FOXBORO, Mass. — Apparently you can kick in an NFL game just a week-and-a-half after having your appendix removed.
Nick Folk taught everyone that Sunday when he served as the New England Patriots’ placekicker just 10 days after having appendicitis on Thanksgiving morning.
“I practiced Wednesday, ran a couple errands after work to get some stuff and then I had to go back to my hotel, and about 7:15 (p.m.) I started getting some stomach pain and by 10:15, I’m driving myself to the hospital,” Folk detailed Sunday after a 23-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. “So, it happened pretty quick. It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, and I’m just happy I caught it before it burst because at that point they said it would be a long recovery. Just happy that it happened how it happened, but I’m also upset because I missed last week, obviously.”
Folk was cut last Friday, and Kai Forbath served as the Patriots’ kicker in their loss to the Houston Texans. Folk re-signed Saturday after working out with the Patriots on Friday. He said he worked out on his own Thursday.
He did not have to avoid contact in the game.
“No, it was just a couple of incisions,” Folk said. “They kind of go through your belly button and pull it out. So, that’s the one that’s the most painful. It’s really not much pain anymore. It’s just really incision healing and then dealing with the pain.
“From everything I’ve heard from the doctors here and my family’s a bunch of doctors. One of my uncles, that’s all he did was the general surgery stuff. And he said you really can’t hurt it. It should be healed up by now. The incision, obviously I have a little pain there, but other than that, I’d be all right.”
He also said he didn’t feel any differently kicking Sunday 10 days post-surgery.
“Once I got out there, I kind of got warmed up and that’s how it progressed through the week,” Folk said. “Every day it got better, and then once I moved throughout the day it got better, and then when I woke up a little bit stiff, and as I moved it got better. It was just a progression. I’ll keep going with it, keep doing what we need to do to make sure we’re ready for next week.”
Folk was 1-of-2 on field goals and 1-of-1 on extra points Sunday against the Chiefs. He had a 41-yard field goal attempt blocked.
