Nothing is scarier on a football field than seeing a player down after he had just led with his head on a tackle, and then have 10 of his teammates take off their helmets and kneel down around him in prayer.
Broncos safety T.J. Ward was the player down with a neck injury. He had just made a tackle on Cincinnati running back Giovani Bernard at the Denver 5 yard line, forcing the Bengals to settle for a field goal.
Ward had seemed to fall forward awkwardly as he was making the tackle and for a moment his injury appeared extremely serious.
But a few minutes later, Ward was able to sit up and walk off the field under his power. His teammates stood up, put their helmets on and finished the game.Ward could not. The team said he suffered a neck injury and he will be evaluated further during the week,including an MRI exam on Tuesday.
Sanders injured. Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders again showed his grit as he returned from a bout of the flu to catch six passes for 70 yards including two touchdowns.
Sanders left the game in the second half, however, because of back spasms and did not return.
Not so special teams. Returning the ball is not a problem. Omar Bolden’s 77-yard kickoff to start the second half gave the Broncos a jolt. And Wes Welker was solid as a punt returner.
But the Broncos’ coverage units continued their season-long struggle, surrendering punt returns of 49 yards to Brandon Tate and 21 yards to Adam Jones, and an 80-yard kickoff return to Jones.
“The kicking game, as far as coverage, kind of broke down,” said Broncos coach John Fox. “I think we gave up (206) yards return yards, which didn’t help our cause.”
