Denver Broncos linebacker Shane Ray watched from the sidelines as his team jumped out to a strong 3-1 start, only to see them fall back to earth with a pair of tough losses over the past two weeks. He will be back on the field Monday night in the Broncos’ biggest test of the season – on the road against the division-leading Kansas City Chiefs.
Ray suffered a torn ligament in his left wrist during training camp that placed him on Injured Reserve and forced him to miss the entire preseason and the first six games of the regular season. Ray returned to practice last week and will be back in the lineup Monday at Arrowhead.
The timing couldn’t be better for the Broncos, who have lost consecutive games to last-place teams (New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers). The timing is opportune for Ray, who grew up in the Kansas City area and attended college at Missouri.
Ray has been chomping at the bit to get back on the field and help his teammates. On Wednesday he met with the Denver media to discuss his recovery and his excitement about making his 2017 debut.
Here’s what Ray had to say about his much-anticipated return, quotes courtesy of Denver Broncos Media Relations:
On returning to action this week
“I’m really excited. It’s been a long time. I’m just happy to finally be out there with the defense, hearing play calls and doing what I do. It’s a great week for me to come back and help my team.”
On the most difficult part of his recovery
“Not playing while knowing what I can bring to the team. That’s been the toughest part. Everything that I did, coming in for training camp and everything that I showed my team for 11 weeks, I can’t do it. It’s tough. But, I’m back now. I just have to take it day by day.”
On whether he will have pregame butterflies
“Yes. I just can’t wait. To me, it’s not any pressure. It’s not anything I have to worry about. This is what I do. This is what I’m ready to do. It’s good that I can go back out there and do it now. I’m relaxed. I’m just ready to play.”
On how they plan to be successful against the Chiefs
“It’s difficult if you can’t stop the run. We’re the No. 1 run defense in the National Football League. We plan on taking care of the run game because that’s what their team thrive off of. If they can run the ball, and they have over 60 yards rushing or 100 yards rushing with that guy, that’s how they’ve been able to air out the ball—get the ball out of (Chiefs QB Alex Smith) Alex’s hands fast. I said this a while back. We match up against this team very well with what they do well and what we do well. Stopping the run is key, first off. Then being able to attack Alex Smith and the quick and deep passes. That’s where rush and coverage come in together. You have to stop the run first. It starts there.”
On finding positives after two consecutive losses
“You always have to find the silver lining. Of course our team isn’t’ playing as well as we would like and as well as we feel like we can play. But, it’s the National Football League. It’s about moving on to the next game while applying what you learned from the last game and we’ve learned a lot. We, as a team, know that we haven’t played to our full potential yet. Playing against the best, if not the best, one of the best football teams in the National Football League and what they do, this is a great opportunity to show everyone what we can do as a team. It’s going to come down to the very end. That is a great football team. We’re a great football team. It’s a division rivalry, so it’s going to come down who wins the fourth quarter.”
On whether he listens to outside negative noise
“Not anymore. At this point, I just play. I understand at this point that you can only control what you can control. The outside noise doesn’t make a difference unless you go out there and play exactly how they say you were going to play. As long as I focus on me, do my job to the best of my ability, whatever the outcome is. That’s all you can do as a player in this league.”