Welker has moved past hard hit

Wes Welker did participate in practice on Wednesday, three days after he was at the receiving end of a bone-crunching hit from the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ryan Clark.

Much has been made of the hit, which came on a tipped pass over the middle in the third quarter of the Patriots' 33-10 loss. A tipped pass normally means defenders can feel free to hit anyone in the vicinity of the ball, but the fact that Welker appeared to have stopped running and that Clark left his feet made the hit look particularly vicious.

The wide receiver, who did not return to the game on Sunday, mostly shrugged it off in a session with reporters on Wednesday.

"It was a football play," he said. "The ball got tipped, and he came in and made a good play."

(That's a contrast from the attitude of his coach, who responded to a similar question on Monday with an abrupt, "The officials called a penalty on the play," which seemed to indicate he thought it was something other than a good play.)

Welker is one of the NFL's best-known small receivers, a player who doesn't mind venturing into the minefield between the linebackers and the safeties despite the fact that most of those players are stronger than he is and could lay him out at any time. He said he's been hit plenty of times before and that he doesn't expect his playing style to change at all.

"It's football," he said. "You're going to get hit a lot. That's the way it is."

Clark had said he tried to reach Welker to apologize. Welker said Wednesday, though, that he hadn't received an apology -- but that he never would have expected one, either.

"It’s a football play," he said. "It is what it is. No sense in crying or whining about it. You just have to keep on moving on and get ready for the next week."

One reporter asked Welker if he saw Clark coming at all.

"Did it look like I saw Clark coming at all?" he said.