Harrison happy to look ahead
FOXBOROUGH -- After he fractured his scapula against the Colts Nov. 5, safety Rodney Harrison said he had plenty of time to look into the future. What he saw was at least another season of football when this one ends.
"I definitely want to continue to play," the 34-year-old Harrison said yesterday, three days after returning to action. "I know that's a question once you start getting a little older and have a couple injuries. I'm not done playing football yet. I'm excited about the future."
Harrison declined to put a timeframe on how much longer he'll play, but he is under contract through 2008. His most recent time on the sideline provided another reminder of how much he enjoys playing.
"I feel like a kid still," he said. "I'm having fun. I still have the passion to come in early, lift weights, to work out extremely hard, to be in the classroom, to help motivate some of these young guys. I feel like I can still do it."
Harrison finished with three tackles, a quarterback hit, and a fumble recovery in last Sunday's victory over the Jaguars.
"It felt good to be able to get some game reps, to go out there and gain some confidence, and try to get in shape, and just get back out there and bang a little bit, so I can feel comfortable going into the latter part of this season and the playoffs," he said.
While playing for the Chargers in 1999, Harrison fractured his scapula and missed eight weeks. He said that injury was more painful, although he was still in considerable pain this time. For the first two weeks after his most recent injury, Harrison couldn't perform simple tasks such as putting on a shirt. His main form of rehab was rest.
"It's humbling any time you can't do the normal things you're used to doing," he said. "You take it for granted, and all of a sudden you lose that ability. It's tough initially, but each week, each day, I saw hope. I felt like I was getting better."
At the time of the injury, when Colts receiver Marvin Harrison landed on Rodney Harrison's outstretched right arm on a long pass over the middle, the Patriots strong safety was returning to form after his long road back from major knee surgery.
"It was frustrating because I felt like I was finally coming around, playing the way I know how to play, and all of a sudden it's another setback," he said. "But that's what life is all about. Setbacks. It's all about how you bounce back from it."
The shoulder still isn't 100 percent -- and Harrison doesn't know if it will get to that point this season -- but he felt "pretty good" on the field last Sunday.
"I was confident enough to go out there and make some tackles, run into some guys, some linemen, get pushed by some receivers, and that felt good," he said. "I didn't want to feel any pain out there and I didn't feel any pain."
Some of the only pain Harrison is feeling these days is for close friend Junior Seau, whose season ended when he broke his right arm Nov. 26 against the Bears.
"That was definitely disappointing because I know how much he sacrificed to come here, how much it meant for him," Harrison said. "He was playing so well. I definitely wanted him to be part of this."
Meanwhile, Harrison was upgraded for the third week in a row, this time going from questionable to probable.
Receiver Bam Childress (ankle), defensive end Marquise Hill (knee), and defensive back Chad Scott (back) were additions to the injury report. Each player is questionable.
