In many ways, it is as though the Broncos are at the cusp of a new season, since they hold a share of first place in the AFC West after coming from two games below .500 to get back to all square at 5-5.
The same is true for Javon Walker, who not only returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since Oct. 17, but went through a full afternoon of work in his initial session following knee surgery 33 days ago.
“It’s like coming in the first day to start workouts again,” Walker said. “Obviously I’m very excited to come back at a time like this where we’re tied for first.”
Walker expects to play Sunday at Chicago, and Head Coach Mike Shanahan concurred.
“If there’s no setback (then) by the end of the week, he should be ready to go,” Shanahan said.
“If I can come out here and run some good routes against these DBs (defensive backs), I’m pretty sure I’ll be ready to go Sunday against somebody else’s DBs,” Walker added.
But while he feels he’s ready to play, he’s not 100 percent.
“It’s not completely healed,” Walker said. “Everybody knows you’re not going to play an NFL season with something completely healed, but it’s something I can work through. It feels good, and I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to slow me down.”
One player who was slowed Wednesday was fellow wide receiver Glenn Martinez, who sat out the session with an ankle injury.
“He’s still a little sore,” Shanahan said. “He went through walk-throughs, but didn’t feel like he was able to go today, so we’ll see how he is (Thursday).”
Joining Martinez on the sidelines were running backs Travis Henry and Selvin Young — both of whom have knee injuries — and fullback Paul Smith, who missed Monday night’s game with a calf problem.
Meanwhile, seven Chicago Bears did not practice Wednesday: Wide receiver Bernard Berrian (toe), linebacker Lance Briggs (knee), defensive tackle Tommie Harris (knee), cornerbacks Ricky Manning (illness), Nathan Vasher (groin) and Trumaine McBride (hip) and running back Jason McKie (foot).
Tags: Glenn Martinez, Javon Walker, Mike Shanahan, Travis Henry
Hallaluja! If we could just get as healthy as possible, we could be in position for a division title. One game at a time…take care of business. Don’t let the lowly Bears sneak up on you guys. Bust ‘em in the mouth.
hear that?sounds like the broncos winning the AFC WEST!it feels great having walker back isnt it masonry?
3 of bears cornerbacks hurting….I smell a bloodbath coming for Chicago with B-Marsh, Walker and Stokes on the field at the same time. I hope we see a lot of 3 and 4 receiver sets and deep shots on Sun.
It will be sweet to have Javon back! Especially with the injuries at RB. Hall looks good, but like Young, he might not survive too many inside runs unscathed… What if he goes down? Where is Mike Bell? As I seem to recall, he did a pretty good job last year… Again, it’s great to get one of the best receivers in the game back in the lineup. Let’s get him a couple of TD’s now!
Now the team has to be feeling pretty good after being able to beat some good teams without Javon. He is going to make an instant impact on the game sunday!
let’s just hope the team doesn’t let the big win on monday night go to their heads. chicago is still a team capable of big wins, and soldier field is a tough place to play. they better have their heads on straight!
I think the Bears should be an easy game on defense because Rex grossman sucks. he would be intercepted at least 5 times sunday and the running game is not stable in chicago.
As for the offense, running is gonna be easier than vs tenessee and like wormyblackburny, with 3 hurt DBs , Javon and espacially stokes Little T.O would have a very easy game. I think Abdullah rox! Fergie is not as good as Abdullah is.
Islamic Pride!!!
Great news… hope he can come back as soon as possible. Just hope he hasn’t lost his edge, I’m sure he hasn’t - he’s too good. He’s got his whole future ahead of him and plenty of playing time left. Should be a pretty good game on Sunday since we’re playing a team that I thought was going to be a threat coming in this year but that was clearly WAY off. Just shows that anything can happen at any given time, and that’s why we should still play STRONG on Sunday. No reason for us to slack off, crush those Bears. Grrrrrrrrrrr…
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!
its great that walker is comming back but i think they might want to sit him or at least keep him from going over the middle….thats all we need is for him to go down again. i look for champ and dre to hav big a big game haahaaaa grossman will prolly get pulled after half time
Would be nice if grossman would be out and they put in Griese !! Anyway , there’s no easy game in the NFL exept for New England , everybody can win on any given sunday ( exept Miami ! ) : who do you think in the whole world was giving the broncos any chance to win in KC after the terrible performance in Detroit ?I don’t foresee walker being an impact sunday but i hope i’m wrong , the man’s talented and so is the other guy thowing , it’s amazing what cuttler has done whith a second year player as number one target and on the other side , a slot receiver !!!! There’s some Tom Brady in this guy , not to mention God himself (John 2 SB in a row Elway ) .
Having Walker back is a good thing even if he’s not at full speed yet. He will probably be more used as a 3rd option. That’s great, we don’t want to see him hurt right away also having him on the field should open things even more for Stokely to run his quick slants.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Very exciting that we will have another weapon on an offense that has been playing very well recently, especially one of such great caliber. Even if he is used more as a decoy, that will open up Stokely, Scheffler and Graham more because of the forced CB on him. Nice to see Graham being included more in the passing game. Two TE sets for us should be a great passing down mismatch as well as a running formation,
Seems there is 3 headed horse in the backfield. Jim Turner has got to be the best RB coach in the NFL. What is the status of Selvin?
It was nice to see Sam Adams pushing 2 guys into the backfield last week. Looked like his best game by far. Mallard and Petersen contributed quietly. The rookies are starting to make thier presence known: Crowder and Thomas.
They stop the run this week and I will start to become a believer in the Bates system. It will be a long day for Rex if we stop the run and Elvis should have a great day and get 2 sacks and Bly and Bailey should add stats to thier respective careers. Hopefully Crowder will start to get some attention so Elvis can get freed up more.
Go BRONCOS, Oakland, Baltimore, Cinncinatti, Buffalo, Houston, Miami,Atlanta
So is there practice today? or when’s the next practice?
You mean Bobby Turner?
it’s good news that javon might be ready to play against the bears. however, if he’s a no go i think we have some outstanding young recievers who have stepped in and done a tremendous job , not to mention how well brandon stokley haas performed at wideout. heck, they only accounted for 3 touchdowns over 40 yards last week though one be a punt return! i hope javon can come in and play at their level!
keep playing tough sunday 1!! go broncos!!!
It will be interesting to see how the offense comes together with Walker back especially with Marshall, Stokley and Sheffler now the core of the passing game. Where does Walker fit in?
I did mean Bobby Turner, don’t know where Jim came from. Wish our backs were healthy, it’d be nice to have all our player that are not on injured reserve playing at the same time.