Healthy optimism arises
By Maureen Mullen / USA Today Sports Special Edition
From Wilfork to Gronkowski, last year's injured eager to return
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Perhaps the New England Patriots’ loss in the AFC Championship Game -- as the Denver Broncos seemingly ran and passed at will, piling up a staggering 507 yards – wasn’t a surprise.
Perhaps the surprise should have been that the Patriots were able to get there in the first place.
In 2013, the Patriots lost 74 player-games to injury. Only the Indianapolis Colts (83) and the New York Giants (91) had it worse. New England had six starters injured at some point during the season, with five lost to season-ending injuries, including:
Defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. Perhaps the biggest loss of the season, he injured an Achilles tendon in Week 4.
Defensive tackle Tommy Kelly. He appeared in five games in his first season with the Patriots before tearing an anterior cruciate ligament.
Linebacker Jerod Mayo. He started the first six games of the season before tearing a chest muscle and having surgery.
Offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer. He started the first eight games of the season before breaking his ankle on Oct. 27.
Tight end Rob Gronkowski. A game-changer when healthy, he was limited to seven games (six starts) by multiple injuries, including a season-ending torn right ACL/medial collateral ligament on Dec. 8.
Additionally, linebacker Brandon Spikes, who played in all 16 regular-season games, including 11 starts, and wide receiver Josh Boyce were placed on injured reserve after the regular season.
And, wide receiver Aaron Dobson, who could compete for the top spot this year, is making his way back from surgery in March to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. He played in one playoff game.
All except Spikes, who left for the Buffalo Bills in free agency, are returning to the Patriots. And while the team is optimistic the players will be healthy for the start of the season, there is uncertainty for several.
“Each guy is different, each injury is different,” coach Bill Belichick said. “We hope that they keep making positive progress, and we look forward to seeing as many players as possible back out on the field.”
Health – as it will for most teams – will play a large part in determining the Patriots’ success this season.
“All those guys are working hard to get back,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “And we’ll be a better team when we’re at full strength, with all the guys healthy and excited and ready to go.”
Wilfork, the leader of the Patriots defense, says he is already in that category.
“I’m very happy, excited,” he said. “Been a long time to be able to step out here with the guys, and just to take that step is very important for me.
“I still have a lot to do but very confident where I’m at, continue to just get better, get stronger and stuff like that. It’s going to take time, but I’m very positive with where I’m at right now.”
Wilfork said he hasn’t been concerned with his Achilles since putting on full pads at the start of training camp.
“The first day I did it, I knew I was kind of back,” Wilfork said. “I never thought about it after that and still ain’t thinking about it.”
Kelly, who worked with Wilfork in the offseason to rehab their injuries, also appeared to be progressing.
“I feel fine,” Kelly said. “Just getting back to making moves, knocking the rust off. That’s really what it is with me. I’m really not too much worried about my knee.”
Wilfork also restructured his contract in the offseason to one with $3 million in incentives, much of it for playing time markers but also $300,000 in a weight clause. He appeared visibly slimmer at training camp.
“With the Achilles, the more weight you take off, the better your body feels. I tried that, and it went well,” he said. “That might be something in the long run where I feel that it helped me, and it might be something I stick with.”
Vollmer also was a full participant in offseason workouts. He said he never thought during his rehab that he wouldn’t be back on the field this season.
“No, because I trust in our medical staff and rehab guys and know we’re in good hands,” he said. “Just got to do what they tell you to do and work hard.”
Mayo was able to participate in spring workouts but was still cautious about his status.
“Every day I feel like I’m getting stronger, I’m getting better,” he said. “But I won’t know until I get out there and start really playing the game of football. If it was flag football, it’d be cool.
“OTAs (organized team activities), training camp, the games, I think they're all different milestones that you have to get to really gain that confidence in the injury.”
Less certain are the statuses of Gronkowski and Dobson.
Gronkowski has had difficulty staying on the field over the past two seasons, playing a combined 18 games, including 17 starts.
Last year, he didn’t see his first action until Week 7 because he was still recovering from injuries. His season was ended by the knee injury on Dec. 8 in a win against the Cleveland Browns.
The Patriots are hopeful Gronkowski will be ready for the start of the season, but the team and the two-time Pro Bowl pick have been non-committal on a date.
After his previous injuries, Gronkowski was seen regularly at nightclubs, but this time, he said, he is concentrating on his rehab and thinks he is making steady improvement.
“I’ve just been grinding really hard the past few months,” he said. “Grinding really hard and listening to my trainers, and sometimes even rehabbing twice a day so I can be out here to where I am now.”
Dobson appeared in 12 games, with nine starts, making 37 catches for 519 yards, setting a Patriots’ rookie record for receiving yards in the Belichick era. Dobson appeared in the AFC Championship Game, before having surgery to repair the stress fracture in his left foot. He did not participate in the on-field portion of spring workouts but was inside watching film.
The initial timetable for a return of two to three months might come to fruition after reports that Dobson needed to have a screw inserted in the injured foot.
Perhaps there was a silver lining to all the injuries, though.
“Hopefully those young guys who played a lot of good football for us last year,” Mayo said, “that’ll carry over into this year.”
