Davis thinks turf is at the bottom of injury

SportsLine.com Report
Sept. 6, 2000

Terrell Davis believes his left ankle sprain would have been less severe if he were playing on natural grass, rather than the Trans World Dome's artificial turf .

He said turf is "just not natural."

"Turf doesn't give, grass does," Davis said. "You'll dig a divot out of grass but the turf does nothing. Once it's caught between that turf, that's it."

Davis remains hopeful he'll play Sunday against Atlanta, but is listed as questionable.

Another injury, the torn anterior cruciate ligament to backup Olandis Gary, also may have been turf injury.

There have been a host of other devastating injuries around the league that occurred on turf.

Coach Mike Shanahan, however, said turf sometimes is an easy scapegoat.

"I don't like turf to start with but John Mobley's injury (torn ACL) didn't happen on turf. He planted the same way on grass and it gave way," Shanahan said.

He said guard Lennie Friedman tore his ACL on grass the same way Gary did.

"He was set up in a pass protection drill and just moved and it gave out," Shanahan said. "I think everybody likes to blame turf and I'm one of those people but I can't say for sure that's the reason (Davis' injury) happened."

A BAD STREAK: The Broncos had a great streak of luck in recent years, with very few devastating injuries. But now they're piling up as fast as last year. Denver has three players on injured reserve already, the latest second-year running back Olandis Gary with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

"Obviously you feel a little snake-bit because that's your natural tendency," coach Mike Shanahan said. "But we went a number of years, four years in a row, when we lost only two guys. So I felt fortunate then. You can feel sorry for yourself or feel snake-bit but things don't work that way."

Gary's season over

Sept. 5, 2000

The day after a hard-fought loss to St. Louis on Monday Night Football, the Broncos learned backup running back Olandis Gary has a complete tear of his right anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the remainder of the season.

The team claimed in a press released the injury occurred in the third quarter of Monday's game, but SportsLine.com's Len Pasquarelli reported Tuesday that sources say Gary experienced some pain in the knee during the preaseason and played through it.

Gary left Monday's game briefly to put an elastic sleeve over the knee, but returned to the game. However, an MRI performed Tuesday revealed the injury and Gary will undergo surgery within the next week or two.

O.K. CORRAL: The Broncos' season-opener was like watching an Arena League game, with the smoke and fire included.

When it was over, Denver and St. Louis had combined for a whopping 77 points and 937 yards of offense. The bad news for Broncos fans was the Rams scored last to pull out the 41-36 victory.

But there was plenty of reason for hope back in Denver, especially after watching the strides quarterback Brian Griese had made. He did his best to keep up with Kurt Warner, last year's Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, passing for two touchdowns and running for another.

"That guy has a heck of a future ahead of him," Warner said of Griese, who finished 19 of 29 for 307 yards.

Griese was far from perfect, under-throwing Rod Smith on what would have been a 64-yard touchdown and failing to spot a wide-open Byron Chamberlain near the Rams goal line late in the third quarter. But he impressed his teammates plenty.

"Anytime an offense scores that many points, we should have a win," Broncos strong safety Billy Jenkins said. "It's ridiculous."

Jenkins had an especially tough night in his return to St. Louis, where he roamed the Rams secondary last year in picking up a Super Bowl ring. He was beat by Az-Zahir Hakim on a quick out. The speedy Hakim turned the play into an 80-yard touchdown. He also allowed Marshall Faulk to get around him for a 30-yard gain during the game-winning drive.

"Those guys have got to be the most elusive bunch in the NFL. They did a great job of anticipating our blitz and attacking the mismatches. They had a lot of safeties on wide receivers. We missed some tackles out there but they're so elusive. We need to get our stuff together," Jenkins said. "Anytime an offense scores that many points, we should have a win."