Jacoby and Williams both played left tackle and were Pro Bowlers at that position. And to top it all off, the final score in both games was 23-21.

Yes, that's a ton of mind-blowing coincidences, but is it possible that the NFL Memes post tried to further the eerie narrative by fudging some details? 

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