| Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez says that his ankle is feeling great. (AP Images) |
When Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez went down against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2, his mind immediately raced to the worst-case scenario.
“Broken,” he said when asked what how bad he initially thought the injury was.
But it wasn’t broken. The diagnosis ended up being a low-ankle sprain, and, just four weeks after suffering the injury, Hernandez returned to the field last week and caught six passes for 30 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Seattle.
Hernandez pushed to get back on the field the week before against Denver, but the training staff didn’t feel he was ready. If he's being totally honest, Hernandez would likely admit that it was a good decision.
It wasn’t until last week that he started to feel comfortable on the field.
"Got more practice time in and gained some more confidence in cutting off the ankle because I cut a lot,” Hernandez said. “So it made me feel comfortable going out and playing a game."
He says he still isn’t moving at 100 percent and was held out of Thursday’s practice, but he now feels that the worst is behind him.
"You get nervous at times, but it's feeling great so it's really nothing to worry about anymore,” Hernandez said. “If it gets hurt, then it's the man above.”
Here's Thursday’s practice report:
Did not participate: RB Brandon Bolden (knee), LB Tracy White (foot), Hernandez (ankle), S Steve Gregory (hip), G Logan Mankins (calf/hip). Limited: S Patrick Chung (shoulder), WR Julian Edelman (hand), TE Rob Gronkowski (hip), DL Ron Brace (back), LB Dont'a Hightower (hamstring), OL Nick McDonald (shoulder), CB Sterling Moore (knee), OT Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee), WR Wes Welker (ankle). Full: DT Kyle Love (knee).
Nick Underhill covers the Patriots for MassLive.com. Follow him on Twitter @CBSPats or @Nick_Underhill.