Cardinals fumble recovery part of show and tell

September 24, 2012: Leach, “It’s a great memory for him”

Most kids bring their favorite toy—or whatever happens to be the favorite item of the moment, to show and tell. But when your Dad plays in the NFL and happens to make a key play in Week 3, the toy is forgotten.

“The first thing he said was, he asked if he could bring the ball to school today,” Cardinals long snapper Mike Leach said, referring to his 6-year-old son Ryan.

Leach allowed his son to take the football he recovered following an Eagles fumble in the first quarter of Sunday’s 27-6 victory over Philadelphia.

The football made its appearance in the first grade class but not before a brief father and son discussion, a teachable moment if you will.

“[I] told him he’s not allowed to brag about it,” Leach said. “If he wants to bring it he could bring it but we had to have our lesson about bragging and humility.”

But wasn’t there some hesitation? Game balls are fairly valuable.

“No. I told him he might not want to play with it too much on the playground,” Leach said.

“It’s a great memory for him. If he gets a lot of enjoyment out of it and it’s a memory for him, then if the ball gets a little scuffed up it gets a little scuffed up.”

Now about the play.

Leach, after snapping the ball to punter Dave Zastudil, raced down field and was one of the first players to arrive when Anthony Sherman knocked the ball out of Damaris Johnson’s hands. The Cardinals scored their first touchdown of the day eight plays later.

“I think Anthony made a great play,” Leach said. “I just happened to be there and jumped on it. [I] expected the dog pile that usually ensues after a fumble to happen and nobody jumped on me, so after I knew I had it, I figured maybe I had better get up and run but (the officials) blew it dead by then.

“It was a good play. We’ve been doing well on special teams…hopefully we keep it going.”

For Leach, who was appearing in his 174th career regular season game, it was his first fumble recovery as a Cardinals player and just the second of his career.

So, there will be a special place for the ball, right?

“I’ve got some footballs through the years that right now they’re in my bedroom closet with nowhere to put them,” he said.

“Maybe some day when we settle in the house we’re going to be in forever, we’ll have a special place for them. But for right now, I just try to keep the kids from playing with—especially the ones that are painted, playing with those too much. Eventually we’ll find a good spot for them.”

Follow @CraigAZSports