Elvis Dumervil Lost as Injuries Devastate Denver Broncos

Seemingly, all the news coming from Dove Valley, the home of Denver Broncos’ training camp, is doom and gloom lately.

Just days after first and second-string running backs Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter went down with injuries, star linebacker Elvis Dumervil dropped from practice after tearing a pectoral muscle in his chest.

While Buckhalter is expected back within a week, and Moreno’s hamstring injury will only force him to miss three weeks in total, 2009 Denver Broncos’ and NFL sack leader “Dr. Doom” Dumervil could be sidelined for all of 2010 with this pectoral tear.

With a quickly aging Champ Bailey and an older Brian Dawkins, Dumervil is the player that puts the “D” in Denver. His menacing and relentless pass rush was devastating for any opponent the Broncos played last year as Dumervil’s 17 sacks lead the NFL (Denver had a mere 22 sacks other than Doom’s).

Dumervil’s injury impacts all of Denver’s defense because he was the pass rush in 2009, he was the motor that made the defense go. Without Dumervil putting pressure on opposing QBs with blazing speed, other linebackers will have to be brought on blitzes while Bailey and Andre Goodman will be forced to cover receivers for longer.

The Broncos' defense was more porous than Swiss cheese against the run in 2009, and although Josh McDaniels and Brian Xanders improved the defensive line (Jamal Williams, Justin Bannan, and Jarvis Green), Dumervil’s presence will be missed on that front as well.

So what will Denver do without “Dr. Doom?”

In the NFL, one man’s injury is another’s opportunity.

“They’re going to have to rely on former first round picks Robert Ayers and Jarvis Moss to come through and play better than they have in the past,” explained ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “This is the most devastating blow and the most severe blow that the franchise has suffered so far this summer. He’s (Dumervil) going to get another opinion to figure out how long he could be out.” But even with a second opinion, it looks as if the earliest Dumervil could return is late November.

Moss and Ayers must step in and step up, must show they were worth the draft day gambles, and must go out and play at a high level for Denver’s D.

Now, with the start of preseason only 10 days away (at Cincinnati on Aug. 15), the Broncos are without their best player on defense, and three of their best five players on offense as well. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the best player on the offensive side of the ball, Ryan Clady, tore his ACL in April while playing a game of pickup basketball, although he and the Broncos are hopeful of his return by Week One versus Jacksonville September 12.

For a Denver Broncos team that was already behind the eight ball (with a second-year coach and more pieces than a cohesive puzzle), now they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place (to get to)—the top of the AFC West.

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Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being a contributor for NFLTouchdown.com, Kurtzman is the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist for bleacherreport.com, the CSU Rams and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner for examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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