Damien Harris hints he’ll be available for crucial game vs Ravens
By Adam Weinrib
Core Patriots running back Damien Harris (chest) would really, really like to be available against the Ravens this weekend.
Patriots running back Damien Harris has been a breakout candidate for months — that is, until he finally broke out a few weeks back.
But even the head of steam Harris finds himself these days seemingly can’t prevent the inevitable injury bug from striking him in differing and equally annoying ways.
A broken finger knocked him out of action earlier this season before his star turn in Buffalo, and Harris was also forced out of action midway through the Patriots’ comeback win over the Jets on Monday.
The bruising burner is getting the hang of this whole “availability” thing, though, and dropped several hints reporters on Friday that he plans on shrugging off his chest injury and coming to play Sunday against Baltimore.
Many questions on RB Damien Harris (chest injury) and if he will play vs. the Ravens. Harris stopped short of saying he will be on the field Sunday, but said he is working toward that goal.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) November 13, 2020
“Somebody once told me that one of the best abilities you can have is availability.” pic.twitter.com/TCKnydil5W
“I’m not really here to talk about that situation. It happened,” is a new gold standard for athletes discussing their injuries. It’s, like, a level up from previously tight-lipped Belichick regimes. So non-juicy. Can’t get enough of it.
That being said, Harris has clearly heard at least a little bit of the noise, and he doesn’t want the “injury prone” label to go from a tag on the back of his jersey to a permanent imprint. If he can play, he will play. After all, after all the work it took to get to the top of the depth chart, who wants to unnecessarily donate carries back to Rex Burkhead?
The last time we saw a fully healthy Harris, he was dragging the entire Jets defense along for the ride at the Meadowlands.
Damien Harris took the whole defense with him 😂 @DHx34 @Patriots
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) November 10, 2020
📺 #NEvsNYJ on ESPN pic.twitter.com/8dh71smwQH
If we could ground-and-pound like this again when the Baltimore Ravens come to Foxborough this weekend, that’d be great, thanks.
Clearly, Harris isn’t going to let a hard hit to the chest throw his momentum off this time.
