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View Full Version : Despite his cast, safety Dawkins still making plays



Lonestar
08-20-2009, 03:39 AM
Jeff Legwold, The Denver Post
Posted: 08/20/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT


Safety Brian Dawkins needs a 10-minute head start on his teammates to get ready for practice these days.

Not only does he need to get his ankles taped like most players and get his gear in order, but he also has to deal with a large cast covering his fractured right hand. Dawkins had surgery to repair the hand earlier this month.

"It's about, all in all, 10 extra minutes," Dawkins said. "They put the cast on and then you've got to wait for it to harden. Then they've got to put another layer on top of it so you can go out there and play after it's ready and then I'm ready to go.

"So it's not too bad."

The cast basically forms a club on the seven-time Pro Bowl selection's hand, covering all of his fingers, the base of his hand and part of his forearm. It also means he has just one hand to try to catch the ball on a possible interception.

Dawkins has had a few bounce away from him in recent practices, but Wednesday night he finally snared one in team drills, much to the celebration of his defensive teammates.

"Concentration, it's all about concentration," Dawkins said. "And if I can make a play for these guys, I'll try my best to do. Just keep to your assignments, get yourself in the right place, that's what you do."

Dawkins is expected to play with the cast for a significant amount of time. He has been practicing once a day when the team has been in two-a-days.

Still scrapping.

The Broncos haven't had a large outbreak of training camp fights, but have had some minor skirmishes.

Josh McDaniels, in his first training camp as a head coach, hasn't forbidden fighting, as some coaches like Mike Shanahan and Tony Dungy did during their respective tenures, but he has said he doesn't want players to let the emotions keep bubbling either.

Wednesday morning, safety Josh Barrett and guard Matt McChesney — a former CU standout — had a brief altercation.

"That's football. . . . Sometimes it's good for your team because they're feisty and they're ready to go," McDaniels said. "We want to take care of each other, certainly. We don't want anyone to get injured getting in a fight with helmets on.

"But our guys have done a very good job of breaking things like that up and not letting it fester. None of them have carried on to the next period or the next play."

Footnotes.

Wednesday was the last two-practice day of the preseason. . . . Linebacker Jarvis Moss suffered a finger injury to his left hand in the evening practice, but stayed in the drills. Running back LaMont Jordan was briefly limping after a run in a goal-line drill in the evening workout, but stayed in as well. . . . Dawkins, Champ Bailey, running back Correll Buckhalter, guard Ben Hamilton and wide receiver Brandon Stokley were given the morning practice off, while center Casey Wiegmann, linebacker D.J. Williams and tight end Daniel Graham had the night practice off. . . . Wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, running back Knowshon Moreno and cornerback Jack Williams missed both practices with injuries.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13164765?source=rss