However it happened, Noah Fant’s injury is a bizarre footnote

 

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos’ injury woes took a turn for the weird after practice Thursday when tight end Noah Fant suffered a cut on the side of his foot while tape was being removed from his feet and ankles.

He said he feels no pain or discomfort while he moves, and while he sat out Friday’s on-field work, he expects to practice Saturday and play Sunday.

“A hundred, a thousand percent I’ll be playing on Sunday,” he said in the locker room Friday amid of blizzard of questions from local media.

“I mean, I get you guys are doing your job, but it’s something very minor,” Fant said, smiling.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio said the wound happened when Fant was cutting the tape off his ankle. A few minutes later, Fant said he was “not at large to say” who was responsible for the injury.

“It was something with the training room, and I went and talked to them about it, and it wasn’t a big deal,” he said.

When asked about the details regarding whether his hand or eyes slipped, Fant stifled a chuckle.

“Something happened, that’s all I can say,” Fant said.

The wound did not require stitches and was treated with liquid bandage.

“So they just glued it shut and they just wanted it to set for a day so it wouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “Good to go.”

Fangio could only shake his head at the situation. But he acknowledged that the mishap was not the most unusual injury he’d seen in his 41-season coaching career.

However, as former NFL head coach O.A. “Bum” Phillips would have said, “It don’t take long to call the roll.”

“There’s been a lot of weird injuries at times,” Fangio said, “but that one, it’s in the top five.”

Asked to recall some of those injuries, Fangio sifted through his bulbous mental Rolodex.

“Guys slipping. I can’t remember who, but somebody fell down the steps on a Saturday in the morning getting up,” Fangio said. “I remember Rickey Jackson — this is more serious — but on Friday night before a Sunday game [in 1989], he got in a car accident and broke his orbital bone and jaw. He was supposed to be out six to eight weeks, but he was only out two. He was tough.”

Fortunately for the Broncos, Fant’s injury should not cause a lingering problem. It’s just an unusual footnote in a frustrating season.