So this is odd. Denver TE Julius Thomas has not practiced all week after injuring his left ankle in last week’s game. Despite this lack of practice, most outlets have been reporting that Thomas is a true, “game time decision,” meaning that it’s roughly 50-50 whether he starts. Some of the better journalists out there, such as the Denver Post’s Mike Klis, feel that 50-50 is too optimistic and that Thomas will likely sit.
Now comes the curveball. On a FOX pregame show, the usually-wired-in Jay Glazer reported that Thomas will certainly sit today. More importantly, Glazer reported that, although the Broncos are not concerned about Thomas’ ankle, they are still sending his medical scans to, “a specialist in North Carolina,” for further confirmation. Don’t just skim over that last part. When sports reporters refer to, “a specialist in North Carolina,” they are always always always talking about the esteemed foot and ankle injury expert, Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, NC. This is the guy who treated Maurice Jones-Drew, Matt Schaub, Santonio Holmes, Julio Jones, Pierre Thomas… the list goes on. He’s simply the best in the biz when it comes to foot injuries.
Now I ask you, would Denver enlist the help of Dr. Anderson if Thomas had a garden-variety low ankle sprain? Honestly, I don’t know. But that seems doubtful to me. If Glazer’s report is true (and his reports usually are) it makes me think that there might be some concern among the Denver medical staff that Thomas is suffering from more than a simple sprain. Again, I have no idea what the real story is here, but this latest development from Glazer doesn’t seem to dovetail with what we were hearing all week.
Update, November 23rd, 2:01 PM: As ESPN’s Denver Broncos reporter Jeff Legwold pointed out to me on Twitter, Denver head coach John Fox typically takes the, “day-to-day,” route when talking about player injuries. Legwold seems to think that the fact they’re consulting an outside specialist isn’t necessarily something to be alarmed about. Legwold knows him some Broncos, so I should probably defer to him on this one.
