Pace: Less than 50 percent chance I'll play Sunday

Calvin Pace is getting closer to a return from the broken bone in his right foot.

Whether that happens this week remains to be seen, even though the linebacker hit another milestone of sorts today when he simulated a little football movement out on the practice field.

"It’s too early right now," Pace told me. "Ultimately, I would love to play. But I don’t want to be that guy out there that’s trying to force a comeback and then I get injured worse. The defense is going good right now, so I don’t see anything wrong with taking more time to get better.

"If I had to give you a percentage the chances of me playing are 30-40 percent today. It might get better later in the week, but right now that’s what it is."

Pace was injured in the Jets' third preseason game, when Redskins backup tackle Stephon Heyer struck him in the foot with his helmet as Heyer was sliding over to his right to block the blitzing Pace from the left side. 

Just 21 days removed from surgery, he's made considerable progress. He's shed the crutches and the walking boot, and doesn't show much of a limp.

"Calvin's doing great," Rex Ryan said. "Extraordinary, I think, is the way the doctor and everybody else [described it]. He's way ahead of where most people are at this time."

Pace said he's not experiencing all that much pain. It's mostly just all about getting over the mental hurdles.

"You’ve got to figure my foot really hasn’t been active for a couple of weeks," Pace said. "Sometimes when you are dealing with injuries, it’s kind of human nature to favor that a little bit. But as far as pain, it’s not something that’s hurting me or something I’m telling them, 'No, I can’t do anything.' Every day it’s been getting better and better. The fact that I’m doing more is actually helping it loosen up, and the activity is good for it.

"I can’t re-break it. There’s a big screw in it. I guess mentally in my head it's just like, 'It’s fine. Just go out and play.'"

Pace also worked out on a specially-equipped treadmill today, a machine that helps temporarily alleviate some of the poundage on his large 6-4 frame. 

"It’s a treadmill that can take your body weight down from 100 percent to nothing," Pace said. "I’m 265, so it can take it down to 130 something. So it takes some of the strain off the foot for one, and then I think it kind of builds it up in your mind that, 'Yeah, I can do this.' The more I do it, the more they’ll take the body percent and the weight back up."

Pace has mostly done underwater physical therapy, not to mention simple things like picking up marbles with his foot, simple things to start getting his muscle strength back to where it should be. But none of that brought a smile to his face like getting out on the field, albeit he didn't do a whole lot. 

"I did a little bit of that today and it felt good," Pace said. "Going out and doing stuff, and kind of doing some football motion stuff, that was fine. But when they asked me to stand on your right leg, that felt kinda crazy." 

Just like this whole ordeal has been for Pace.

"It’s crazy. You don’t do something with your leg, and it’s sitting in a cast for a week and you feel like it’s a new leg," Pace said. "You've got to teach it all over again to do some things."