BALTIMORE, Md. — "You're always worried about it until you do it, because when you do it you don't have a chance to really think about what your body's doing. You're just reacting to the moment and once you do it one or two times you're like, OK, I feel pretty good my leg held up good. I'm strong, and then the more you do it, the more confident you get, the better you get at it, and the closer you can get to being the player you were before the injury," said Ravens long snapper Nick Moore.
WATCH: Nick Moore discusses Achilles recovery, minimally invasive surgery benefits
Last year was his first year back from the surgery, and it took a little time to get used to the new version of himself. About halfway through the season, he was doing really well and felt comfortable being back, confident in his leg again.
"So this year I'm just excited to feel 100% moving all the way through the entire season," Moore said.
Minimally invasive surgery made difference
Moore explained the difference between his minimally invasive repair versus traditional open repair surgery.
"Basically the old style they used to do a vertical cut right up the Achilles so you had this really nice big incision that goes directly in line with the Achilles. This is minimally invasive, so it's a horizontal cut that's about this big, which the smaller incision means that the scar can heal quicker and that it, you know, after now the 2 years removed, the scars other than the color like the color change of the skin, like the scar is very, very small," Moore said.
"And it allows for the healing process to be a little bit quicker and that you're able to get doing like weight bearing stuff a little bit faster just because the surgery or the incision is so much smaller that there's not as much that has to heal with that part of it," he added.
Success means supporting teammates
When asked what a successful season looks like for him, Moore emphasized his role supporting the team's specialists.
"You know, I think just doing my part, like my job is not one of the sexiest ones. I don't get a lot of praise and honestly that's when I'm not getting praise, that's when I'm doing well, you know, having a young kicker in Tyler and then Jordan's in his 4th year, like giving them the best chances to be successful by doing my job the best that I can and helping them be able to succeed on the field is kind of my, that's the whole goal for me is making their jobs as easy as possible," Moore said.
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