FOXBOROUGH - When you feel you still have some game left in you, the NFL is a hard thing to let go.

Just ask Patrick Pass. He made one phone call on June 3 and just a few days later he made the trek from his Rhode Island home to Gillette Stadium for a sit down with Bill Belichick and a workout.

That simple and Patrick Pass was back on a team on which he won three Super Bowl rings. He is one of only seven current players on New England’s roster who has been on all three Super Bowl winners.

“I never thought I wouldn’t get another call,” said the 31-year-old Pass, in his eighth year out of the University of Georgia. “As a football player, we’re never done until we feel like we can’t go anymore. I never had that feeling and I still feel like I can play this game at a high level.”

“That’s my boy,” said fellow Georgia Bulldog Ben Watson. “It’s good to have another Georgia boy here, definitely. We already have a bond just because we went to the same school. He’s another one of those guys that, when I got to New England, he had been here for many years and had been accomplished as a player in the National Football League and somebody, going to Georgia, I was able to look up to and have him around and talk to during stretch.”

So, when he took the field on OTAs with the Patriots, there were plenty of smiles to go around when Pass came out wearing No. 32.

“It was like coming home again,” Pass said.

About the only change in Pass was the number on his back, as he wore No. 35 in his first run with the team from 2000 through the 2006 season. He signed with Houston prior to the ‘07 season and was released. He hooked on with the Giants and played just one game for them in 2007, a season that ended with a Super Bowl shocker over the Pats in Arizona. He, by the way, did not get a ring for his Nov. 20 appearance that season.

“It just means that his perseverance paid off and that the hard work that we do everyday paid off,” Watson said. “He’s living proof of it. He’s been gone, he’s come back. It’s not always going to be an easy road but he perseveres. He’s a great example to anybody.”

Pass said on Tuesday that he isn’t looking to make any statements on the field, just play.

“I’m just happy to be happy with my old teammates and be out here and do the best I can.”

His best season in New England came in 2005 when, as a reserve, he carried the ball 54 times for 245 yards while scoring three touchdowns. He also caught 22 balls for 227 yards.

“I always knew that I could still play this game, despite my age,” Pass said. “I just made one phone call, just asked if I could come up and have one work and I worked out well.”

With open competition at the fullback slot, there is an opportunity for Pass. But he said Tuesday that what he’s looking for is just a roster spot, period.

“Actually, I think if all goes well, I think my role will still remain the same,” he said. “Fullback, running back, special teams, wherever they need me, I’m more than happy to do whatever they need me to do.”

Pass took 2008 and spent it with his wife in their home in North Providence, R.I. He kept close tabs on his once and possibly future teammates.

“Just taking care of my family and staying in shape,” Pass said. “Just watching the guys go out there and play football and I was feeling kind of sad for a minute because I was like I should be out there with those guys and enduring the hardship and pain. But I was still rooting for them at the house.”

Leave a Reply