Cory Boyd had been a scout team star.
For a month, the rookie running back from South Carolina had impressed the Broncos while practicing against the first-string defense.
When Broncos tailback Peyton Hillis suffered a season-ending hamstring injury against Kansas City, Boyd got his chance. Not only was Boyd promoted from the practice squad to the 53-man roster, he ran with the first-string offense the Wednesday before the Broncos were to play Carolina.
The next day, Boyd was back to fourth string. He didn’t dress against Oakland, and the following day Boyd was waived.
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said Boyd wasn’t ready.
“Hesitating,” Boyd said this week. “Thinking too much. Don’t think, just go out there and play. He probably felt like I knew the offense and I knew what I needed to do, but he wanted to see me go a little faster.”
The Broncos immediately re-signed Boyd to their practice squad, but then running backs Selvin Young and P.J. Pope suffered season-ending injuries Sunday against Buffalo. Boyd will likely share tailback duties with Tatum Bell on Sunday night against San Diego.
Flex-ed attitude.
If Brandon Marshall didn’t know better, he would have thought the NFL was waiting on the Broncos to fold.
The Broncos receiver was surfing through the Internet last week when he noticed the NFL and NBC had not yet announced its flex Sunday night matchup for Week 17. At the time, the Broncos were atop the AFC West with an 8-6 record while time was running out on the 6-8 San Diego Chargers.
But then the Chargers beat Tampa Bay while the Broncos were stunned by Buffalo and now, because San Diego owns the tiebreaker, the Broncos are confronting a playoff-or-bust game Sunday night at Qualcomm Stadium.
“First thing I thought was, ‘Man, they’re waiting on the AFC West to see what’s going on,’ ” Marshall said. “And man, ‘Sunday Night Football,’ as soon as we lost, within 20 minutes they had that up there. They had the whole spiel. It got all of us excited.
“They did a good job of waiting. This is going to be a good one. It’s going to be a hard-hitting game. There’s going to be a little jawing going back and forth, I’m sure. We’re going to keep it all within the rules, but it’s going to be an exciting game, probably one of the best games of the year.”
Good guy Ebenezer.
Veteran defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban received the Darrent Williams Good Guy Award as the Broncos player who best demonstrated professional decorum with the media.
“What I try to tell the young guys, it doesn’t hurt,” Ekuban said. “Just be yourself. Good games, bad games, they’re not out to get you.”
Many players believe differently.
“Yeah, I thought that once, too, when I was younger,” Ekuban said. “But as I’ve grown older, if you carry yourself the right way, you don’t put yourself in position where people can attack you, they’re not going to be out to get you.”
Footnotes.
Left tackle Ryan Clady (ankle) and tight end Daniel Graham (ankle) were held out of practice Wednesday but are expected to play Sunday. . . . The Broncos lost practice squad linebacker Tyson Smith, who was signed to Washington’s 53-man roster.
Mike Klis, The Denver Post
