New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara told the media in a conference call Tuesday that he tore a knee ligament in a week 6 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 13.

“That was something I was dealing with the whole season, had to miss some time, which I don’t like to do, came back, tried to play as best I could, (and) tried to manage it throughout the week,” Kamara said of the anterior cruciate ligament tear he suffered.

Kamara said the training staff did the best they could, working with him behind the scenes every day to get him as close to 100 percent as they could.

The 2017 third-round pick said he tried to put his best product out on the field and sometimes it was enough, he said, and sometimes it wasn’t, and he added he didn’t want to let his team down.

Kamara rushed for 797 yards and had 533 receiving yards, scored six touchdowns and went to the Pro Bowl. His first two seasons he averaged 805.5 rushing yards, 767.5 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns.

Though he wasn’t at the level he is accustomed to, Kamara said his only concern was helping out his teammates in whatever aspect he could.

“At times, it’s like, ‘Hey AK, I know you’re hurting, but come on,’” Kamara said. “So I am like, ‘Alright, come on, I have got to snap back.’ I’m healthy now so I’m happy to be in this space now.”

Kamara said he didn’t have surgery but just rehabbed his knee during the offseason.

While recovering from the torn ACL, Kamara said he has focused on helping to strengthen his knee and lower legs to ensure better results in the upcoming season.

Working with his trainer Sharif Tabbah down in Miami, Kamara said he focused on trying to fortify the strength from his ankles, knees and hips and to create more flexibility and mobility, strengthen ligaments in his knee and create some more stability than he already had.

“We did a good job of that. So I feel good and I’m excited about being able to get back to playing how I know I can play,” Kamara said.

According to Kamara, when someone like himself suffers a knee injury, it can affect a speed, lateral cuts, confidence and stability.

“It’s a lot of times where I’ll get into situations like last season where I would normally, I wouldn’t even think twice about being able to break a tackle or bounce it outside and make a two-yard gain into 10,” Kamara said. “But, last year was a lot of just getting what I can get in and going down and don’t do too much because I could possibly hurt my knee more or it’s too painful to even think about doing making another move”

In the five games before his injury, Kamara said he felt he was playing some of the best football of his life, and said the injury was unfortunate.

“I feel like it was just on the up from there,” Kamara said. “I feel like it’s easy to reach back to that level, but I know I’ve got more growing to do. I know there are areas I can get better in so that’s what I kind of focused on this offseason and we’re going to hit the ground running when we get ready to play.”

With a healthy knee and a stronger lower body, Kamara said he feels he can still seek improvement in his game, notably his decision making.

“Definitely just identification just with my eyes,” Kamara said. “A lot of things like I play pretty fast and sometimes I get ahead of myself might miss some things that are pretty simple, but just eyes, just my mind moving ahead of my body with pass protections or just catching the ball, sometimes I take my eyes off the ball just because of that.”

Though he said he doesn’t keep his eye on the ball at all times due to his confidence in his abilities, he said that he can catch any ball that comes towards him, but he added he still has to look at the ball, and he has to get down to the fundamentals.

“Just breaking a lot of things down, the fundamentals and going back and revisiting things and just fortifying them and making them stronger because there’s a lot of things that we take for granted in this game,” Kamara said. “There’s so many components that go into catching the ball that you don’t even really think about until you break it down and it’s like, okay, that’s like the art of catching the ball.

There’s an art to it, he said.