Eleven things about the Broncos — Randy Gregory edition — as they try to end a five-game losing streak Sunday at home against Arizona.
1. Denver outside linebacker Randy Gregory has no thoughts of shutting down his season despite already missing 10 weeks with a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery and roughly twice the rehabilitation time he was hoping for. Why not?
2. “I’ve shut it down enough,” Gregory said this past week. “I’ve missed a lot of time. … I’ve been hurt most of the year, so to be able to go out there and play and end the year healthy and in the right mindset, thatap important for me.”
3. Gregory, who returned to practice from injured reserve this past week, is keenly aware of the number of games he’s missed in his career. He made it clear he wants to get back on the field not just to get over the hurdle of playing again and making plays on his surgically repaired knee, but because he feels an obligation to help general manager George Paton, who gave him $28 million guaranteed on a five-year deal, and head coach Nathaniel Hackett, who is 3-10 in his first season as head coach.
4. “I think itap important not only for myself but for everyone,” Gregory said of his return. “Itap a new setting for us all, new team top to bottom, so I think itap big for me or for anybody to get out there and for us to get that cohesiveness and things like that heading into the offseason and heading into next year. Go out on a good note, at least.”
5. Denver has not won a game since it traded Bradley Chubb to Miami for a first-round draft pick. Thatap not to say, of course, that the losing streak is all on the outside linebacker group — far from it — but Chubb’s presence has clearly been greatly missed on the field and in the locker room.
6. Second-year men Baron Browning and Jonathon Cooper and rookie second-round pick Nik Bonitto have combined for three sacks and eight quarterback hits over the past five weeks. In the past two weeks, Browning (a sack and three hits) and Cooper (two sacks, three hits) have provided a bit of a surge.
7. “They’ve stepped up as a unit,” Gregory said. “Nik and Baron, obviously, they’re young. Baron, this is his first year playing this position and Nik, this is his first year in the league. Getting them just reps in general is big. Getting them different looks that they can see. I feel like they did a good job stepping in.”
8. Bonitto’s playing time has sagged in recent weeks and Gregory made it pretty clear what he thinks the former Oklahoma standout should take from his debut season. “Nik, obviously, has a lot he has to do better as a player and as a professional and I think he knows that,” Gregory said. “Baron, there’s little nuances to his game he can fix. He can look at the offense and get keys and things like that. Itap just part of experience and going out there and getting your feet wet. Itap good that they got a chance to do that.”
9. Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero said he thinks Denver’s linebacker group has acquitted itself well overall and that Gregory’s return will make life easier for them. “When he’s out there, you’ve got to give him a lot of respect in terms of the protection schemes,” Evero said. “But I think when other teams look at Baron and ‘Coop,’ they now say, ‘Well, those guys are hard to deal with as well.’ We feel like all those guys they’re going to have to find answers for.”
10. Gregory said the extent to which he plays down the stretch will depend on just how well his right knee, on which he had arthroscopic surgery to address meniscus and other damage, holds up.
11. “I’ve been through this injury before and every single one has been a little bit different than the last,” Gregory said. “This one was a little bit different than the one I had a couple of years ago. That, coupled with me being a little bit older, takes a little bit more time to get back. Itap important for me to get back and get back the right way and be healthy and be the player I know I can be.”
