If it’s fourth-and-10, time is running out and the Broncos are losing, Mike Shanahan might call a running play.
But better believe his linemen will explode off the snap with every ounce of inner force, the receivers will doggedly throw blocks downfield, and the tailback will run and spin with the expectation they will be 10 yards farther up field.
It doesn’t matter what the fans think of Shanahan’s play-calling this season or that the NFL is mad at the Broncos’ coach for trying to coerce a slanted jury closer to neutral.
What matters are the players in the locker room. They heard how Shanahan dared to defend Travis Henry last week. The Broncos’ star running back is down. He is facing fourth- and-long. Time is running out.
And yet before the American public, Shanahan gave Henry his unwavering support. He didn’t give Henry the ball, exactly. But he did deliver stirring testimony on his behalf.
“It does mean something when you have a coach that believes in your players,” Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. “Everybody’s beating (Henry) up. One thing about the league, they don’t give everybody details. They’ll let people think this guy is a drug addict. And it’s not like that.”
Cynics may question Shanahan’s motive. After all, if Henry is dinged for a one-year suspension, Shanahan and the Broncos look bad, too, even if it wouldn’t be all that costly. Safeguard contractual clauses would limit the Broncos’ payout to less than $5 million if come Tuesday Henry never wears the orange and blue again.
But would Shanahan have so staunchly supported a lower-profile player?
“He did the same thing with David Kircus,” Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler said. “He firmly believes that until the justice system proves otherwise, we’re going to stick together as a family.”
Kircus was essentially a minimum- wage player, getting ready to compete for the 53rd man on the 53-man roster when he beat up a guy at a party. Kircus was charged with assault, but Shanahan stuck by Kircus after administering a lie-detector test.
Shanahan gave Henry a lie-detector test, too. The charge against Henry is 21 nanograms of THC, the component that – sniff! – puts the buzz in marijuana. Shanahan says 21 nanograms is too low a reading to be considered a valid test in most states, including Colorado. Shanahan added that Henry had clean urine samples a few days before the alleged positive test, and a few days after.
If THC stays in one’s system for 30 days, how can there be a positive test? The NFL didn’t like Shanahan revealing what it wanted to keep confidential. They had an NFL official call him last week and tell him so. Nor did they care for Shanahan letting the public in on Henry passing the lie-detector test and also having a hair follicle sample come up clean.
At worst, Shanahan inflamed NFL egos into stubborn judgment. At best, he gave hope to what seemed like an unwinnable case from the outset – the presiding judge in Henry’s appeal hearing Friday was Jeffrey Pash, an NFL executive vice president and legal counsel – and sent a message to his players that in times of trouble, they have a friend upstairs.
“I don’t think there’s a problem he hasn’t seen before,” Bailey said. “I don’t think he condones a lot of things players get in trouble with. But his stance is: It happened, OK, let’s help this guy get through it. People make mistakes.”
It’s been a tough year for Shanahan. There have been injuries, the occasional butt-whipping, and more losses than wins. It’s been a tough year for Henry. Injuries, revelations of polygamous relationships, and 21 nanograms.
The difference is, even if Henry loses, Shanahan will have won over the locker room, corny as it sounds.
“Especially this time of year when you’re playing through the pain and soreness, it makes you want to fight for a guy you know has your back,” Scheffler said.
