Mike McGlinchey dabbed at his eyes as he tried to explain the unexplainable.
At his locker this week, the Broncos right tackle was asked about his footwear choice this weekend as players across the league represent causes near and dear for My Cause, My Cleats weekend.
Few will hit closer to home than McGlinchey’s.
His cousin, Dan McCain, died this summer after a life spent wrestling with a series of lung and heart issues.
Through those challenges, though, McCain was McGlinchey’s most ardent supporter.
“Dan was my biggest fan and he was my best friend and biggest supporter,” McGlinchey said. “Since I was in high school he barely missed any of my games. He lived through me and he lived through the rest of my brothers and my cousins that played.
“… Football was everything to Dan. You carry the weight with you every day in losing him, but you know he’s there watching over us, and he’s certainly maybe had a little bit of influence upstairs in how the Broncos are doing right now.”
McGlinchey comes from a big, tight-knit family. He’s got dozens of aunts and uncles and cousins. Dan was a cousin on his mom’s side. When McCain died July 23, McGlinchey went back to the East Coast and didn’t think twice about missing several days early in Broncos training camp.
“Anybody that knows me knows my family always comes first,” he said then. “It was a tough week, but football was the least of my concerns. … Everybody that knows me knows that Dan was as vital to my life as anybody.”
McCain was 31, a couple of years older than McGlinchey.
“We grew up on the same street and in the same house during the summer,” McGlinchey said. “I considered him a brother more than a cousin. He was just always there. Always with us and everything about our family was how to keep Dan around and keep Dan involved. Football gave Dan life and it gave him a purpose to follow us and follow my team and get to know my teammates and even be a part of the equipment staff at some of my teams.
“He was a special, special dude. I miss him every day and I know my Aunt Mary and Uncle Kevin and their kids miss him even more.”
McGlinchey’s always worn cleats that represent causes close to his family. In his early years, he repped Autism Speaks on behalf of his brother, Jimmy, who is on the autism spectrum.
The past couple of years, like this year, he’s repped Donor Network West, a nonprofit that helps match people in need of organ transplants with donors. McGlinchey’s mom, Janet, said in the past that the amount of time his cousin spent needing breathing assistance when he was young took a toll on his organs as he got older and required McCain at one point several years ago to have his aorta replaced. So the cause is particularly poignant for McGlinchey.
“To get to represent (Dan) on the field is pretty cool,” McGlinchey said. “He’s always with us, and I get to have a little concrete evidence of that this week.”
Number to know
8.5%: That’s the share of Denver’s passing yardage this season that’s gone to tight ends. The Broncos expected to rely heavily on Greg Dulcich as their primary pass-catching threat at the position, but he’s only played in parts of two games due to recurring hamstring injuries. Last year, the tight end group produced 18.3% of the receiving yardage. Russell Wilson’s made up for it mostly by throwing to running backs more. That group’s target (31.6%), catch (36.2%) and yards (25.8%) share have all increased this year.
Hindsight is 20/20
Sometimes you don’t realize how much you value something until it’s gone. Or, in Sean Payton’s case regarding wide receiver Brandon Johnson, until you’ve been without it for a while and are on the verge of getting it back.
Johnson’s not a game-breaking, season-tilting talent, necessarily, but he’s big, fast and reliable. And Payton this week sounded like a coach excited to get him back into the mix after he returns from injured reserve due to a hamstring issue.
“He’s ready, but we’ll see where he is at,” Payton said at the beginning of the week. “It seems like it was months ago, but he had a really good training camp. It’s good to have him back.”
Earlier in the season, Payton sort of shrugged off Johnson’s three touchdowns as an anomaly when comparing them to Jerry Jeudy’s early season production as a way of saying it’s not always possible to control where the ball goes. And sure, Johnson’s Hail Mary grab was flukey. But the burst he showed on a 16-yard score earlier that game against Washington wasn’t.
He many not catch 30 balls over the final six games, but having him back certainly is a benefit for the Broncos. Particularly if a groin issue that limited Jeudy this week impacts his status or usage Sunday.
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