Here's everything Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell had to say ahead of his return to football on Sunday afternoon against the New York Giants.
Q: On returning to game action
Tank Dell: "First off, I'm blessed. I want to thank God for getting me back in this position, but I don't think I'm overwhelmed. A lot of people have been hitting me up, but I don't think I'm overwhelmed. I'm anxious, of course. It's been two years since I've, dang near two years, but I don't think I'm overwhelmed. I'm anxious to get back out there and play some football, but I'm blessed, that's all I can say."
Q: On setting expectations for himself
Dell: "Go out there and have fun. First game back, I'm just trying to go out there and have fun, of course. You all know
I'm competitive, so I want to make some plays, of course, a lot of plays. My main thing is to live in that moment, be where my feet are and have fun and fly around and just be who I am."
Q: On getting back on the field
Dell: "I don't care if the first catch is two yards, five yards, I'm spiking a ball, I'm doing what I got to do. It's going to feel good. I know there's a lot of questions like, 'How is he going to look when he gets tackled?' I don't care about any of that. I'm ready to get tackled. I'm going to be joyful. You all are going to see the passion I have after I have that first catch."
Q: On the process of returning to the field
Dell: "Just made me live in a moment and be grateful for everything. People say that repetitively all the time, but when you actually go through it and you have to be the one who pull yourself out of it, I feel like just being grateful and thankful that it could have been way worse. Even though it was a crazy traumatic accident, but just being grateful and being thankful. There are people out here who's going through things way worse than me. I got injured in a football game, but it's somebody who's fighting for their life for real, so just being grateful and thankful to be where I'm at and just have fun."
Q: On the support around the building
Dell: "I'm grateful for it. I'm thankful and I'm so excited. I'm so happy that I have [Head Coach] DeMeco [Ryans], even [General Manager] Nick [Caserio], my receiver coach Ben [McDaniels] and everyone in the staff, especially the trainers, like [Head Athletic Trainer] Roland [Ramirez] and my 'Return to Football' staff and everybody who contributed to me getting back to who I am. The whole time, DeMeco was calling me during the offseason like, 'Take as much time as you need. When you're ready, we’re ready. Get yourself together to be who you are and I'm here for you every step of the way.' That's what DeMeco was preaching to me, so he gave me the confidence and he made me not stress. It's awesome to have that, so it was good."
Q: On his mindset coming back from his injury
Dell: "I think I made a post a couple days after it happened. I was just like, 'I'm going to be back.' So, in my mind, it was never like, 'Am I going to be back?' Of course throughout the process, you're questioning yourself, but you have to have faith in God, but I never doubted that I was going to work myself back to be able to come on the field. I already knew that I was going to put whatever work I had to put in. Even the days when I woke up and I didn't feel like doing anything, I still gave it my all and came in here and did everything. They harped on it. I was in the facility every day throughout the year, throughout the off season, every day and I was just making sure I put my best foot forward and then to come back and play football."
Q: On his perseverance
Dell: "It started with Dr. Walter Lowe. I feel like the medicines and the treatments that they're able to do nowadays is probably years and years ago. If somebody had an injury, it would have been done, but I feel like it's just started with him. Dr. Lowe, he did an awesome job on my surgeries and that was the stepping stone. After that just work."
Q: On the depth of the wide receiver room
Dell: "I think it's great to have. If you look back to last year and I don't want to harp back on last year, but you look at last year we had receivers and tight ends down in a big game and just to have heads in the room to anybody who can go out there and make a play, it helps us. I feel like we feed off each other's energy, feed off each other making plays and I feel like we're competitive. If I see [WR] Nico [Collins] make a play, in a not-selfish way, I want to go out there and make a play and I'm going to be happy for him, but I want to go out there and make a play. The same with Marvin [Harrison Jr.], Kayshon [Boutte] and 'Hutch' [Xavier Hutchinson], 'J-Noel' [Jaylin Noel], everybody. I feel like we just feed off each other's energy and it's exciting to have that type of room. The cream's going to rise to the top. If you're a competitor and you know how you can play football, then just have fun doing it and don't be selfish. Don't look at it as a bad thing. When there's blessings in the neighborhood, then you'll get blessed, so just go out there and work hard and when the ball comes, make the play."
Q: On adjusting to the feel of the game
Dell: "Right now, I'm studying every position. I don't want any margin of errors. I want to go out there like I know the whole offense. Nick's [Caley] doing a great job, he's been helping me. I've been in with 'TQ', our Assistant [Tiquan Underwood] and Asauni [Rufus], everybody, they've been helping me. I feel like I adjusted well to the offense and he's running some great plays and he's spreading the ball out. I feel like he's doing a great job and I'm happy for him."
Q: On the support for Week 7's game
Dell: "Yeah, I had to buy a lot of extra tickets. I'm kind of upset about that, though [laughter]. No, I'm happy. I'm happy, they were with me through this whole journey. My grandma, she's been bugging me, calling me for two weeks like, 'When are you playing? Make sure you get my flight. Make sure you get my ticket.' I'm happy she's going to be there. I have my little brothers, my sister, everyone. My whole family and even friends from out here, they're excited to see me. Some of them got their own tickets."
Q: On the support from the city of Houston
Dell: "I feel like they're going to go crazy. I'm excited for that, too. That's what I'm saying, fill the stadium up please and wear red. Just to have the support, me coming from Houston and getting drafted by the Texans. This organization is a beautiful organization. Same with University of Houston. I feel like I'm a Florida boy, but like I said before, I feel like this is home for me too, so it's great. I know it's going to be a great feeling when I run out to the tunnel."
Q: On his support system
Dell: "I've always had a great support system. The people who reached out when I was making plays, they were the same ones when I was down and they were reaching out consistently, not just one text after I got hurt. Throughout the process, they'll hit me up and check on me. I do want to do a special shout-out for Eric. He helped me a long time. You all don't know him. Sorry, he helped me out a great, tremendous amount with this recovery."
Q: On when he knew he would come back
Dell: "When I got hurt. Yep. I had that mindset as soon as I got hurt. I'm going to be back. I felt, honestly, like a month ago, I was like, 'All right, there it goes. It's turning over, so I feel good now.'"
Q: On the people outside of the organization who helped him rehabilitate
Dell: "I'm going to start off with Ken. He's a great guy. He was pulling up to my house for free. We had a conversation, he told me, 'I don't need any money from you. I just want to help you through this journey,' and that meant a lot to me because there's a lot of people who only want what you have. When he told me that, it made me look at him different and he was going through his day and still making time for me at the end. He'll come pull up and we'll do a lot of exercises and a lot of PT work. Same with ‘J-Allen.’ He told me his gym open whenever I needed it. Just call him, give him one call and he'll be there to help whatever I want to do. They played a tremendous role in me getting back to who I am and I thank them for that."
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans WR Tank Dell said ahead of Week 7 matchup vs. Giants
