Fresh off his Trilogy of Doom, Todd Sauerbrun has no regrets.
The Broncos’ punter/kickoff specialist could not have experienced a worse sequence of events in the second half Sunday against the Chicago Bears. He had a punt returned for a touchdown by Devin Hester and a kickoff returned for a touchdown by Hester, then had a punt blocked, setting up another touchdown, while trying to direct a punt away from Hester.
Did one bother him more than the others?
“No, they’re pretty much equal,” Sauerbrun said. “They’re still burying me back in Chicago. I have a friend back there who said, ‘You should hear what they’re saying about you.’ ”
Most of the insults are ha-ha stuff. A former Bear, Sauerbrun said last week the Broncos wouldn’t play chicken when it came to Hester, who is unquestionably the league’s most feared returner.
Sauerbrun also presented glowing praise of Hester, but somehow only the prideful portion of his statement, not the compliments, made it to Chicago.
“Just because of my personality, I’d do it again,” Sauerbrun said.
Fortunately for the Broncos, Raiders returner Chris Carr is no Devin Hester. Carr ranks 30th in kick returns, and the Raiders collectively rank 32nd in punt returns.
Not that those stats came from Sauerbrun. Many athletes don’t like to jinx themselves by talking about how they will attack an opponent, no matter how respectful their intentions.
“Yeah, it was a little bit of a jinx,” Sauerbrun said.
Backing up Travis. It appears Selvin Young will back up Travis Henry at tailback Sunday against the Raiders, but Andre Hall, who rushed for 98 yards Sunday against the Bears, may be sidelined. Hall missed a second consecutive workout Thursday with a high ankle sprain. He will try to practice on a limited basis today.
In other health news, receiver Brandon Stokley (knee) returned to practice Thursday.
Stay low, boys. There are hostile environments throughout the NFL for visiting teams. Then there’s the Black Hole in Oakland.
“It’s crazy because the fans are so crazy,” said Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey. “The buses get egged on the way in.”
Big in size, not ego. Broncos rookie defensive tackle Marcus Thomas has been playing at least half the snaps for several weeks, yet he still can be seen wearing a redshirt over his practice jersey on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Redshirts are for the scout team, which is almost exclusively reserved for those whose playing time is limited to special teams. Thomas plays his share of special teams, too, but he might be the player used most regularly on the scout team.
“It keeps me in shape. That’s the way I look at it,” Thomas said. “It gets me more time to work on my technique. It doesn’t bother me at all.”
