At the end of Sunday’s last quarter, Derek Rivers teamed up with two Miami Dolphins liners to drop Ryan Fitzpatrick for a catch.
It’s not the most important vital game of New England’s 21-11 win in the first game of the season: the Patriots were single-time interference, which gave the Dolphins a first check out, but especially significant for Rivers and his head coach. .
Rivers, the Patriots’ first overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, missed his first and third professional seasons due to knee injuries. In his only active season, he played sparingly, watching action in just six regular-season games and a playoff game. 2018.
Sunday’s contest, Rivers’ first since New England’s victory in the los Angeles Chargers division round in the 2018 playoffs, captures only the moment of his NFL career.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick spoke definitively about Rivers’ determination and field of progression education. On Monday, it was full of compliments for the 26-year-old on-board racer.
“Derek really did an amazing job,” Belichick said in a video conference. “You talked about some of the adversities he went through, but I don’t think I noticed him on a complicated day. He has a positive attitude,” he works incredibly hard, works on the things that will help him and help the team, the kind of “first in and last out” in the building.
“(He was) pleased to see him there (on Sunday) and to have the opportunity to play and have good fortune and help us win, yet he showed a lot of intellectual strength, an incredible intellectual strength, over the past 3 years to deal with some of the setbacks he has suffered, none of which was his fault. Just bad breaks, Array, I don’t think he’s done anything wrong, it’s just football. But he’s never had anything yet positive, hard-working and competitive. Attitude. He did what he could do and rehabilitated what he couldn’t do.
“He had a smart camp here, a smart start to the season, and having the opportunity to play and pass out and help the team win was very rewarding, I know it for him, but for all of us, all his teammates and others. “other people on the team and training staff, the bodybuilding staff, all the guys who worked with him during that time also to help him regain all his attributes. I think he did a smart job and they did a smart job. came here to good term Array As I said, I think it was rewarding for everyone.
Rivers played 20 opposing defensive shots to the Dolphins in an outdoor linebacker rotation that included starters Chase Winovich and John Simon and assistant jockey Shilique Calhoun.
Winovich, who is in his time season with the Patriots, said it’s hard not to inspire Rivers.
“I love Derek, ” said Winovich on Monday. Football is one of the dynamics you’re in, there’s no guaranteed money for most, so you’re up against players in the same room for a competition, so in a dynamic friendship, it’s a little strange.
“But Derek’s personality, I’ve already told you, transcends that. He’s a wonderful guy and a wonderful teammate, so every time you have a guy so he’s obviously altruistic, gets fired and worked hard, you get fired for him. I was one of the first people to participate in the party with them.
“But you’ll have much more to come. When the tide rises, it will lift all the boats. So we’re definitely targeting Derek. “
In statements to reporters Monday in a video call, Rivers continually called his return to the box “a blessing. “
“It’s a blessing to be there with your brothers and teammates,” he said. “It was fun. That was great. For the moment, concentrating on the game and then getting a bag is fun. It was a blessing to be with the boys back and have the help of your teammates and your family circle as well. Dude, it’s just a blessing. “