ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey was held out of Monday practice while he tries to recover from an injury suffered against San Diego on Oct. 6.
Bailey was covering Chargers’ tight end Antonio Gates when he went down with strained left quadriceps in the second quarter.
Broncos’ coach Mike Shanahan said Bailey’s status for Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh was uncertain. Bailey said he expected to play.
“I’m doing O.K.,” Bailey said. “I’m not where I want to be, but I think a couple more sessions of treatment and working out, I’ll be well by Sunday.”
Already banged up, the Broncos can ill afford another injury, especially not one to their best defensive player.
The team’s defense has been Jekyll and Hyde through five games. Denver’s pass defense is tops in the NFL.
Its run defense? The worst in the league.
At least the team’s bye week gave Bailey a chance to get healthy, and more importantly, a chance for the Broncos to re-evaluate what exactly is going wrong defensively.
“Any time your rush defense hasn’t been very good you want to work on those things and get a little bit better there,” Shanahan said. “We’ve been working on the things that statistically we haven’t been very good at and hopefully we’ll make some strides.”
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BIG FANS:@ The Colorado Rockies may have no bigger fans than the Denver Broncos.
In fact, nearly all the talk around the Broncos’ locker room was for the their baseball-playing brethren.
“Ever since I’ve been here, this has been a Broncos town,” safety John Lynch said. “But I think it’s great. I think there’s enough love to go around.”
The team’s run made Javon Walker somewhat nostalgic for his old sport.
“Being a baseball player myself, at least somebody is sharing some light in Denver,” Walker said. “Hopefully we can get on the same winning streak that they’re on. I wish them all the best and I hope they make it all the way.”
Champ Bailey said he wanted to tickets if the Rockies go to the World Series.
If they do, a possible Game 5 would be in Denver on Oct. 29. It would be the same night the Broncos play Green Bay at home.
“Let’s hope we have that problem, we’ll all be happy,” Shanahan said. “I think it might be a sweep anyhow if we get there, so it might not even be five.”
Apparently, Shanahan doesn’t believe in jinxes.
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BULL RUSH:@ Reserve running back and special teams player Andre Hall couldn’t help being excited Monday.
After all, his South Florida Bulls are ranked No. 2 in the first BCS Poll and, currently, in line to play for a national championship.
“They’re going up,” Hall said. “The sky’s the limit with us (South Florida) right now.”
Of course he was even happier because he could rub the Bulls’ latest win, a 62-10 victory over Central Florida, in the face of teammate Brandon Marshall, a former Golden Knights receiver.
“See, Brandon knows,” Hall said. “I went to the practice this week. They’re not worrying about rankings. They’re going at it like it’s camp. And it showed on Saturday.”
Hall is USF’s all-time leading rusher.
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LYNCH TV:@ John Lynch the heavy hitter, sure. But John Lynch the analyst?
The Broncos safety spent his Sunday on television at Fox, joining the network’s studio show for some midseason analysis.
Somehow, the three-time Pro Bowler was a little intimidated.
“If you go in there, you want to do a good job, try to prepare and catch up what’s going on around the league,” Lynch said. “I had to do some studying. Obviously, not too well with my picks, but it was fun, no doubt about it.”
Though he has no plans to call it quits soon, Lynch said television may just be next on his plate when his playing days are over.
“It’s something I’ve certainly interested in,” Lynch said. “I used to know that’s what I wanted to do. I went back to kind of test it again and I had a great time. We’ll see.”
