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| | | | | | | | Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Davis feeling only normal soreness on day after
Associated Press
DENVER -- Terrell Davis was feeling sore, and the Denver
Broncos couldn't be happier.
Davis, playing a full game for the first time this season, came
out of Sunday's 30-23 victory over the New York Jets with only
normal soreness from having carried 33 times for 115 yards and with
no lingering pain from his right knee or left ankle.
|  | | Terrell Davis attempts to break away from Jets cornerback Marcus Coleman on Sunday. |
"Terrell had no setback after the game, so that's a positive,"
coach Mike Shanahan said Monday. "And it's a positive, too, that
today all he is sore. It's that good kind of soreness where his
knee's not bothering him or his ankle's not bothering him. It's
just the wear and tear of the game."
Davis, who had reconstructive knee surgery 13 months ago,
severely sprained his left ankle and foot in the season opener and
had been hobbled since then, missing five games and playing
sparingly in two.
Shanahan said Davis benefitted from both his long layoff, which
included a bye week last week, and the fact that he returned to
practice when the team worked out in pads, in contrast to its usual
non-contact workouts. Shanahan ordered the extra hitting after a
31-21 loss to Cincinnati.
"I think normally without the bye week and without those pads,
it would have been very hard for him to carry the ball 33 times,"
Shanahan said. "He had seven, eight weeks to get the ankle healed.
And the amount of time he spent on the treadmill and the four or
five practices he had in pads was a big plus for him. He looked
like he was in great shape.
"Even more important than the number of carries he had was how
well he blocked - just his knowledge of defenses, of going from a
three-man front to a four-man front to the nickel. Having him in
there on pass protection was sure nice. And to the average lay
person, I don't think they really know how much that leadership
means to a team."
The Broncos, under siege from injuries all season, emerged
relatively unscathed from Sunday's game.
"It's probably as healthy as we've been," Shanahan said.
Fullback Howard Griffith has a sprained big toe on his right
foot, and defensive end Kavika Pittman has an injured right knee,
but both injuries are believed minor.
Offensive guard Mark Schlereth, who had arthroscopic surgery on
his left knee Oct. 16 and has missed the last two games, is
improved. "There's a good chance that he'll be able to practice on
Thursday," Shanahan said.
Running back KaRon Coleman (ankle) and wide receiver Chris Cole
(elbow) should be able to return this week. Wide receiver Robert
Brooks (hamstring) and linebacker Keith Burns (hamstring) played
Sunday and experienced no setbacks.
MORE HITTING?:
Shanahan was secretive Monday when asked if his
team would continue to practice in pads.
"It'll be a surprise," he said.
Asked if the extra contact helped not only Davis but the entire
team, Shanahan said, "I really don't know. We've still got to
tighten it up a little bit in the running game. We still had a
couple of missed tackles in there. We still gave up too many yards
rushing (88), even though the Jets had only two first downs
rushing.
"We're not where we want to be, but we made the plays when we
had to make them. I thought we had some great effort, a lot of guys
flying around. I was proud of the way we hung in there and fought
and found a way to win."
The Broncos (5-4) have three long practices this week - instead
of two - on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as they prepare for a
Monday night home game against the Oakland Raiders (8-1).
A loss to the Raiders would put Denver four games behind with
six games remaining, all but mathematically eliminating them from
the division race. But Shanahan refused to be drawn into such
speculation.
"We've seen teams that start the season 5-0 not make the
playoffs and teams that were 0-5 make the playoffs," he said.
"It's a matter of how you play with seven games left.
"Now, if you're talking about this with two games left, it
would make sense. But talking about who can make the playoffs with
seven games left is, to me, ridiculous.
"I don't know what's going to happen with the wildcard. In the
last 10 years, I believe there were two teams with 10 wins that
didn't make it. We're just going to worry about the Raiders. We dug
ourselves a little hole, and we've got a chance to get out of it.
So hopefully, over the next seven games we'll keep getting better
and find ways to win. If we do that, then we have a chance to do
something special in the playoffs."
FURIOUS FINISH:
Sunday's game became frenzied in the final
minute, with the Jets benefitting from a questionable
pass-interference call to get a first-and-goal from the 2-yard line
and Vinny Testaverde's fourth-down pass falling just shy of
intended receiver Richie Anderson.
"There's nothing you can do about it," Shanahan said of the
penalty. "Like I tell our players, after a call is made, you've
got to forget about it and go on. You can only worry about things
you have control over. That's what they did.
"It wouldn't have been so bad because I didn't see it. Then I
saw it on the replay and about threw up."
Shanahan also said linebacker Glenn Cadrez, who rushed
Testaverde on the fourth-down play and forced a hurried throw, was
supposed to be covering Anderson in the flat.
"Glenn knew, at least in my mind, that he had made a mistake,"
Shanahan said. "He thought he had better make that tackle on
Vinny. But Vinny is a strong guy and can make people miss. He threw
it a little quicker than he wanted to, and thank God it was a
little bit underthrown."
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