Rice Takes

Undoubtedly, it didn’t happen for the Broncos on Sunday in Detroit. “It” is anything positive. It was a game to forget in every respect. It was a game in which everything that has been a problem for the Broncos was exposed in a huge way.

Head Coach Mike Shanahan and the players have repeatedly said that injuries are not an excuse. I agree with that. The bottom line in the NFL is winning and losing. It really doesn’t matter how a team wins. I’m not sure, for example, the Packers have looked great in every game this year. But they’re 7-1.

I’m also not sure how good the Broncos were before the injuries started hitting. And let’s remember the list is long: Javon Walker, Travis Henry, Nate Jackson, Tom Nalen, Ben Hamilton, Jay Cutler, Ebenezer Ekuban, Jarvis Moss, John Lynch, Rod Smith, Stephen Alexander, and Tony Scheffler. Those are just the guys I can think of off the top of my head.

Everyone can agree that it would be hard for any team to overcome that many injuries in one season, even though some, like Scheffler, eventually returned to action.

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It’s one of those moments everyone dreads: Seeing a player motionless on the field. One of those moments came Thursday morning when Broncos’ linebacker Warrick Holdman collided with a teammate and didn’t get up.

As of Thursday night, Holdman was at Sky Ridge Medical Center with a spinal cord concussion. Needless to say, he and his family are in our thoughts and prayers.

It is amazing how quickly sports can become secondary to life’s more important things, such as health. While fans root for teams and players, and members of the media report on their endeavors, players are still people. They are people with lives, hopes, dreams, ambitions, likes and dislikes.

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