Rodney Harrison & John Lynch

John Lynch (47) leads his teammates during drills. (AP Photo)

FOXBOROUGH – The pairing of hard-hitting veteran safeties Rodney Harrison and John Lynch was a topic of discussion today at Gillette Stadium.

Harrison, who returned to practice Tuesday, mentioned that Lynch took the time to call him at one of the lowest points in his career, in 2005 when he suffered a serious knee injury.

“I thought that was pretty classy,” Harrison said.

Lynch was asked to explain what led him to make that call.

Rodney Harrison

“I’ve always had tremendous respect [for him]; our careers have kind of paralleled each other in that we’ve played the position of safety – he’s going into his 15th, I’m going into my 16th [year],” he responded.

“I’m from San Diego, so I [saw] a lot of what went on when Rodney was there, and I always loved the way he played. When someone plays like that, who you respect so much, when something like that happens you do those kind of things. It’s great to be playing with him now.”

Both talked about how they have often measured their performance against the other over the years.

Harrison added that he’s been speaking regularly with Lynch over the last 4-5 days, helping him absorb parts of the playbook.