Pats Pulpit
It was 10 months of hard work for Stefon Diggs.
After tearing his ACL last October, the veteran wide receiver hit the rehab process hard in order to be available for his team. That he was when the Patriots opened their season this past weekend.
“I felt good,” Diggs said Wednesday. “I actually missed the contact portion of it as far as getting hit a little bit, so I looked forward to getting back out there. I’m more thankful than anything. I hate losing — obviously, I wasn’t too happy about that — but at the same time, I took a lot from it as far as me being back out there, getting acclimated again and getting some contact and catching the ball again. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Diggs welcomed the physicality in his return — even admitting he was “seeking out contact” to start the game — but was eased back into the action, playing 40 offensive snaps as part of a four member wide receiver rotation.
The 31-year-old ended his Patriots debut catching six of seven targets for 57 yards in the Patriots’ 20-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders — which put a bit of a damper on his return to the football field.
“We weren’t winning, so for a moment I couldn’t be too happy. But as far as like, this isn’t a selfish sport, for me, I took my little moment to be grateful and kind of bask in the ambiance of where I was,” Diggs said. “I’m back doing doing what I love. Trying to play at a high level, getting open, catching the ball. I had my moments where I was like, ‘Damn, I missed it so much.’ I’m just so thankful to be back where I love to be. I had that moment, but at the same time, we were losing, so it was bittersweet.”
Now, with the emotions of his return behind him, Diggs is excitedly turning the page to Week 2 as the Patriots look for their first win of the season.
Diggs’ offensive unit will likely need to score more than 13 points in order to do so. But, the receiver believes the team’s execution mistakes that plagued them last week will be quickly correctable as they head down to Miami.
“That first game, you get out there, you haven’t seen these guys. You can watch tape from last year, you can watch the preseason, but it’s always a tale of two stories. For us, the things that we need to fix is more us rather than anything. It’s never really the other team,” Diggs said.
“We live in that realm of just farming your own land. I try to farm my own land — be where you’re supposed to be, be open, catch the ball, and we’ll kind of figure it out from there. So the fixes that we can do, I feel like it’s more internal and just with us. Trying to take...
