February 3, 2010 will be a date to remember- for all the wrong reasons. The Patriots lost their last game of the season to the Houston Texans in what was a closely fought game. The worst part wasn’t that we dropped 21 points in the 4th quarter, or that we played so erratically I almost got whiplash. It wasn’t even that this game was a foreboding sign for the upcoming post-season. The worst moment of the game was when Wes Welker went down untouched after making a cut. There was no one around him, and his knee just gave out. I immediately knew it was bad, just didn’t know how bad. And watching him on the bench with the towel over his head… heartbreaking. He’s a competitor at heart, and he always looks to be ready to play.
Then the commentators started talking about how it was a possible knee injury. The worst part- they had no new information, so they just kept parroting themselves. That only made the anguish for us fans even worse. I learned the next day that it was an MCL/ACL injury. My mom (my expert on knee injuries) said that after surgery he might need six month of rehab. I had hope for the 2010 season.
According to a BostonHerald.com article, Wes was running pain-free and has been playing catch with my favorite QB Tom Brady at UCLA as of about two months ago. And since Tom’s been through a similar injury, the two most likely compared notes. Wes sounded optimistic, but it was a cautious optimism at best. In both articles, he made it clear that he doesn’t have a timetable.
“Yeah, it’s way early,” Welker said. “We’ll see what happens. My plan is to keep working hard and keep doing the things I’ve been doing to get to where I am now, and just keep on doing that stuff.” (from NFL.com).
Though he’s still recovering from surgery, he isn’t just sitting on his bum. This spring he hosted a “Cleats and Cocktails” fundraiser for his foundation, and the Old Spice Wes Welker Football Camp in Braintree, MA. A video on the Patriots website showed Wes moving around at the camp, and it was definitely a positive. Not only did it look like he was having fun (along with fellow wide receiver Julian Edelman and linebacker Tully Banta-Cain), but the kids looked like they had a great time too. And now he’s rumored to participate fully in the pre-season training camp that starts on July 29th. He hasn’t been medically cleared yet, and he could still be placed on the Active PUP list. He could be removed from that list though.
This update blitz on Wes is heartening. He may not be making is famous cuts anytime soon, but it’ll come. We’ll have one of my favorite weapons back, and I’m already excited for his return.