Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Vita Vea might be a nose tackle but he’s gonna have to track down a new tooth after Sunday’s game.
The Bucs took on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and, during one Colts drive during the second quarter, Vea got knocked in the face by a Colts lineman, which pushed his helmet up so that his face wasn’t protected. Then, his exposed face slammed into the helmet of another lineman, jarred loose one of his front teeth.
You can actually watch the tooth go flying in this video.
Somehow, the 347-pounder was all smiles after the play.
Vea, who has one tackle on the day so far, returned to the game and didn’t miss much time. Not bad for a guy who not only got knocked in the face hard but also came into the game as questionable.
Vea’s tooth-knocker and reaction to it generated plenty of fun social media reactions as well.
We’ll see if the lack of his front tooth affects Vea’s play the rest of the day. He’ll probably have something to say, or whistle, about it after the game as well. In the meantime, just know that it’s going to take a lot more than knocking him in the mouth really, really hard to keep Vita Vea off the field. You’ve been warned.
[Warren Sharp, Andrew Siciliano]