It was twenty years before Joe Theismann watched a replay of his gruesome leg injury and he has some advice for Tennessee return man Mike Mariani.

Mariani suffered a compound fracture in his left leg when his tibia and fibula snapped near the calf as he went down at the end of a return on Thursday night.

Theismann was quarterback for the Redskins in 1985 when Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor's sack resulted in a similar compound fracture.

"I didn't care to see it, and when I finally looked at it after all those years, I got a little nauseous, a little squeamish," Theismann said. "I saw it once and I said, 'That's it; I don't need to see it again.' But you look at it on YouTube and it's had over 2.5 million hits. ... People are fascinated by stuff like that.

"It's not easy if you're the player," he added. "The emotional thing is the toughest. But (Mariani) is a young guy, and he will be back. It is a process, and the rehabilitation is tough, there's no denying it. The good news is he got hurt early this year, and at a young age. And he knows the level he can get to because he's been a Pro Bowler. He'll be back."