Good morning, Broncos Country!
Health is always a significant vulnerability for teams and sports.
What makes matters worse is that you can neither predict them nor prevent them. You can do your best to prepare and train, but injuries are inevitable.
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For the Denver Broncos, that’s seen in running back J.K. Dobbins. When he’s on the field, he’s one of the best backs in the NFL. We saw that through the first 10 games of his first season in Denver.
The issue is that Dobbins can’t stay on the field. There’s no doubt he’s been struck by fluke injuries over the course of his career. Heck, his Lisfranc injury last season in Week 10 against the Las Vegas Raiders falls into the “fluke” category. But whenever you discuss Dobbins, you can’t avoid health as a major topic.
His health is also one of the main drivers of the Broncos’ success on offense and as a team this season.
If Dobbins gets and stays on the field, Denver could have one of the best offenses in the league. Thus, the Broncos will become a serious contender.
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Broncos head coach Sean Payton was asked about Dobbins and his confidence in the running back staying healthy this week at OTAs:
“I think this, though. I think if you just take (running) backs around the league, and you understand the length … The season is not getting any shorter; it’s getting longer. He was a big part of our success a year ago. I think certainly where we’re at with that running back room today, we feel like is further along than maybe when we first got here. So he’s one of those compound multipliers. There’s so much that he brings … You usually hear him before you see him in there, probably sometimes out here. (Laughs) He’s a tremendous teammate, and yes, I’m glad he’s with us.”
Dobbins acknowledged and discussed his unfortunate injury luck in an interview with The Insiders in late March. It was the same interview where he said the Broncos had an embarrassment of riches on offense.
“When I went down, when I got hurt, I think I was third or fourth in total rushing yards in the NFL,” Dobbins said in the interview. “The thing that hurt my feelings the most was knowing I was right there in the grasp of something special, especially since the injury thing has been so unfortunate for me.
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“When you look at some people, you say ‘injury prone.’ You get the rolled ankles, the hamstring strains, whatever you’re getting. The stuff I’m getting is like, done for the season, let’s get some surgery. It’s like ‘dang, why am I getting these unfortunate things?’ But I’m going to always keep going.”
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