Mike Pouncey talks about his return to the football field

Written by Matthew Cannata | Twitter: @PhinManiacs
On Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, not only was Mike Pouncey taking the field for the first time in over four months, but he was also getting set to play a position he hasn’t played since his junior year of college. That’s why it’s understandable that he was a bit nervous leading up to kickoff.

“I was nervous. I woke up that morning like at 4:30 in the morning. I had a bunch of family in town, so just expressed to them how nervous I was. I felt like I was a rookie all over again. But once I got out there after that first snap, it was just great to be back out there. I felt back to normal. It was fun being back out there you know. Week-by-week, I’ve been getting better and better, getting more comfortable at the position. It was just fun being back out there with the guys.”

Pouncey said he was overthinking on several plays and knows that he needs to do a better job moving forward in order to be successful and help out the team as much as possible.

“I did all right. But I hold myself to a high standard and I’ve got to play a lot better than I did. I was trying to play so hard I was out of my technique a little bit. But I was just excited to be back out there with the guys, be able to run out there, run out of the stadium in front of all the fans, it was just fun.”

One of the biggest things that Pouncey wishes he could take back is the last offensive drive of the game when the Dolphins failed to convert a first down in order to keep the Packers’ offense off the field.

“Yeah, I mean we got one first down, but it wasn’t good enough. We should have never put our defense in that situation. We should have just closed the game out when we had a chance. It’s something we had to come in and watch the film. It hurt worse to even watch the film because we had every opportunity in the world to do it. So it’s something we learned from, but we got a great feeling coming out of that game knowing we can compete with any team in this league. It just boosted our confidence coming into this week.”

Pouncey is set to play right guard again this Sunday and should be much improved from his shaky, but good debut at his new position, which may end up permanent if he starts to excel as the season progresses.