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Marshall's plan: rest knee, get back with troops

Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 14, 2006 at midnight

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ENGLEWOOD - Brandon Marshall maintained Sunday that in his entire career as a football player, he had never missed a practice, much less a game.

Since the Broncos rookie receiver made this declaration while standing on crutches, with a bandage tightly wrapped around his right knee, and just minutes before his teammates took the field for a workout, no less, it's safe to say that streak is over.

Marshall, one of the Broncos' biggest surprises during training camp, who was pushing for the No. 3 job at wide receiver, probably will miss about two weeks. Coach Mike Shanahan described the ailment as a slight tear of the posterior cruciate ligament.

The lost time comes at a critical part of the preseason. It probably means Marshall's time working with the first-team offense is over during preseason games, because that group usually is wearing baseball caps by the time he is expected back Aug. 31 in Arizona.

"He has had 30 practices," Shanahan said, including Marshall's workouts in the offseason minicamps. "So he has a good feel for the system and, hopefully, he can get back pretty quickly and get ready for that last preseason game."

Before his injury, Marshall had been making a push to be a part of the regular-season playing rotation. He started the 20-13 loss Friday night at Detroit alongside Darius Watts, the other top candidate to become the team's third receiver.

Marshall caught a 9-yard pass on the play preceding Mike Bell's fumble that ended Denver's first offensive series.

He exited the contest in the second quarter after slamming his knee awkwardly on the FieldTurf at Ford Field while trying to make a catch and stay inbounds.

"It feels good," Marshall said of his knee. "Of course, it's a little stiff from the game. I'll probably be on crutches for a couple days until (swelling) gets out of there."

Marshall appeared down about the setback but believed the results of a magnetic resonance imaging exam he had taken Saturday were a best-case scenario.

"Once we got the MRI, I was very excited," he said.

Marshall did a stiff-legged jog while wearing an Ace bandage to demonstrate to a couple of reporters that he was fine in the moments just after the loss to the Lions.

It was Marshall's feeling at the time that the injury probably was just a bruise, but at the same time, he mentioned a small lump on the inside of his right knee. In hindsight, Marshall admitted that, in the back of his mind, he was unsure how he would feel Saturday and whether tests would uncover something major.

"I thought it could have been worse. You never know. You could run and the next day you wake up and it's, 'What's wrong?' " he said. "Actually, it was good news."

Marshall vowed a quick recovery.

"I'll be back real fast," he said. "It basically just needs rest."