The Broncos have a couple of players with injured calves right now, Donald Stephenson and Virgil Green. These two are big components to the success of this Denver offense. The run game relies heavily on blocking and Green and Stephenson specialize in just that. The return of these two will strengthen the offense and the run.
Stephenson strained his calf Week 2 against Indianapolis. He was expected to miss 2-3 weeks but feels like he is ahead of schedule.
“I feel pretty good,” Stephenson told Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro of Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports Radio. “We’ve been real careful. I feel like I can go full speed.”
The right side of the line has been a little shaky the last couple of weeks and that has affected the run game. Stephenson is the guy that holds that right side together. Getting him back on the line could only help the running backs. He had no hesitation when asked if he felt that he could come back in and play this weekend against the Falcons — with the trainers go-ahead, of course.
“Yeah, I think I could. I just want to listen to the trainers and make sure it’s a good idea,” Stephenson said. “I don’t want to re-injure [the calf] and be out for a longer period of time. If it were up to me, I’d be out there.”
The success of a good running back comes from a good offensive line. Stephenson knows he has one job and that is to block while the play develops behind him.
“I take a lot of pride in helping the running game,” Stephenson said. “That’s our job up front. It means a lot to us when we look at the stat sheet and see over 150 yards rushing. That’s our goal. We haven’t met that mark the last couple of weeks but a lot of that has to do with people only focusing in on the run. That’s why Trevor [Siemian] and Paxton [Lynch] have been able to hurdle. Either way, we have a good offense. It just depends on what type of game the other team wants to play.”
The quarterback situation for the Broncos after the game against the Buccaneers settled some nerves for the coaching staff. Lynch came in for the injured Siemian and showed great athleticism proving that he could be considered as a starter for this offense. Stephenson knows that either quarterback could be the starter and what both of them do for their offensive line.
“It saves us. Trevor has a really good pocket presence,” Stephenson said. “He knows when he needs to get rid of the ball. Paxton is a young guy who can run. He’s clearly athletic with deceptive speed. We can’t see whats going on behind us, we just block. We watch film the next day and say, ‘Oh, he did a good job.’ We just block our guy.”
To catch the whole interview with Donald Stephenson, including his thoughts on what leadership in a quarterback can do for a team, click the podcast below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/10-5-16-donald-stephenson-joins-the-program-and-well-hes-glad-to-be-here
Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro Monday-Friday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
Feature Image Credit: denverbroncos.com