There is puffiness on top of the right hand, but surgery to insert a plate and five pins will do that.
It's the same hand Willis McGahee uses to carry the football. Today marks one week since McGahee underwent the operation to repair a broken fourth metacarpal, and yet he's planning to play Sunday against the Raiders in Oakland.
"It's day by day, basically," he said.
McGahee is the Broncos' leading rusher and among the best backs in the NFL this year. He had three 100-yard games in a four-game span and was about to make it four out of five when he got his hand caught in the face mask of a Miami Dolphins tackler in the third quarter of the Oct. 23 game.
McGahee wound up getting a triple whammy — penalized for grabbing the face mask, suffered a broken hand and fined $7,500 by the league. He's in the process of begging mercy upon Roger Goodell's court.
"Look, I paid the price for it," McGahee said. "I got an injury on my hand.
I had to have surgery. I'm taking it to appeals court. It looked like I was really holding onto his face mask all the way down, which I really wasn't."
In their 45-10 loss to a Detroit team that likes to take physicality to the level of intimidation, the Broncos missed McGahee, who is a bruising, between-the-tackles runner.
"I missed them," he said. "We had a rough time. Hopefully we can turn things around going against Oakland."
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