Transcript of an excerpt from rookie LB Demario Davis' news conference in the Cortland Stadium pressbox following Wednesday's morning training camp practice at SUNY Cortland:
On how it feels to be back out on the field…
It feels great. It's great to be back out there. Anytime something like that happens, it's very unfortunate. Especially going into training camp, it's tough. I was kind of upset that I wouldn't be able to practice right away, but I thank the Lord for healing me up. We have a great training staff and they've been great. They helped me recover back to 100 percent, probably 105 percent. I'm just grateful to be back out there.
On if he was trying to show off by going hard in the conditioning drill…
No, when you've been sitting out that long, it's a lot of passion. When you have passion for the game of football and you're not able to play, it's like caging a lion. He's going to go crazy. When you get back out there on the field, it's tough to put the brakes on. It's just good to be out there.
On if he has ever been injured before…
No, fortunately I've been blessed to have a career in which I've never been out more than a day. It was tough going through the hamstring injury without it having happened before. I've never had to sit out in any kind of camp, so not being able to go into my first NFL training camp was extremely tough.
Right when it happened, I went home and I prayed hard. I asked the Lord just to heal me up and I'd be patient until He healed me up all the way. Once He healed me up all the way, that's when I'd go back. Our training staff worked with me night and day, night and day, like they do with everybody. Those two combined, helped out the best.
On if the injury set him back…
I don't think so. I'm a big-picture person. I'm always looking at the big picture. In our big picture, our goal is to win the Super Bowl and I want to contribute as quickly and as fast as possible. The big thing is just missing reps. You don't want to miss reps. The fact that I was out there missing reps was tough because you want your game plan in full effect. I wasn't able to contribute to the game plan right away — they would have been able to use me in certain packages. It was kind of tough, but I never fretted or felt like I was getting too far behind because I stayed up and watched extra film. I stayed caught up and now I'm out there moving around. I'm ready to contribute to whatever they need me to do.