New England Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers hasn’t seen any action in the preseason because of an undisclosed injury, but he sounded extremely confident in his chances of playing in Week 1 of the 2018 NFL season, per Andrew Callahan of Mass Live.

“Yeah, man. That's the plan,” replied Flowers when asked Sunday if he would play. “I play football, so it's time for football to be played.”

Although the Patriots nor Flowers has revealed the exact nature of the cause of his absence from preseason games, it’s been assumed by some that it’s merely to give the former Arkansas Razorbacks standout as much rest as possible.

Flowers has seen action in 36 of 28 possible games (including postseason contests) over the last two years.  Flowers also sustained a laceration on his forehead during the early phase of the camp, so that’s also likely a significant reason why he hasn’t practiced much of late either.

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Flowers is an integral part of the Patriots’ defense. The 25-year-old Flowers has paced New England ins sacks over the last two years. He topped the team in that area in 2016 with 7.0 then again in 2017 with 6.5 quarterback takedowns.

With Trey Flowers setting the tone in pass rushing, the Patriots managed to finish last season tied for seventh with 42.0 sacks and third in passing defense with only 251.2 passing yards allowed per game.

Flowers has all the motivation to do even better this 2018, as he’s bound to hit the free agent market next year.