Tom Nalen (66) admitted to deliberately attempting to injure another player (USA Today Sports Images)
Former Denver Broncos center Tom Nalen made a surprising revelation this week, admitting that he tried to injure a defensive lineman's knee on a specific play during his career.
The act itself shouldn't be all that surprising. Nalen had a reputation as a dirty player through his career, as did many of Denver's linemen in the Broncos' zone-blocking era. That he tried ruining San Diego defensive lineman Igor Olshansky's knee on a play near the end of a game in 2006 shouldn't truly shock anyone.
The fact that he would announce it publicly is pretty startling, however.
Read More »from Former Denver Broncos center Tom Nalen admits to deliberately trying to hurt another player"I wouldn’t consider myself a dirty player," Nalen said at a press conference for his election into the team's ring of fame. "I know people will bring up the Igor Olshansky play in 2006, but if people will look at the play before that and realize why I did what I did—and even on that play, I missed the cut. Definitely I wanted to blow his knee out on that play, because of what happened the play before. But is that dirty? I don’t know. It’s revenge, kind of."







