FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots open their preseason schedule tonight against the Saints, and perhaps the biggest question is whether Wes Welker plays or not.
“I don’t know,’’ coach Bill Belichick said. “I’m not saying he will. I’m not saying he won’t. We’ll evaluate it and see.’’
The mere possibility of Welker taking the field at this point — 191 days after he had his left knee reconstructed — is a testament to the All-Pro’s approach and work ethic.
Just don’t tell anyone involved that this was unexpected.
“We’ve certainly had time,’’ said Utah-based specialist Alex Guerrero, who directed Welker’s rehab in California and New England, just a year after running a similar show for Tom Brady. “With the way we do our rehab, we put expectations on ourselves. And like it was with Tommy, we’re not setting unrealistic goals. We set goals we can achieve.
“We knew he’d have to work hard to do it. But if we do work hard, we knew it was extremely realistic.’’
So what is “it’’?
“For him, the goal has always been toward Week 1,’’ said Guerrero, who has worked through the process with Patriots trainers. “It won’t be our decision ultimately; that’s the team’s decision. But the focus has been to have him prepared for Week 1.’’
That was the plan as soon as Guerrero and Welker started the process coming off the surgery, and just about everything has hummed along as expected.
At this point, Welker would be at no more risk of injury than any other player, from a medical standpoint. But the idea is to have the receiver at his optimal level of performance for the season opener Sept. 12, and all he does between now and then will be working toward that goal.
Welker has been wearing a brace to provide medial and lateral stabilization for the knee, and one goal is to prepare to play without it. As Guerrero put it, the idea is to reach a “comfort level’’ out of the brace.
“If it was up to Wes,’’ Guerrero said, “I think he’d be out of the brace now.’’
The other part that remains is what Guerrero calls “finding your knee.’’ Welker has gotten the strength in his quadriceps and hamstring up to speed, but there is still the process of reaching normalcy.
“That takes some time,’’ Guerrero said. “Regardless of how well you are physically, there’s still the component where the left knee doesn’t feel exactly like the right one. You need time to find the knee.
“We went through it with Tommy, to get to the point where the left knee felt like the other one. The knee feels fine, but not quite like the other one.’’
