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The good news is that Al Wilson appears to be okay after suffering what's being called a sprained neck in Sunday night's game against the Seahawks. This AP article seems to indicate that the middle linebacker could return to practice as early as this Wednesday, and might even play against San Diego next week. This dude is clearly tougher than a bad piece of steak - he's already been playing through thumb and chest problems this season, and now may even play right on through a sprained neck. But it's great, obviously, for him and his family, to see that Al is alright after a very scary moment when he was strapped down, taken off the field, and rushed to an area hospital.

The bad news is that unlike Wilson, the Broncos are in serious trouble. After Al left and was replaced with Keith Burns, the Seahawks trampled over the defense, which has been struggling to close out games lately. So much for the unprecedented depth of this team. And next week, the Broncos will see LaDainian Tomlinson again, which ends the following string of running backs this defense has had to face in consecutive weeks: LT, Larry Johnson, Shawn Alexander, and an encore of LT. So far they've lost all of those games - coincidence? If the defense isn't completely burned out by now, they will be after next Sunday. Thank goodness they get a break in the following two weeks, before having to deal with Frank Gore, the NFC's leading rusher. Of course, the secondary will get their workout against Cincinatti, when Ocho Cinco and TJ Houshmandzadeh come to town.

In other injury news, Fullback Cecil Sapp is out for the year with a broken leg, meaning the oft-injured Kyle Johnson will be starting for the rest of the season. And Jason Elam should be okay after straining his hamstring on one of the most bizarre series of plays in Bronco history. More on that later.

Just to touch base again, yesterday I posted about the injured Broncos - and just about five minutes after my post, the Broncos released an updated injury report. So here's how it stands now:

Now looking probable to play are both Bells, Patrick Chukwurah, Cedric Cobbs, Kyle Johnson, Kenard Lang, Brandon Marshall, Rod Smith, and Al Wilson. So this sets up another interesting choice for Mike Shanahan. Does he go with both Bells now that they're healthy, or does he activate Tatum, who's had an extra week to rest, and leave Mike Bell, who's had just five days to recover from his grisly performance against the Chargers, on the bench? My money is with deactivating Mike and going with Tatum and Damien Nash, who showed good strength after contact against the Chargers. We may not see another double-Bell game this season if Nash continues to perform.

The questionable players on the injury list are Cooper Carlisle and Darrent Williams, who is still nursing his shoulder. Williams previously said that he might not be fully healthy until he can rest during the off season - but if he's not ready to go, it leaves the secondary badly depleted with Nick Ferguson out for the season. Domonique Foxworth would take Williams' place as the starter, meaning two second-stringers would start in the secondary. That means that Karl Paymah, who's seen little work outside of special teams this season, would take the field as the third cornerback on nickel downs.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs, who's injury list is a total of five players, might get Tony Gonzalez back for the game (he's listed as questionable). If they do, it could really compound the problems in the Broncos' secondary.

P.S. Doesn't it look like President Bush is doing something sinister to those children with that Turkey? Kinda weird...Also, since the game is in Kansas City, does anyone know if you can barbecue turkey? I haven't really thought about it, but does turkey go well with a nice red Kansas City barbecue sauce? If it does, I'm very, very intrigued.

I know this is the last thing you're thinking about what with other football being on right now, but for Broncos fans, I bring good news - every single player on the injury list has been upgraded to probable for tonight's game against the Chargers. This is a very good thing, because it means the return of Ian Gold, a key piece of the speedy linebacking corps, and defensive roleplayers Ebenezer Ekuban and Patrick Chukwurah. Al Wilson, who's played magnificently despite injuries all year long, also looks likely to compete again despite thumb problems.

But the most interesting one is running back Tatum Bell, who last week admitted publicly that his toes were more seriously injured than he wanted to admit to himself, and might not fully recover until the offseason. Now that he's been upgraded to probable for the game however, it will be interesting to see how much Shanahan uses him. Presumably, Mike Bell will be re-activated this week after mysteriously disappearing from the lineup against Oakland after particularly bad play at Pittsburgh. But in the Broncos' last big-time throwdown against the Colts, the latter Bell was the only running back who had any success, so Shanahan's choice might not be made until he sees how well each back performs during the game.

For the record, Stephen Alexander was also upgraded, and the other Broncos already on the list are Cedric Cobbs and Kyle Johnson.