ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Times have changed in the NFL. Drastically.
Not long ago, “concussion” was nearly a dirty word in the league. You weren’t concussed, you just “got your bell rung.” Not long ago, missing a game as big as the Denver Broncos’ Christmas-night matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs due to a bell-ringing would have turned some heads in the locker room.
That’s how things were in Gary Kubiak’s day.
“My day was a long time ago,” the head coach explained, slightly hesitant to date himself.
Unfortunately for Coach Kubiak, his day was quite some time ago and today players are—thankfully—far more protected. That protection, though, will cost Kubiak’s Broncos three players this week. Safety T.J. Ward, as well as tight ends Virgil Green and A.J. Derby, will all miss Sunday’s must-win game due to concussions.
All three players entered the League’s concussion protocol after last Sunday’s game, and while progress was made, it was not enough to get them back on the field.
Despite the disappointment, Kubiak kept things in perspective.
“The players are the most important,” he said. “The protocol is good. I’m not one sit here and tell you that I know all that much about it. I think it’s a process that’s very strong. We have three guys that have come out with issues. They do things the right way, and if they’re unable to play, you can’t play. There’s nothing that you can do. It’s something that we need to work through as a team. We have to try to get those guys healthy.”
“They’re doing a great job with it, he added. “As a coach, it’s really just [Head Athletic Trainer Steve Antonopulos] ‘Greek’ coming to me and saying, ‘Here’s the process and here’s where he’s at.’ You always have to approach thing with the thought that a guy might not make it to the end of the week. If he does, that’s a positive.”
Sometimes the process goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t but it does always keep the best interests of the players in the forefront, as it should. At a bad time for the Orange & Blue, the process worked against them this week, but it serves as a good reminder that there are times now in the National Football League where player safety is coming first. There was no finagling of the process to get players on the field this Sunday.
For the Broncos, they’ll turn to rookies Will Parks and Justin Simmons in the secondary and likely make a move with one of their practice-squad tight ends—Henry Krieger-Coble, Steven Scheu or Austin Traylor—to fill out their offense.
