After five weeks spent nursing a hamstring injury, Quinn Meinerz was back on the field on Monday night.
“I felt like a little kid on Christmas,” Meinerz said.
The second-year guard was stellar in his return. He didn’t give up a single pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the Broncos’ best offensive player. He was the highest-graded offensive player in DNVR’s game grades, too.
“I’m a big believer in practicing. I love practice and practicing hard,” Meinerz said. “Given the circumstances of playing a game for the first time with limited reps throughout the week, I think I played pretty well, but still not to where my standard is.”
The challenge grew when the Broncos swapped out right tackles in the first half. Cam Fleming started the game on Meinerz’s right hip, but Billy Turner finished it.
“The biggest thing is just making sure there’s that extra communication,” Meinerz said. “When you do get used to playing next to somebody, it’s almost like you build a secondary communication, like little code words. That’s the biggest thing: just keep trying to build different connections.”
That work began in the preseason before Meinerz had even locked up a starting job. He was competing with Netane Muti and Graham Glasgow for the right guard spot but seemed to have taken a firm grasp of it about halfway through camp.
Still, Meinerz asked head coach Nathaniel Hackett if he could play in the preseason game against the Bills, despite all of the starters resting.
“It’s a new year. It’s a new system,” Meinerz said. “I didn’t want my first game to be Monday night against the Seahawks.”
In Meinerz’s lone series on the field, the Broncos’ backup offense moved the ball and picked up a field goal. From that point on, the Broncos struggled.
His next action came against Seattle in the season-opener on Monday Night Football. On the Broncos’ first field goal of the game, he felt his hamstring pop. He was concerned but tried to play through it. The Broncos ran a screen and Meinerz felt it pop again as he leaked out to make a block.
“The next play was a pass and I’m just glad that Jerry (Jeudy) scored a touchdown,” Meinerz said. “Because I went right straight to the sideline, and I was like, ‘I can’t go anymore. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t go anymore.'”
Meinerz thought he’d be ready to play three weeks later against the Raiders, but on the Thursday before the game he felt another pop in the same place during practice. He had to sit out again.
“It’s been really tough,” Meinerz said. “It’s really tough, especially as an offensive lineman, cuz you know what your guys are going through, and it feels kind of bad not to be out there with them.”
Meinerz tried to help out from the sideline. When his teammates came to the sideline to look at pictures of what just happened on iPads, Meinerz was there to give his own analysis of what he saw in live-action from the sideline. He got them water. He helped get trainers’ attention when needed.
“I tried to be still useful, as much as I can,” Meinerz said. “It fulfills me more than anything.”
Meinerz was much more useful when he was back on the field against the Chargers. He picked up a foot injury that left him questionable by this week’s game, but he didn’t seem too bothered by it.
Meienrz will be even more important this week when the gritty Jets’ front seven comes to town. They’re 4-2 with three consecutive wins.
“They’re winning games. They’re playing at a high level. They have a really, really good defense,” Meinerz said. “I’m excited for the challenge.”
The marquee matchup will be Meinerz against Quinnen Williams, who is in the midst of a breakout start to the season. Meinerz had a few reps against him last year after Dalton Risner went down with an injury during the Jets game.
“Every team builds their defense from the front because you’ve got to have a good defensive line,” Meinerz said. “That’s just how it is week to week for the offensive line; defensive lines are be the strength of their team.”
