FOXBOROUGH, Mass — As A.J. Brown sat on the ground holding his ankle during the New England Patriots' season opener against the Seattle Seahawks, there was one main thing running through his mind.
"Instantly, when I was on the ground, I was thinking about my wife's graduation that I had to get to that weekend, and I didn't want to stay for treatment," Brown recalled, fearing that he was going to have to miss her gradutation from nursing school.
"But (Mike Vrabel) granted me that wish to go down there," he continued. "When I was on the field, I was just like, 'Dang I got to stay this weekend for treatment.' That was the only thing I was thinking about. I wasn't even thinking about the game at the moment."
The trip to New Jersey was one he wouldn't have wanted to miss for the world, emphasizing the importance of family, but he did admit that it wasn't the most comfortable thing to do considering his pain from the injury.
"That boot hurt," he said with a smile. "But honestly, through it all, besides the training staff that did a really great job, the thing that motivated me was chasing my son again."
Brown remembered that as soon as he arrived home, his son couldn't wait to go run around and play. But because of the injury, he couldn't do that.
"That kind of motivated me and then it got to the point where I started to do a little more and then we started playing tag," he explained. "And that's when I knew I was kind getting back in to it because I was making him miss."
"That's been a part of the rehab process."
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: A.J. Brown found something bigger than football to fuel his recovery