Herron Speaks

In a story that was a small blip on the radar of the NFL offseason, Packers running back Noah Herron had his home broken into and fought off attackers with a bedpost.  This story mostly resonated with people saying, “Man that’s so badass” or people siphoning humor off of it, such as this Deadspin article, but in a Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel story, Herron offers a more sobering side of it.

"It took 2½ months of healing for the Green Bay Packers running back to get to the point where he is comfortable enough to talk publicly about the burglars who broke into his home and tried to steal his valuables and ended up stealing a little bit of his faith in mankind."

"Herron muted the TV, turned off his bedroom light and froze. When he could hear people forcing their way into his locked home, he called the police officer again urgently asking for help, then put his cell phone on vibrate. He unscrewed the solid wood post from his bed and tried to measure his breaths. He thought of Sean Taylor, the Washington Redskins player who died in November, one day after intruders entered his home and shot him. Herron felt his blood pressure rise. This was nothing like pregame adrenaline.“Nothing. There’s nothing that even can describe it,” Herron said. “It was so much more. My heart was beating, like I could feel it in my throat. It was that intense. It’s not even a game. It’s life or death at that point. That’s what’s going through your mind. You know, the whole Sean Taylor thing, it’s like what’s going on.”"

"Although a lot of people admired Herron for fighting back and protecting himself, the incident traumatized him."

This incident flew a little under my radar, but I now hold Herron in higher respect than I did before.  This obviously caused a great deal of stress on him and the people he loved.  After the incident, he moved and ended up going to see a psychiatrist for a while.  I think people need to take events like these more seriously.  They need to see the mental effect it has on the victim.  My prayers are now with and will continue to be with Noah Herron as he tried to renew his faith in mankind.