Broncos nose tackle Domata Peko probably won’t know what to do or how to act Sunday when he watches his teammates on TV from his home in Denver. Peko will miss his first regular-season game since 2009.
Peko has started 123 consecutive games, the longest streak among NFL defensive linemen and the third-longest among all defensive players.
“It’s kind of weird,” Peko said, via Ben Swanson of the team website. “I was talking to one my other teammates about it. I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t even know.’ It’s been a while. I forgot what it feels like to miss practice. When I’m seeing all my guys go out there to work and just sitting in there in the training room, it gets lonely in there. I’m just going to work my tail off and try to get a new streak going. One hundred and twenty-three, man, I thank God for that. It was a good run. But I’ve got to keep working hard to rehab and get back on the field.”
The Broncos ruled out Peko with a knee injury. He was injured during the Broncos’ loss to the Raiders last week. Denver also ruled out defensive end Derek Wolfe (neck) and right guard Ron Leary (back).
“All week I was trying to be positive with it, but just running around [Thursday] and in the pool [Friday], just jogging in there, I just felt that my knee wasn’t stable,” Peko said. “And being in the trenches, you can’t have a bad wheel. You’ve got to be 100 percent in there. I don’t want to go out there at 75 percent and someone falls into me. That’s not going to do us any good.”