In the NFL, pain never takes a holiday. When Broncos linebacker Al Wilson awakes this morning, he will be wearing a temporary cast on his right thumb, which earns him a date with the team doc.
Merry Christmas.
After beating Oakland 22-3, the toughest man in Denver could not tie his shoes.
Long after almost all his teammates had departed the locker room, Wilson plopped on a chair and gave a shout for his son.
Carrington Wilson is 10 years old and an exact, miniature replica of the Pro Bowl defender, right down to the smile. His father fondly calls this kid “C.”
Wilson beckoned “C” to do what a 6-foot, 240-pound Denver linebacker could not do after making five tackles against the Raiders.
The son took a knee and patiently tied a bow in the laces of the elder Wilson’s street shoes.
The scene was a peek into the life of an athlete who looks larger than life on television, but goes home to unwrap his presents on Christmas morning the same as you or me. Except Wilson’s thumb is in no shape to be doing anything so strenuous as tearing paper.
“I don’t get presents. I got all I want in life,” Wilson said Saturday.
The thumb of Denver’s heart and soul got twisted sometime early in the second half. Wilson doesn’t remember the exact play. All he knows is his thumb hurts, and thinks it could be broken, although would not confirm the extent of the injury until after further examination today.
I asked Wilson if he would be in the lineup for the first playoff game in Denver in almost seven years, when the Broncos next take their home field in the middle of January.
OK. It was a stupid question.
“Heck, yeah,” insisted Wilson, who also had his brains rattled during the 12th Broncos victory this season. “I’ll be ready.”
You know all about how long it has been since Denver tasted success in the postseason. Please, don’t remind Wilson. The cold, hard fact he has no playoff victories on his NFL résumé hurts worse than his thumb. Nobody is more eager for the Broncos to get back to the Super Bowl than Wilson.
“Al is very intense. He’s like that lion. And you can consider the rest of the defense to be part of the pride,” Denver safety Nick Ferguson said.
If timing is everything, then Wilson has had nothing except bad luck in his quest for an NFL championship.
He hit town in 1999, between the confetti of the last Super Bowl parade and the tears of quarterback John Elway’s retirement party.
“If you love football, it makes it worse every year that you don’t win a championship, because you know you’re getting closer to the end, and you only have a few more chances to make it happen,” Wilson said.
An NFL locker room is its own small society, with friendships born of sweat and shared defeat. In this community of Broncos, Wilson might be the most popular guy in town.
He got hurt twice against the Raiders. With a win in the bag, Wilson could have taken a seat on the bench. But the 28-year-old linebacker kept trotting back to the defensive huddle. In football, nothing is so honored as a gladiator mentality.
“Al Wilson is the little brother I never had,” Denver linebacker Keith Burns said.
When I suggested Burns was not only older, but smarter and better looking than his adopted brother, the scowl Wilson had been wearing since having his bell rung suddenly vanished.
“One thing I do know. I don’t know nothing else. But I’ve got the title: Cutest of the ‘backers on this team,” said Wilson, unable to suppress a laugh. “Let’s have a poll. Ask all the women: Which linebacker is the sexiest? Put that in the paper.”
Last week, Wilson was selected to appear in the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in seven NFL seasons.
That’s impressive. But Wilson’s dreams are bigger.
Want to know a secret?
“Being the best is not good enough for Al Wilson,” Burns said. “His goal is to be the best linebacker who ever put on a Broncos uniform.”
Listen to Mark Kiszla at 12:15 p.m. Monday on 1060 AM and the Radio Colorado Network. He can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
