November 17, 1991: The Detroit Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams, 21-10 at the Pontiac Silverdome. But guard Mike Utley breaks his neck on a freak play, landing on his head on the artificial turf.
The Seattle native, who was in his 3rd season in the NFL, regained the use of his arms and hands, and returned to the Silverdome a year later, as honorary captain for their annual Thanksgiving game – just 3 days before Dennis Byrd of the Jets had his temporarily paralyzing injury.
An All-American at Washington State University, Utley was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. As of November 17, 2022, he is 55 years old, and still raising money for spinal cord research. He's even gone skydiving. Told he shouldn't, he said, "What am I going to do, break my neck?"
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November 17, 1991 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the NFL:
* The New York Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys, 22-9 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The New York Jets beat the New England Patriots, 28-21 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxboro, Massachusetts.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 17-10 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 43-7 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Houston Oilers beat the Cleveland Browns, 28-24 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The Washington Redskins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 41-14 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers, 35-21 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
* The Denver Broncos beat their arch-rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs, 24-20 at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the New Orleans Saints, 24-21 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Seattle Seahawks, 31-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Phoenix Cardinals, 14-10 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins, 41-27 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Baseball was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA. The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 101-91 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 111-89 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
And there were 3 games in the NHL:
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Hartford Whalers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* And the Chicago Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-1 at the Chicago Stadium.
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