It’s quite possible that Andre Hall will become the central figure of today’s game.
He’s the only running back among the Broncos’ three men on the depth chart who is not listed as questionable or worse on the injury report, with Selvin Young only limited in one day of practice with Travis Henry sitting out the week entirely. He’s the Broncos’ first-team kickoff returner, meaning he will be asked to answer Pro Bowler Devin Hester’s game-breaking potential — and also potentially stop him on kick coverage.
It’s no wonder, then, that Hall had put the 62-yard game-clinching touchdown run of last Monday night in his rear-view mirror.
“After we watched film, it was off to Chicago,” Hall said. “It was done.”
So much for the 24-hour rule regarding enjoyment of game-time accomplishments. For Hall, it was barely 12.
Now, Hall is back in the place where he suited up for a pair of preseason games in 2006. He’s a former Bear, but there’s no evidence of his quick passage through the Windy City in their media guide, since he wasn’t with the team for the regular season. They, like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier that summer, had let him go.
“In Chicago, before they brought me in, they told me it was just going to be for training camp,” Hall said in an interview earlier this year. “I was going to be a training-camp body.
“Jerry Angelo (Chicago’s general manager) wanted to get me in, get some film for me and work with me a little bit. And it helped me out,” Hall said. “(The Broncos) were able to see me on film.”
All was well that ended well for Hall, who runs with chips on his shoulder from each of the previous stops in his career. But even in the moments following his breakthrough quarter Monday night, he admitted that he’d thought about showing his former team a thing or two about what it let go.
“You know I have,” Hall said, smiling. “You know I have.
“I just want to hit Devin Hester, man. That’s all I want to do. When I was over there, that’s who I roomed with. We were good friends.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t throw a big one on us.”
Indeed, it’s the Broncos’ fondest hope for Week 12 that Hall will throw a big one on the Bears.
“I’m ready to go,” he said.
Sometimes a sprained ankle can be as pricey to a man’s career as a torn anterior cruciate ligament or a compound fracture.