ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- John Lynch said he felt optimistic Wednesday that the stinger he suffered Monday night was unrelated to his 2004 neck surgery -- but the concerned look on his face and the worry in his voice belied that brave front.
"I'm feeling all right, obviously not too well when you've got to come out of a game. But I got a little stinger and just waiting on doctors to see how we're going to proceed. But I feel better," the eight-time Pro Bowl safety said after watching the Denver Broncos' workout.
Lynch, 36, struggled with neck injuries in 2003, his final season in Tampa Bay, and he had surgery to remove bone spurs in early 2004, just before joining the Broncos.
He said the doctor who performed his neck operation was reviewing his latest MRI, and that he had no timetable for his return.
"No, again, just waiting on all the information to come back. Took the MRI yesterday and they're waiting on the specialist out in Los Angeles who did my neck surgery to kind of check it out and see what he has to think," Lynch said. "But I think everything's good and we'll see."
Lynch sustained what the team said was a pinched nerve in his neck early in Denver's 19-13 overtime loss to Green Bay on Monday night. Lynch said one of his arms went numb for a while and that he was never cleared to return to the game even though the team said that night his return was probable.
"Well, just you know, a stinger, you get your whole arm kind of goes numb," Lynch said. "Been there before, but hopefully this is something not related and we'll be all right."
Lynch said he was worried given his history with neck surgery.
"I've had little episodes since I've been here but this is the first kind of big one I've had, so it's a little bit of a concern," Lynch said. "But things bounced back fairly quickly, I'm feeling a lot better and just taking in all the information and go from there."
The 15th year pro has 24 tackles so far. He missed one game with a pulled groin, against Indianapolis on Sept. 30, and was replaced by Domonique Foxworth, who also replaced him Monday night.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
