Royal and Larsen out this Sunday, Hillis and McKinley to see valuable time
By John Livingston | December 26, 2009
Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels announced on Friday that starting wide receiver and return man Eddie Royal, as well as starting full back Spencer Larsen, will be inactive for this upcoming Sunday’s pivotal contest against the NFC East leading Philadelphia Eagles. Royal is still recovering from a neck injury while Larsen is still nursing an ailing hamstring. Jabar Gaffney is expected to step up into the number two receiver spot with Brandon Stokley taking over slot duties, while fan-favorite Peyton Hillis will start at full back.
Royal has yet to be showcased as an offensive weapon thus far in the season and has averaged just 2.64 receptions on the year. He has, however, remained a constant threat as a return man and has been valuable in giving the Broncos offense decent field position to work with. Royal’s two kick returns for touchdowns led the team to victory over the San Diego Chargers earlier in the year and since then opposing special teams units have been forced to focus on preventing any type of big return from Royal. Royal’s absence will be disappointing to viewers who had hoped to watch the battle between he and DeSean Jackson as they were both second round picks in the 2008 NFL Draft and have drawn many comparisons. Both smaller wide receivers have had their own share of success in the NFL already, but Jackson has exploded on the scene this year; not only as a return threat but as a legitimate top wide receiver.
Broncos 5th round draft pick out of South Carolina Kenny McKinley will assume Royal’s role as kick returner and it is possible he will get some good chances to bust a big one if the Eagles do not treat him as an equal threat as Royal. It is also likely that McKinley will line up as the fifth wide receiver on the depth chart and former Chicago Bears wide out Brandon Lloyd may also be active for the first time this season.
With Larsen out, Hillis will also get a shot to make his impact felt on the Broncos offense. Contrary to media reports and fans sentiments, McDaniels has stated multiple times that Hillis was not in the dog house after early season fumbles and miscues. Hillis asserted himself in the Broncos back field last year as a tail back when the team suffered an unprecedented number of injuries at the position. He, too, eventually felt the sting of the injury bug as he completely tore his hamstring and was also forced to miss the end of last season. Fans were hoping he would return healthy and see a decent sized role in McDaniels system after his success a year ago, but their hopes have failed to come to fruition.
In McDaniels system the full back rarely receives any carries and is largely limited to run and zone blocking. Larsen returned to the Broncos lineup as the starting full back, after suffering an early season injury, and he has also not seen many touches. McDaniels has shown that he still prefers to run his short yardage running backs like Knowshon Moreno and Lamont Jordan in appropriate situations and fans have been irate that Hillis’ number has yet to be called near the goal line.
Obviously Hillis has also struggled with the offense in practice and has yet to prove to McDaniels that he deserves to carry the rock in important situations. We will see if this changes this Sunday, and if nothing else, fans can all hope that maybe Hillis can get a touch or can get targeted by Kyle Orton on some type of a check down throw. Hillis clearly has the ability to run through guys and break tackles and it will be interesting to see if McDaniels will draw anything up to get him in some open space.
Larsen will also be missed on special teams where he has highly excelled and it will also be interesting to see what adjustments are made there to fill his spot.
The action kicks off at 2:15 MDT and the Broncos will be fighting for their playoff lives. Be sure to tune in; you wont want to miss this one.
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Time: December 26, 2009, 1:55 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Terence Jones, John M. Livingston. John M. Livingston said: my new broncos post now @ColoSportsDesk » Royal and Larsen out this Sunday, Hillis and McKinley to see valuable time http://bit.ly/7bFHvs [...]
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Time: December 27, 2009, 10:31 am
[...] Denver, wide receiver/kick returner Eddie Royal will miss the contest due to his neck strain, and fullback Spencer Larsen is out as well. Royal has been underutilized in [...]
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