Aaron Hernandez held his first interview session on Thursday since suffering an ankle injury during the home-opening loss to Arizona on Sept. 16. He said he initially felt his ankle had been broken, but knew he’d be back quickly after learning that it wasn’t.

After missing three games (and most of a fourth, since he was hurt on the third play of the game against the Cardinals), Hernandez returned Sunday in a 24-23 loss at Seattle, catching six passes for 30 yards. Included in that was a 1-yard touchdown.

“I felt pretty good, it was good to be back out there to help the team,” Hernandez said. “I came out healthy, and hopefully I’ll come out healthy this week.”

Hernandez was hurt while trying to block downfield for Julian Edelman, who caught a short pass from Tom Brady and rolled into Hernandez, along with the Cardinals defender who made the tackle. Diagnosed as an ankle sprain, Hernandez feared the worst while on the turf at Gillette Stadium.

“Broke,” he said. “But it healed, and I’m better now. I know we have a great training staff, and they’re going to work hard to get us back, especially under [coach] Bill [Belichick’s] supervision, so I knew I was going to have a quick recovery, and I came back pretty good.”

After practicing for a few days before the Denver game (he was inactive against the Broncos), Hernandez wasted no time getting into the flow of the offense. He caught a pass from Brady on the team’s first offensive play from scrimmage.