STEELERS Maddox mystified by retirement talk

Now that the QB escaped a more serious spinal cord injury, he sees no reason not to return to the field.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Tommy Maddox can't wait to throw that first pass. Can't wait for that first completion. Can't wait even for that first hit.
What surprises him is anyone would expect him to feel differently after waiting 10 years to do what he is doing now: playing in the NFL, and playing well.
That's why the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback was mystified when he heard talk that the frightful injury in Tennessee which briefly left him paralyzed three weeks ago was a warning sign he should quit playing.
Manageable event
To Maddox, it was a frightening but manageable event that was unlike any other during his much-interrupted career and, from what his doctors tell him, has offered no signs it will happen again.
"I know I'm going to get hit Sunday, but I know I'm going to get up and continue to play," said Maddox, whose start against Houston will be his first since the Tennessee game.
That game, easily the worst of the seven he has started for Pittsburgh, created perhaps the scariest moment of the NFL season. On a seemingly routine hit to the back by Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck, Maddox lost consciousness, causing his neck to twist awkwardly as he struck the turf.
As players from both teams knelt and prayed, he was loaded carefully onto a backboard, with no feeling in his arms or legs. Taken to a nearby hospital, he didn't regain the feeling in his limbs for more than a half-hour.
Remarkably, he was up and walking again by the next morning and was well enough to be flown back to Pittsburgh that night. Two days after being hurt, doctors said he responded normally to tests and no longer displayed any signs of his cerebral or spinal cord concussions.
He was given the next two games off, but has thought about playing again almost from the moment he knew he was fine.
Ebullient
"I'm excited about every day, every start, it's something you just look forward to," he said. "I look forward to Sunday and getting out there and playing. I enjoy the games. I look forward to everything."
That attitude results partly from waiting so long to play; he didn't play a down in the NFL from 1995 until last season and waited nearly 10 years between starts. No other quarterback has waited so long, then played as well as he did after finally getting the chance.
The Steelers are 5-2-1 when he steps under center this season, with Maddox throwing 16 touchdown passes and completing 62.8 percent of his attempts.