An ankle injury had no chance of stopping . Not after 2013, when he suffered a bruised spinal cord and endured a trying recovery to get back on the field. Not after dealing with an ankle injury last year in training camp, plus two injured discs in his neck and a fracture in his elbow during the season.
Wolfe, the most-tenured Bronco on the defensive line, has said he’s used to pain. “My whole life has been painful,” he told The Post last season.
So ankle sprain? No chance of holding him back, especially not with San Diego’s rolling into town for the season opener on Monday Night Football.
Wolfe has always been vocal about his enjoyment facing Rivers, the trash-talking quarterback who does not curse. And, after a few missed weeks of practice to recover, Wolfe seems hungrier than ever to face his divisional nemesis.
“It’s just weird,” Wolfe said. “It’s weird, but it makes me angry. It’s just nonstop. Always got something to say. But it’s fun. I play better when I’m angry, so keep saying it. Keep saying stuff to me.
“I don’t even know what he says. It doesn’t make any sense. He called me a crybaby one time and I was just like, ‘What?’ … He’s a fun guy to play against.”
Wolfe is back. As if he ever really left for those few weeks to rehabilitate.
The ankle injury, he said, was a minor obstacle to the start of his season, but it at least afforded him enough time to rehab in time for the opener.
“Being hurt like that, I was just starting to get in shape and my motor was going and everything was good and then it was like, boom, you have a little setback,” he said. “But for me, I’m ready. Sitting in a training room and healing and getting ready, working out and finally getting to practice this week — I know I’m ready. I know the defense is ready. And I definitely know the offense is ready because Trevor (Siemian) is out there slinging the ball around and looks really good.”
Wolfe said he didn’t want to return until he was fully healed, and for good reason. For a player in the trenches, he needed the ankle to be 100 percent before it could handle his weight and that of 350-pound offensive linemen tugging on him.
Now, he doesn’t even think about. He tapes both ankles the same and approaches the game just as he always had — especially a game against Rivers.
“I just want to put Philip Rivers on the ground,” he said. “That’s all I’m thinking about. I’m not thinking about the spotlight, this and that. I don’t really think about that stuff. I just think about doing my job to the best of my ability. I don’t think about the crowd, I don’t think about the spotlight, I don’t think about what am I going to say to the cameras afterward — what are they going to ask me, what questions?’ I don’t think about any of that. I just think about how can I grade the best I can possibly grade at my job.”
