We went to Regina with a goal and the goal was to win. I felt that me on the field on that position gave us the best chance to win. It was really unfortunate for my knee to give out like it did on that last play.
It’s the decisions that you make. I know that I tell my brother and all the kids that I train that there are no excuses. If you can play, play. If you can’t play, don’t play. I felt like I could play and I felt I was doing pretty good up until then.
It gave out on me on a couple of plays before that play but not to that extent. On that last play, I got a clean release. The DB kind of sat on it and he grabbed me a little bit but I got through it pretty easily. I saw Hank scrambling that way and throw the ball and from my viewpoint, I saw the ball coming and I knew I could just jump up and big-body the DB and make the catch. I was trying to gather myself to jump because I wanted to fend him off and catch the ball on my front side but when I went to plant, it kind of gave out on me and I couldn’t get my balance and it just went.
After the game, it was a moment of emotion because you work so hard and I could just imagine that if my season was over, after the work that I’ve put in and that the team has put in . . . we don’t want to lose anybody to a major injury like that, so it was pretty emotional. Guys rallied around me and we said some prayers and that just made everything a lot better. It’s good to know the guys have your back.
I think I’m far worse on myself than anybody else. It’s always rough to deal with things like that, especially when that play would have given us a chance to win the game.
Now it’s back to work with Patty. We’ve done some work together before and my body has healed pretty quickly in the past and I’ve been able to overcome some obstacles. I’m just going to take it one day at a time. We’re going to be safe about it but at the same time, I know our goal is to win games and to go out there and put together great outings.
We want to keep our record at home perfect. As long as we do that, everything is great. We’re going to see how everything goes in practice. It feels great to know that Jabari has gotten a lot of reps at the position over the past couple of weeks, so I feel comfortable with him playing if it comes down to that. Otherwise, I’ll be ready to go.
To the fans, I just want to say it’s been amazing to see the Twitter responses. It just goes to show you that in the CFL, no matter what team you play for, there are all kinds of Edmonton fans and Saskatchewan fans and Toronto fans and BC fans and, of course, the Calgary fans, who have shown support to me in regards to the injury. It’s been great to have that support.
Nik Lewis, #82
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