Today, it was reported that David Bruton played almost the entirety of Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a broken right fibula, and all I have to say is that the Denver Broncos need a lot more David Brutons on their roster.
https://twitter.com/MikeKlis/status/679046418124812288
Following the game, after playing 95 total snaps (77 on defense and 18 on special teams), Bruton had to be helped into the locker room; he had given this team everything he had.
David Bruton Jr needed help to get to the locker room. Painful to watch pic.twitter.com/eqzT2eJeDE
— Arran Andersen (@arranandersen) December 21, 2015
I’m not so sure everybody else can say the same. In fact, I’d love to hear what Vernon Davis, who’d rather save his body than make a critical third-down reception, has to say about David Bruton’s sacrifice.
https://twitter.com/ShaneNFL/status/678732869104107520
Maybe if Davis had sacrificed his body, Bruton’s effort wouldn’t have had to be overshadowed by a Denver Broncos loss.
Bruton is now expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks, according to Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post, which only reiterates how impressive of a performance it was. Bruton knew that the Broncos were ailing at safety coming into the game, with both T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart already out with injury, and losing him would have been an even bigger blow; I’m sure that crossed his mind when deciding whether to take himself out of the game.
We often hear about the toughness of football players, but this is on a whole other level.
“We’ll see how that plays in with the remainder of the season,” head coach GaryKubiak said, via the Denver Post. “It’s amazing what David did, but he’s done it all year long. He’s a leader, he’s a warrior and he gave up everything for his team (Sunday).”
The injury is believed to have been sustained when Bruton and Aqib Talib collided early in the game. Two plays later, Steelers offensive lineman Cody Wallace was called for unnecessary roughness after hitting Bruton in the head on this play:
If OBJ gets suspended, then this definitely needs to be addressed as well https://t.co/AiGspcRfu3
— #FreeRossDayOne (@jake_melaas) December 21, 2015
Mind you, Bruton already had suffered the broken fibula; he then sustained that hit, missed one play and returned for the rest of the game.
And all this is without mentioning the fact that Bruton already entered the game with a strained ligament and bone bruise in his left knee, an injury that forced him to miss last week’s game versus the Raiders.
The Denver Broncos talk a lot about going out “kicking and screaming”; David Bruton exemplified that to a greater degree than any Bronco in a long, long time.
Unfortunately, it’s more likely than not that Bruton will miss the rest of the season; hopefully the rest of the team will be able to use his sacrifice as motivation to do the same in these final two weeks and into the playoffs.