FOXBORO, Mass. — It’s safe to say New England Patriots running back Dion Lewis is working hard — not hardly working — in his recovery from a torn ACL that ended his 2015 season two months prematurely.
Lewis met with the media Monday after practicing for the first time since tearing his ACL Nov. 8 and undergoing surgery Nov. 18. He said some form of the word “work” 25 times and “hard” 26 times.
“Everybody’s working hard,” Lewis said. “That’s what we’re doing is working hard. That’s all we can do is work hard. Work hard, hard, hard. Keep working hard. Everybody just keep working hard.”
Lewis next fielded a question about confidence from his teammates.
“That’s part of my job as a professional — is to work hard,” Lewis began. “Nah, I’m just messing with you guys.”
Lewis isn’t just following the Patriots’ script in how he answers the media. He’s also going along with it in his rehab.
”I just listen to the trainers,” Lewis said. “Every day it’s something different so I just try do that and whatever they thinks best, I just do what I’m told.”
Lewis also is leaning on teammates who suffered torn ACLs to know what to expect in the recovery process.
“I just asked some guys who had the knee before, asked them what they did and how they felt doing certain things, and stuff like that.” Lewis said. “But everybody”s different. I kind of just try to listen to my body. I know my body pretty well, and I’m just doing what the trainers tell me to do. …
“I talked to (Brandon) Bolden, I talked to (Rob Gronkowski), I talked to (Rob Ninkovich), all those guys, They gave me positive feedback, which was encouraging.”
Thumbnail photo via James Lang/USA TODAY Sports Images
