Denver Does Dallas: the great “illness” mystery of pre-season week four
“This synopsis of what I think might have happened is completely bereft of established fact and is no way intended to be seen as a news story. It’s entirely speculative.”
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Your Denver Broncos concluded their pre-season in a meaningless tilt with the Cowboys at Jerry Jones’ billion-dollar AT&T stadium. The Broncos’ looked to fill their final few roster spots as hopefuls to earn a spot on the “53” displayed their wares in a 27-3 drubbing of America’s team while players whose positions were already sealed sat and watched.
Then something weird went down that the Broncos have shown no inclination to discuss. Two players, running back Ronnie Hillman and cornerback Kayvon Webster stayed behind in Texas while the remainder of the team traveled home. The pair were hospitalized with a mysterious illness, then struggled to fly home since neither of them were in possession of their drivers’ licenses.
Despite the two fellows falling helplessly ill, as the Broncos would have folks believe they did, each returned to Denver to find himself in Coach John Fox’s dog house. Each was subsequently inactive for the Broncos’ week one game with the Colts, prompting fans and media types alike to wonder if their punishments were somehow related to their extended stay in the Big D.
Had Webster and Hillman eaten a bad piece of fish or caught a 24-hour flu and been forced to remain in Dallas the Broncos certainly would not have held it against them. Fans know that something else went on. We’re not dumb. Therefore people have engaged in all kinds of speculation as to what might have gone down. And, since nobody in the Denver media has reported as to what happened, and since the Broncos haven’t told anybody, speculation is all anybody has to go on.
Another bizarre move on the part of the Broncos has added fuel to the fire. The Broncos added a long-snapper to the practice squad in the week following the Dallas game despite having no apparent reason to. Kevin McDermott was brought in to have a “snap off” with incumbent Aaron Brewer, who has made no mistakes at all in Denver’s snapping game. Brewer apparently also earned himself a spot in John Fox’s dog house along with Hillman and Brewer.
These odd happenings have been part of the chatter on local sports radio. Specifically, Big Al and Dmac on 104.3 the Fan’s “the Drive” show have discussed the strangeness at length and speculated that the sudden ostracizing of Hillman, Webster and Brewer could be related to the same incident in Dallas. The radio duo has stopped short of drawing any conclusions or making any implications. They have only kept the matter in the public sphere.
I have put feelers out to several people. Broncos PR would be proud of the wall of silence I have encountered. The Denver media is understandably very cautious about the information they allow to get out there. Nobody wants to be banned from Dove Valley or even to make an unnecessary stir. Making facts about the situation even more elusive is the fact that hospitals cannot release any information about patients. They cannot disclose whom they have treated or for what under HIPAA laws. Reporters are unable to prove any story since they cannot confirm information relating to Hillman and Webster’s hospitalizations.
Since reporters cannot verify a story with multiple sources and since the Broncos want the story to die (they don’t think it’s anybody’s business) fans are left only to wonder what happened. The hope of the team is that eventually everyone will just forget about it and move on. And people will. But, in light of the Ray Rice situation and the role secrecy played in it, I have been feeling a little extra motivated to see what I can figure out.
This synopsis of what I think might have happened is completely bereft of established fact and is no way intended to be seen as a news story. It’s entirely speculative.
I believe that a handful of Broncos players, not only Hillman and Webster, got their hands on some prescription drugs, probably “benzos” or benzodiazepines. A common form of these psychoactive drugs is Alprazolam, or Xanax. It’s used pharmaceutically for the treatment of anxiety disorder and panic attacks. It’s used recreationally to feel really warm and fuzzy and to generally “not give a fuck about anything”. Combined with alcohol, Xanax can be both very pleasurable and very dangerous.
It’s not common for people to overdose on benzos but it is certainly possible. And not everyone responds the same way to prescription drugs. It’s very possible that several players took pills prior to the Dallas game, knowing that they would not be on the field much, and that two of them, Webster and Hillman, got really sick. People who were at the game have told me that they saw Webster head for the locker room looking pinkish.
Prescription drug abuse among NFL players is wildly common. There are more articles on the subject than a person could read in a calendar year. Players gravitate toward them largely because they are not tested for by the NFL. Besides, the teams themselves are often involved in distributing pills that players could not get on their own. All varieties of pain killers, anti-inflammatory drugs and anxiety meds are doled out by team doctors and trainers on a wink-and-a-nudge basis.
If Wester, Hillman, Brewer and other players did ingest illegal prescription drugs in Dallas it’s no big deal. In fact, it’s a non-story. But the Broncos certainly seem to have been angry about it. And who can blame them? The team has developed a reputation for having substance abuse as part of its culture. In an environment where DUI and drug suspensions have been prevalent it’s probably not considered good to get so sick from popping pills that one has to be hospitalized.
Had various players ingested pills prior to a pre-season game it would make even more sense that those players would wind up in the dog house. It’s one thing to party on the weekend. It’s an entirely different thing to stalk the sidelines high.
So….that’s that. I don’t know if any of this happened but I have a pretty strong feeling that it did. And now that I think I have figured it out I don’t care. Frankly, in a league where young, strong men beat each other half to death for my entertainment I am willing to allow for plenty of leeway when it comes to recreational drug use. After all, I was twenty-something once, too.
