ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—John Lynch said he felt optimistic Wednesday that the stinger he suffered Monday night was unrelated to his 2004 neck surgery—but the concerned look on his face and the worry in his voice belied that brave front.
“I’m feeling all right, obviously not too well when you’ve got to come out of a game. But I got a little stinger and just waiting on doctors to see how we’re going to proceed. But I feel better,” the eight-time Pro Bowl safety said after watching the Denver Broncos’ workout.
Lynch, 36, struggled with neck injuries in 2003, his final season in Tampa Bay, and he had surgery to remove bone spurs in early 2004, just before joining the Broncos.
He said the doctor who performed his neck operation was reviewing his latest MRI, and that he had no timetable for his return.
“No, again, just waiting on all the information to come back. Took the MRI yesterday and they’re waiting on the specialist out in Los Angeles who did my neck surgery to kind of check it out and see what he has to think,” Lynch said. “But I think everything’s good and we’ll see.”
Lynch sustained what the team said was a pinched nerve in his neck early in Denver’s 19-13 overtime loss to Green Bay on Monday night. Lynch said one of his arms went numb for a while and that he was never cleared to return to the game even though the team said that night his return was probable.
“Well, just you know, a stinger, you get your whole arm kind of goes numb,” Lynch said. “Been there before, but hopefully this is something not related and we’ll be all right.”
Lynch acknowledged he was worried given his history with neck surgery.
“I’ve had little episodes since I’ve been here but this is the first kind of big one I’ve had, so it’s a little bit of a concern,” Lynch said. “But things bounced back fairly quickly, I’m feeling a lot better and just taking in all the information and go from there.”
The 15th year pro has 24 tackles so far. He missed one game with a pulled groin, against Indianapolis on Sept. 30, and was replaced by Domonique Foxworth, who also replaced him Monday night.
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RED ZONE:@ Wide receiver Brandon Marshall said play-calling isn’t the issue when it comes to the Broncos’ season-long struggles in the red zone.
They were 1-for-4 Monday night on trips inside the Packers’ 20-yard line.
Asked if he thought the play calls were aggressive enough when the Broncos get close to the goal line, Marshall defended coach Mike Shanahan.
“I get paid to play football. I get paid to catch the football and block for the running backs and do some other things for the team,” he said. “And there’s a reason Coach Shanahan is so successful—because he knows what he’s talking about. So, Coach Shanahan, he didn’t turn into a dummy in one year, in two years, you know what I mean? He’s a great coach. He’s probably one of the best coaches to coach this game.”
So, what’s his take on all the troubles?
“Execution,” Marshall said. “We got down there and we fumbled. One of our offensive lineman and our quarterback collided. The ball came out, they recovered. Stuff like that. We can’t have that stuff. If that didn’t happen, we would have scored. We were on the 1-yard line. It wasn’t nothing about the play call.”
Does he see something different in the coverages down close?
“We put our best out there and we put our best play out there in that situation, so whatever’s called at the time, it’s what’s best for us,” Marshall said. “Coach Shanahan, he’s a genius, especially on the offensive side. So, it’s definitely not his fault.
“Jacksonville game, we get into the red zone, I fumble. Monday night we get to the 1-yard line and we fumble. Those are the types of things that are killing us. We can’t be a great team if we’re only scoring 17 points. We need to put it upon ourselves and put some peer pressure on each other just to get this thing done.”
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BIG BEN:@ Ben Hamilton is finally feeling like himself.
Lost for the season in camp because he was slow to heal from a concussion, the Denver Broncos left guard said he’s on the mend.
“I’m feeling a lot better. The ‘spaciness’ and fogginess is gone. I’m doing cardio and feeling good coming off cardio,” said Hamilton, who took in the Broncos’ 19-13 overtime loss to Green Bay on Monday night.
Hamilton at first thought nothing of the blow to his helmet, but he got dizzy when he tried to play and then he had more problems whenever he did cardiovascular work. The Broncos sent him several times to see specialists in Pittsburgh and finally decided to put him on injured reserve, ending his season.
Hamilton said he was surprised his symptoms didn’t clear up sooner.
“Yeah. Talking to all these doctors, the brain is a tricky thing. You don’t know if it’s going to be a couple of days or a couple of weeks. You kind of let it run its course is what we’re learning through this,” Hamilton said. “Having to take so long was surprising and frustrating for me. I tried to push through.
“With any other injury, a hurt knee or ankle, you can still play even though you’re not 100 percent. With your head, I would try to push through even though I wasn’t 100 percent out there and try to practice and things would fall apart for me. It was something I couldn’t push through. It was a different experience for me.”
Hamilton said the next step is to increase his workload.
“I’m going to continue to increase my cardio. I’ve been doing some light cardio. It’s the first time in a long time that’s been the case. I’ll keep pushing myself and testing my limits,” he said. “I’m feeling great and I haven’t had a setback in a long time. I’m optimistic and happy how things are going right now.”
Hamilton is confident he will be back blocking for the Broncos next season.
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EXTRA POINTS:@ WR Rod Smith, who returned to practice last week for the first time since offseason hip surgery, didn’t participate in Wednesday’s workout. Coach Mike Shanahan said it wasn’t due to a setback but because he had a doctor appointment. … CB Champ Bailey (thigh) and RB Travis Henry (ribs) both had full participation in practice, as did G Montrae Holland (shoulder), MLB D.J. Williams (shoulder) and DT Antwon Burton (ankle).
