A player’s only meeting on Tuesday morning gave the Broncos a chance to speak their minds and emerge as a cohesive unit, players said Wednesday.
Broncos captain Brian Dawkins led the meeting, and other players had the chance to speak as well.
“It felt great, I think we needed that to get all our players on the same page,” Buckhalter said.
Buckhalter and Dawkins were longtime teammates in Philadelphia, where such player’s only meetings were common, Buckhalter said.
“It helped us a lot,” Dawkins said. “We had a lot of success there, and I think it’s going to help us Thursday night.”
Veteran corner Champ Bailey said it was good get the chance to talk, but the whether the meeting was successful or not will be determined by how the team responds on the field.
“I was pretty encouraged to talk to some of my teammates, but what’s going to encourage me more is if we play better,” Bailey said. “It’s not really what people say, it’s what they do.”
Coach Josh McDaniels played coy when asked during his Wednesday press conference about the player’s meeting, choosing to talk about such a meeting in a hypothetical scenario that happened with, say, the New York Yankees.
“I think that any time players want to speak to one another, whatever that may be, whatever those subjects or topics may be, and just make sure they’re on the same page,” McDaniels said. “Communication is a very vital part of our organization, our team, our game plan each week, so there is nothing more than the communication between players. If they feel that’s necessary and they want to do something like that, then I’m sure that Joe Girardi would let them do that.”
McDaniels also said Wednesday that right tackle Ryan Harris has been ruled out of Thursday’s game. Harris has not played since dislocating his big toe against Baltimore on Nov. 1. He participated in Tuesday’s jog through, but was limited, and the short week hurt his chance to be ready for the Giants.
University of Colorado and Cherry Creek grad Tyler Polumbus will get his third consecutive start.
McDaniels also said Dawkins is continuing to feel better. Dawkins missed most of the second quarter and all of the second half of Sunday’s loss to San Diego with a neck injury.
Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com
Ryan Harris out, Dawkins should play
The short week may have cost Broncos RT Ryan Harris a fourth game. Out since dislocating his big right toe Nov. 1 against Baltimore, Harris may well have returned this week had there been a normal week of practice.
Instead, with the Broncos having just two walk-through sessions prior to their game Thanksgiving night against the New York giants, Harris’ return is set for Dec. 6 at Kansas City.
“He will not play this week,” said Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. “He’s doing better. He’s getting close. He’s worked extremely hard to get back on the field but I don’t think we need to keep that a secret, anymore.”
Broncos safety Brian Dawkins, however, appears to have a decent chance to play despite a neck injury that forced him to sit out the second half of the game Sunday against the San Diego Chargers.
“Brian’s doing better so we’re hopeful that he will be fine,” McDaniels said.
— Mike Klis, The Denver Post
