His spirit in-Vince-ible

FOXBORO - As emotional as Vince Wilfork [stats] is, he can’t deny it hurt.

When the season began, his negotiations for a long-term deal with the Patriots [team stats] appeared to be going nowhere. It wasn’t easy to put the uncertainty behind him.

To handle it, he did what he does: showed up and worked.

No holdout for him.

“It was tough at first, but once it got going, I really blocked it out,” Wilfork said. “I am a true believer in everything working itself out. I don’t have any regrets. If I had to do it again I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Wilfork’s reward, in part because of his workmanlike attitude, is another Pro Bowl selection.

Instead of wasting his energy to gripe about the team not extending his rookie contract, a six-year deal that paid him $18 million, Wilfork channeled his energy onto the field.

He has made 65 tackles in leading a tough run-stopping unit, despite battling ankle and foot injuries that finally caught up to him and forced him to miss the last two games. As for his health, Wilfork said, “I’ll be back sooner rather than later.”

Wilfork has also been key in freeing linebacker Jerod Mayo to make a team-leading 105 tackles in the 12 games he’s played.

“Something down deep in me that my father and my mother taught me, is if you’re going to do something do it the right way,” Wilfork said. “I try to teach my kids that. I continue to play hard no matter the situation.”

Like most players in contract years, Wilfork would love a blockbuster, long-term deal. If the team decides to slap him with a franchise tag, he’ll still make top money - this year’s franchise number for his position was $6.06 million - but without the security.

Wilfork may not generate the big statistics of some defensive tackles. Not in a two-gapping, 3-4 scheme that often has him tying up blockers to allow others to make the play.

Wilfork, of course, wouldn’t mind seeing a few sacks next to his name.

“As a football player, I want the stats,” Wilfork said. “I want the sacks, I want the tackles and I want the tackles for losses. But for the position I play, you know I don’t get them. To be recognized at my position with the elite that says enough. . . . Now, people are starting to understand the position as a nose tackle.”

His ascension into the NFL’s elite is not a surprise to those who knew him at the University of Miami.

Andre Johnson, a former college teammate and a receiver for this week’s Patriots foe, the Texans, laughed when recalling ridiculous feats of athleticism by the 6-foot-2, 325-pounder.

“(Guys) will be surprised at how much of an athlete Vince is because he’s so big,” Johnson said. “I remember on Friday (in walk-throughs), Big Vince would be out there. He’d set up a little offense and he’d be out there playing quarterback..”

Johnson said he also heard Wilfork could dunk a basketball, but “I’ve never had the chance to see it.”

Perhaps his wide-ranging skills will come out during Pro Bowl week. Or perhaps he’ll just continue to prove the kind of player he is, rich contract or not.

He’s not even bitter about getting stuck with a six-year rookie deal when most NFL draftees get five-year deals.
“It’s easy to get caught up in it, ‘Sixth year, it’s your last year, you shouldn’t be playing.’ ” Wilfork said. “I could have easily taken that role but that’s not me. I love football.”

Click here to order Vince Wilfork’s proCane Rookie Card.



(bostonherald.com)