Reid Fischer's World of Rants

BREAKING NEWS: The Broncos lost yet another running back today with the announcement that Peyton Hillis has been placed on injured reserve.  Coach Mike Shanahan says it will be an 8 week recovery time but that Hillis should be healthy next season.

This obviously a huge blow to the Broncos running game, which has already lost Michael Pittman, Andre Hall and Ryan Torain to season ending injuries.  Selvin Young has also essentially not seen any significant action since week five due to injury.  Hillis was Denver’s fifth option at running back, and was performing spectacularly, becoming the only back in the league to top 100 yards against the Jets last week.  He was averaging a crisp 7.3 yards per carry yesterday against the Chiefs before going down while making an awesome catch in the air of all things.  This makes Tatum Bell the starter for now, and he was selling cell phones at a mall a month ago.  Young should return before the season is over, hopefully this week at Carolina, and that would help too. 

The Broncos have not been able to catch a break in the backfield this season.  How many other teams do you know that are down to their sixth running back?  Can you name the sixth running back option on any team?  I sure can’t.  Would there be any team in this predicament that would actually be leading its division and still be a threat on offense?  I would say an emphatic no on both accounts, yet here are the Broncos on the cusp of a division title, and their offense still has the potential to put up big numbers.  For those of you out there that aren’t fans of Mike Shanahan and are disappointed about some of the losses this season, ask yourself how this team has managed to win eight games when they are this hard pressed to even find a healthy body to play running back, let alone considering their injuries on defense?  I argue that this is the best coaching job of Shanahan’s career, better than his two Super Bowl winning seasons.   If Tatum Bell goes for 100 yards at Carolina Sunday, then I rest my case with that argument.  One thing is for sure, this team will keep fighting, no matter how many more players go down.