Broncos' Gary Kubiak updates the status of Wade Phillips

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – The Denver Broncos were feeling fortunate on Monday morning as defensive coordinator Wade Phillips—who was run over by Chargers’ Melvin Gordon on the sideline Sunday—was back at work and back to being Wade.

“He was sitting in the back of the meeting just now with a smile on his face,” head coach Gary Kubiak told media with a smile of his own. “He’s sore, but he’s feeling good. In fact, I’m trying to get him to go home and rest a little bit today, and he doesn’t want to do that, so he’s good.”

After the hit, which left Phillips flattened for several minutes on the sideline, reports began to circulate regarding what injuries he had sustained, with various ideas ranging from a broken leg to a concussion going around. On Monday, Kubiak assured Broncos Country that all of that was false.

“He just got the heck knocked out of him,” the coach explained. “Just a scary situation right there but, as I told you all after the game, he was talking to us and responding to us on the field, so we just feel very fortunate that he’s okay.”

That fortunate feeling is certainly justified, the average 69-year-old body is not built to sustain collisions like the one Phillips was involved in on the field, but despite that, it sure doesn’t sound like the Broncos are taking the close call as a signal to move their defensive coordinator up to the booth.

“There’s a lot of guys down there that can’t move very well,” Kubiak said, inciting big laughs from the crowd of media. “We’ll see how Wade’s feeling. What I’m seeing today, he’s himself today. The fact that he’s battling me today when I’m trying to get him to go home and get some rest makes me know he’s back to his old self, so we’ll see.”

Who knew that the defensive guru was just as tough as the league-best defense he leads every week?