He's 24 and a physical specimen. With modern surgery and rehab, I won't be surprised if we see him out there Week 1.
We have no idea where he’s at in the recovery process, last week he just was barely walking He’s got six months
TBH I'm more worried about post-recovery than the speed at which he gets back on the field. Achilles injuries can take awhile of actual gameplay and speed before guys are really themselves. The Lions had a pair of them in recent years and both guys went from being career years to below average players who have gotten cut. Neither of them had the peak or potential of Phillips, but that's still the kind of effect an achilles can have. I'm leery of counting on him to be a producer at this point - best case for me is that he gets eased in and starts to come around toward the end of the season.
I figured that after seeing him two weeks ago come out of the cast and crutches, he was barely walking right.
Achilles tears can be quite tricky. Not trying to make a “look, see?” comparison but I remember when the Kracken tore his Achilles. I thought he would never be able to play at the high level we were accustomed to seeing him but Wake bounced back and proved to be as lethal as he had been. Hopefully Phillips will be able to recover just as well.
Mentally you have to learn to trust your body all over again. I've played organized (and some unorganized) sports all of my life and some of the injuries require a bit of a mental reset. After destroying my meniscus it took me about 2 years to reach a point where I quit thinking about it when on the field. Same with a dislocated shoulder & torn rotator in my throwing arm. Granted I'm not a pro athlete, but I'm sure they go thru it as well.
May be an apples to oranges comparison but I agree with you. After my knee surgery, I was doing well with rehab but when it was time to go back to work, I was skiddish as to whether my knee was going to hold up the first time i crawled into an attic but sure enough, once I got in there and was moving around, I realized I was good to go. Gotta have that positive mental attitude and self motivation to push through any apprehensions you might have.
Some people are just blessed. Extra work becomes even more blessed. I recall way back when there was a kid in our 8th grade class he was ripped like a body builder, i mean it was ridiculous and he did nothing to look like that.
