The end was near, no matter what Kerry Kittles says about it now.

It's easy enough for him to be offhanded about it, of course, to say he never really considered his playing career might be over, that he always knew he'd find a way back.

"My doctor had a lot of confidence I would get to play again," Kittles said, subconsciously bending and unbending his medical miracle of a right knee. "He's a very confident guy. So I had confidence, too."

So maybe it's time Kittles knows something about what that doctor was really thinking.