Graham Glasgow knew something wasn’t right with his heart.
That feeling came over him on the Broncos’ second offensive series in their season opener at MetLife Stadium when the right guard felt like his heart was beating out of his chest.
He continued to battle that feeling the entire game before being pulled for the final series. By the time he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital after the win over the Giants, the medical staff determined Glasgow had gone into Atrial fibrillation (known as A-fib).
“I felt like I had to move my pads away from my chest to make room for (my heart beating),” Glasgow said Monday. “I didn’t really know what it was — I thought it was maybe an anxiety attack, but I’ve never had one of those either. Then I thought maybe it was an asthma attack, because it was difficult to breathe.”
That wasn’t the only adversity Glasgow has faced in his second year in Denver.
Glasgow missed the Broncos’ Week 2 win over the Jaguars while recovering from A-fib, then hurt his knee in the third quarter of the Week 3 home opener against the Jets. That shelved the 29-year-old for the rest of the game and for Week 4 against the Ravens. He played his first full game of 2021 Sunday in Pittsburgh, where he surrendered a third-quarter sack to Henry Mondeaux, one of two Denver gave up.
The right guard showed enough in the 27-19 loss to the Steelers to get a passing grade from coach Vic Fangio.
“I thought overall (his performance) was fine, especially coming back from the injury,” Fangio said. “He’s had a choppy season here health-wise, and I’m sure it’s affected him. But he’s a pro, and if he’s out there, he’s capable of playing.”
Glasgow described his season as “pretty difficult” but is grateful to be back for a full week of practice leading into the Broncos’ divisional opener at home against the Raiders this Sunday. Second-year pro Netane Muti had filled in at right guard for Glasgow, who finally returned to practice as a full participant last Friday.
“The fact I made it through a game and I’m not going to have to sit out, that’s pretty good,” Glasgow said. “It’s been hard to get into a rhythm so far, but I’m looking to come back this week and have an actual week of practice.”
He described the A-fib attack as “just weird,” noting that he does not have a family history of arrhythmia. He said he’s confident proper hydration and sleep will prevent another incident, but that if an A-fib attack does happen again during a game, he will leave.
“(Doctors) told me that if it does happen again, I should take myself out so that nothing bad were to happen with a possible stroke or something,” Glasgow said. “So knowing the potential long-term ramifications of it, I think I would probably want to get out of (the game) as fast as I could.”
