Bite the bullet! But my answer comes with a follow up question where did the phrase come from? That is, what practice does this refer to?

 

The clue for my follow up question.
Edit, the uncle Sam image did not upload before. My sincere apologies.






Minus

 

Easy peasy!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bite_the_bullet

 

Another medically themed idiom...

 

Under the knife.

 

Got it!

Looks like I’ll have to be a bit more creative with @wagudc being a bit quick...

 

One of my favorite old-timey stayings

 

Anti establishment?

 

Wild guess! Show card cut outs?

 

Nope, but here is a hint: one could say those football players are taking a . . .

 

Nope, the hint is that it is a reason you might bite the bullet.

Oops, I need to edit it. Somehow one of my imagees did not upload.

It is fixed now

 

Bees knees?

Oops - Sorry, attached to wrong post!

 

Amputation

 

Dang conference calls got me side tracked...Transitus hit this one!

 

Yes, correct!

 

Indeed

 

So the pot of what I assumed was cardamom was only in there as a red herring?

 

That's mate (mah-tay)...common drink in central and south America. A bit like tea.

Still, that one had me totally scratching my head too

 

A guy! Deceased.