ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Practice was finished, preparations for the Tennessee Titans were pretty much closed and quarterback Russell Wilson thought it was a good time to play some 1970s love songs.
“Easy” by The Commodores. “Loving you is easy cause you’re beautiful” by Minnie Riperton. Wilson cranked his music up loud. The songs drew some grins. And some singalongs.
Let there be no doubt these rough, tough football players are comfortable in their own skin.
Halfway through the Commodores’ classic, running back Melvin Gordon III came over to pull Wilson away from his music box and his locker. A bunch of the vets play “Uno” on Fridays after practice and Wilson was called in to participate.
If there was any concern about a virus bug that’s been going around, none of the players showed it. Backup cornerback Darius Phillips was ill and didn’t practice Thursday and two other players, Nik Bonitto and Kendall Hinton, joined Phillips in the sick bay Friday.
Those three players are listed as questionable for the Broncos’ game Sunday in Nashville. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett was no help in pinpointing the sickness.
Was it flu-related?
“It’s just an illness,’’ he said.
Is it COVID-related?
“It’s just an illness,’’ he said.
There are HIPPA that prevent management from revealing details about an employees’ illness. But there was also this: None of the healthy players in the locker room were masked up. Sources say a couple players are simply under the weather.
The NFL has drastically relaxed, if not completed eliminated, its COVID-19 protocols. The flu is going around the country. Some COVID cases have also been reported.
The Broncos figure to do everything possible to especially get Bonitto well as he plays outside linebacker and the team is already without what had been their top three top players at the position. Bradley Chubb was traded away last week. Randy Gregory will miss his fifth game to recover from knee surgery. And Baron Browning will miss his second consecutive game because of a hip flexor.
The hamstring virus
Hackett didn’t want to divulge much information about the bug going around. So what about all these hamstring maladies? Deep-ball receiver KJ Hamler and fullback/tight end Andrew Beck each suffered hamstring injuries during practice this week and both players were declared “out” for the game against Tennessee.
They follow the starter likes of Greg Dulcich, Quinn Meinerz and Wilson who have missed games because of hamstrings. Several other backup players have also missed games with hamstrings.
“We evaluate everything,’’ Hackett said in what has become his fallback response. “We have really good people here and everybody is doing everything they can to get these guys to be out in practice, in the games and to be able to play at a high level.
“Those things, they happen. It’s a part of the game. Some are early in practice, some are in the middle of practice. You never know when that is going to happen. Some guys are more susceptible than others. There are so many different things that go into that. It’s not just one thing and we are going to do everything we can to prevent that.”
Bronco Bits
(Update): Starting safety Justin Simmons will not play against the Titans, a source confirmed. He was practicing with the first-team defense during the media-viewing period Friday but apparently the knee didn't come around as hoped. After playing in 66 consecutive games from the start of the 2018 season through the season opener in 2022, Simmons will miss his fifth game this year. He was sidelined 4 games earlier this year with a quad injury …
The Broncos practiced inside Friday at the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse. The air was crisp, but 32 degrees and sunny. And the forecast is crisp, about 40 degrees in Nashville for the game Sunday afternoon (11 a.m. kickoff Colorado time). “It’s just a little tighter,’’ Hackett said about practicing indoors. “It’s just a change up.”
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