ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Wade Phillips is cracking wise again. But his broken rib is no joke. So, hes strongly considering a move from the sideline to the coaching box when the Broncos visit Oakland on Sunday night.Denvers defensive coordinator suffered a cracked rib last weekend when Chargers running back Melvin Gordon -- shoved by Von Miller -- plowed over him on the sideline, sending Phillips to the hospital.Not that anybodys interested, but Im day to day, thats my status, Phillips said Thursday as he stepped up to the podium for his first public comments since the jarring hit.Of course, the 69-year-old must-follow on Twitter has had plenty of witty tweets in the days since the big hit, including a GIF of a chef cutting up a beef rib and this comment: I was lucky only fractured 1 rib (have 23 more good ones).Phillips was injured in the first half of Denvers 27-19 win over San Diego on Sunday. His head bounced off the ground in a scary scene as Gordon bowled him over during Bradley Robys pick-6 of Philip Rivers.I said, `If Im going to go out, Id like to go out on an interception for a touchdown, Phillips said.He was immobilized and carted off the field, then became the third member of the Broncos taken from the stadium in an ambulance in the last month, joining coach Gary Kubiak (complex migraine on Oct. 9 following a game against Atlanta) and left tackle Russell Okung (concussion-like symptoms on Oct. 13 after a game at San Diego).Phillips said he felt fortunate he wasnt hurt any worse because I hit the back of my head on the ground and they did the CT scan or whatever on my head and they didnt find anything.I dont have to go through (concussion) protocol this week, Phillips said.What he is considering is staying out of harms way, however.Im thinking about being in the box this week just because I am in some pain and I really dont want to get hit again certainly, Phillips said. I did go up in the box when I was with Kube in 2011 when they took my kidney and my gallbladder out. I went upstairs. So, it may be another instance where I might do that.The Broncos (6-2) face the Raiders (6-2) in an AFC West showdown Sunday night.Having Wade out there, you get to see him, you get to high-five and stuff, but thats not the important thing, Miller said. The important thing is getting the calls, making sure that hes out of harms way, making sure hes safe no matter what.Phillips has spent most of his career on the sideline save for that one game with the Texans five years ago. But he said there were some advantages to being in the coaches box.Its clear up there. Its obviously quiet and you can see well, he said.Also, unlike last time he was in the coaching box, the league now allows coaches to communicate directly with the defensive player designated to receive the play calls.So, it makes it easier, Phillips said.The player on the receiving end of Phillips calls is expected to be linebacker Brandon Marshall, expected to return from a pulled hamstring that sidelined him last week.The Broncos might be without star cornerback Aqib Talib as they face Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper.The Broncos sent Talib to California for a second opinion on his ailing lower back Thursday. Talib missed last weeks game and Roby started in his place and earned the AFCs defensive player of the week honors after a stellar performance that included the 49-yard interception return for a touchdown.So, I obviously feel good about him, and we always have, Phillips said. But we hope Talib comes back whenever he can, certainly.With Kayvon Webster (hamstring) also ailing, Lorenzo Doss would again be the nickel back. He had two big pass breakups last week, including a fourth-and-goal breakup from the 2 in the closing minutes.Doss, a second-year pro from Tulane, had a slew of interceptions in training camp and the preseason, including a pair of pick-6s of Mark Sanchez.He kind of ran our other quarterback out of here with two 100-yard interceptions, Phillips said.And that one was no joke.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton Carter Hutton Sabres Jersey . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Jake McCabe Sabres Jersey http://www.officialsabresfanstore.com/authentic-thomas-vanek-sabres-jersey/ . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Derek Roy Sabres Jersey .25 million option on reliever Jose Veras. Dominik Hasek Jersey . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. LOS ANGELES -- The Minnesota Lynx were frustrated with getting behind early and playing catch-up throughout Fridays Game 3 loss to Los Angeles in the WNBA Finals. That forces them into a must-win situation Sunday, when theyll have to beat the Sparks here at Staples Center in order to send the series back to Minnesota for a decisive Game 5.But being a sports fan, as well as a coach, Minnesotas Cheryl Reeve actually does understand why this series has had such momentum shifts. That tends to happen when two really, really good teams face off.Sometimes youll say, Oh, we didnt play hard enough, Reeve said. I told these guys, Im not killing us about our effort, but it just wasnt good enough to win a WNBA Finals game on the road.When we decided in Game 2 what was going to happen, its not like L.A. didnt try. And its not like we didnt try last night.However, the Lynx just didnt play throughout the entirety of Fridays game with the kind of urgency that they needed to.If we dont bring it [Sunday], we know whats going to happen, Minnesota guard Lindsay Whalen said. When you put yourself in a hornets nest like we did [Friday], its tough. If defense has been your calling card and your backbone for all these years, and it isnt at a high level, it hurts.Its now do-or-die for us. We have another chance to come out and do what we need to do. We built this thing on a lot of hard work; the Lynx werent always at this level. So I think that mentality is in us, but we have to come out here and do it.Whalen had 11 points in Fridays loss, in which post players Sylvia Fowles and Rebekkah Brunson led the way with 14 points each. The glaring stat offensively was star forward Maya Moores nine points.She averaged 19.3 points per game during the regular season, and her scoring has trended upward in the past month-plus. In her last seven games of the regular season, she averaged 21.6 PPG, and in the Lynxs five playoff games before Friday, her scoring average was 23.2.Moore got just seven shots in Game 3, making four, and went to the free throw line just once. But like the rest of the Lynx, Moore thought that the teams slow start and its lethargy, at times, onn defense were the two biggest problems.ddddddddddddThe start of Game 4 will be so intense, just as it should be in the Finals, Moore said. We have to continue to find a way to lock in defensively, despite some offensive struggles. The heart of who we are is being a great defensive team.In the WNBA Finals, the smallest details separate winning from losing. In a series like this, some of those details can have explosive results for both teams.There were moments Friday when then Lynx just didnt look like themselves. The Sparks flat-out grabbed the ball away from them a few times, and Minnesota was slow to get back defensively on a few of Los Angeles transition scores.Last year, when the Lynx won a five-game WNBA Finals series against Indiana, they took Game 3 on Moores buzzer-beater but then were not as aggressive as they wanted to be in Game 4. That sent the series to a Game 5 which the Lynx dominated at home at Target Center.Minnesota has been on an incredible run since winning its first WNBA title in 2011. During that stretch though, they havent been in a must-win situation on the road during the playoffs very often. This is just the third time, in fact, and they lost the other two: Game 4 of the 2012 WNBA Finals vs. Indiana and Game 3 of the 2014 Western Conference finals against Phoenix.The Lynx had the best regular-season record (28-6) and the No. 1 seed. They are trying to tie the Houston Comets with four titles and become the first WNBA team to win back-to-back championships since Los Angeles did it in 2001 and 2002. But to keep hope alive for all of that, they may have to play their best game of this series on Sunday.We just werent as ready as we needed to be [Friday], and that shouldnt happen in the playoffs, Fowles said. We watched some film, and you can see things so much clearer than what you thought it was when you were on court.We cant look at it with a negative attitude, though. Just be positive from here on out. We looked at the things we didnt do well, and we know theyre correctable. ' ' '