Philadelphia Eagles’ Mike Patterson confident about return after brain surgery – NFL News
Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive tackle, Mike Patterson, who underwent a successful brain surgery recently, has said that he wants to return to the National Football League (NFL) as soon as possible.
Patterson might not be able to immediately take to the field and is expected to miss the team’s offseason activities. However, he is hopeful of participating in the team’s training session, which will start this summer.
He said:
"I just want to go out there and show people that no matter what you go through, you still need to stand up and continue to fight. I love football, so I just want to continue to play."
Patterson started his professional NFL career with Eagles in 2005 and has not played for any other team in the league.
In his rookie season, he started seven games while playing 16 and recorded 44 tackles. He has been playing as the team’s regular starter since his second season.
In 2007-08 season, he recorded his career-best statistics and registered 67 tackles. In the last regular season, he started all the 15 games he played and managed 35 tackles.
However, he was unable to play the final game of the regular season against Washington Redskins owing to the flu.
Interestingly, Patterson was diagnosed with cerebral arteriovenous malformation before the start of the last season. During the team’s training session before the start of the season, Patterson collapsed on the field and was later diagnosed with the disease.
However, he did not miss the season and did a relatively good job throughout. After the season, he underwent a brain surgery and is now recovering at fast pace.
His doctors have not allowed him to take the field at the moment, but he thinks that he will get the nod soon. He also said that he is not going to be scared about suffering the injury again. He commented:
"You break bones in this game all the time, they'll heal back eventually. I don't think that it was a question in my mind [that] if I'm hit in that area again, that something is going to happen."
Patterson's agent, J.R. Rickert, also believes that the player will be back on the field pretty soon.
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