Broncos Notebook: Multiple injured players trending up

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Finally, finally, finally some good news on the injury front for the Broncos.

After numerous six-to-eight week injuries and multiple players finding their way to the injured reserve, Vic Fangio finally was able to deliver good news about many of his players on Wednesday.

First and foremost, Todd Davis practiced for a second-straight week recovering from a partially torn calf. While he was unable to play in Sunday’s game against the Bears, despite practicing in a limited capacity last week, he is expected to do more in practice this week. Wednesday’s practice was a good indication of that.

Not only would Davis be a welcomed addition to the middle of the defense on the field, his leadership is “important” to the team, according to Fangio.

“Todd exhibited that last week during practice once,” Fangio recalled, speaking on the veteran’s leadership. “You have to remember Todd hadn’t practiced since I think it was the first day of training camp he got hurt, so I haven’t seen a lot of Todd recently. He exhibited some leadership out there on the practice field. I believe it was last Wednesday. I saw it firsthand then, so I think yes, his leadership would be welcomed.”

Additionally, Bryce Callahan participated in his third-straight practice in a limited capacity while healing his foot that was injured in training camp. When healthy, Callahan will “probably” return to outside cornerback, Fangio said on Wednesday.

According to the head coach, both Davis and Callahan are trending toward being able to play on Sunday against the Packers. Wednesday’s report doesn’t give any indication of that not being the case.

This is all positive news as they’ll need all the help they can get going up against “one of the best of all time,” as Vic Fangio said on Wednesday, speaking of Aaron Rodgers.

For the first time in the regular season, Andy Janovich (pec) and Joe Jones (triceps), both plagued with six-to-eight week injuries, were on the practice field in a limited capacity. This was a welcomed sight to all three phases of the game as Janovich and Jones won’t just have roles on their respective sides of the ball, but on special teams as well.

As they both just returned to the practice field, their status for Sunday’s game remains more up in the air than Davis and Callahan.

OTHER NOTES

• Despite the Broncos having zero sacks through the first two weeks of the season, Fangio’s not concerned about the pass rush “at this point.”
  • “Only thing I will say is I was disappointed in our rush on the last drive,” he added. “But prior to that, in these first two games, they’ve been unusual games as it relates to pass rush.”
• There are some similarities between the Broncos’ offense and the Packers’ offense, both teams admitted on Wednesday. Worked together in 2015.
  • “There’s no doubt about it,” Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday. “When I cut on the film, there’s not too much that I haven’t seen before from our offenses.”
    • LaFleur and Rich Scangarello worked together in Atlanta in 2015.
• Fangio delivered a fantastic line about his first-round rookie tight end. The first coach said Noah Fant’s “getting rookie baptism by fire.” Fangio added he believes Fant’s “getting better daily” in part because “he’s tough, he plays, he doesn’t whine and mope.”
• Joe Flacco expects the offense to be dynamic despite a slow start.
  • “Look at Emmanuel [Sanders], Courtland [Sutton] and Phillip [Lindsay] and Royce [Freeman],” he said on Wednesday. “I think we have a lot of ways to beat people and a lot of guys that are gamers—they love to play the game and they come up big when the time comes.”
• Matt LaFleur explained what has allowed Fangio to have sustained defensive success for multiple decades.
  • “I think his scheme is so tough to prepare for. I think he does an unbelievable job of probably keeping it simple for his guys, yet it presents so many challenges for an offense,” the offensive-minded coach told the Denver media on Wednesday. “When I watch the tape, I see these guys flying around, I don’t see too many gimme plays out there. You got to earn everything you get in both the run game and the pass game. I think he’s been able to do it no matter who his talent’s been.”