ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Almost 72 hours after he was strapped to a backboard and taken from Invesco Field at Mile High by ambulance, Denver Broncos linebacker Al Wilson wanted to make one thing perfectly clear:

"Tell all the fans out there I could have walked off the field, no question."

Wilson made his first public comments Wednesday since suffering a sprained neck in the fourth quarter of the Broncos' 23-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night. The former University of Tennessee star was injured when he collided with Broncos defensive tackle Gerard Warren while trying to recover a fumble. The linebacker felt tingling in his shoulders and hands and briefly lost feeling in his arms.

And, though, he initially sat up and wanted to walk off the field, the Broncos medical staff placed him flat on a backboard -- it's a common practice for some neck and spine injuries -- and had Wilson carted off the field. He then was taken to Sky Ridge Medical Center for tests.

"I can't say what was truly going through my mind," Wilson said. "A few bad words that I had for the doctors. That they didn't have to do that, they should have let me walk off the field. But, like I said, they had to do precautionary things and the things they felt were right as doctors.

"But I was upset that I had to leave the field, and especially when they put me in that ambulance, I was really upset. I just felt like I could at least come back on the field and watch the end of the game."

"... I think everyone else was a little more worried than I was. I knew the consequences of this game. This is what I live for to play football. If something happens to me on the football field, just know that I feel good about it and I'm doing what I love to do."

Wilson was released from the hospital late Sunday night and was back with the Broncos on Monday. He took part in about half of Wednesday's practice with the starters but still doesn't know if he will be cleared to play Sunday in San Diego. He said he is taking that decision "day by day."

The eighth-year veteran has missed only two games in his career.

Wilson sat out the 2005 regular-season finale because the Broncos had already secured a playoff spot and he had a fractured thumb. He then played in the Broncos' two playoff games.

He also missed a game against Atlanta in the 2000 season because he had dislocated his left shoulder in the opener at St. Louis.

Wilson has had "stingers" -- pain that shoots down the shoulder and arms from nerves that start in the neck -- but hadn't experienced numbness in his arms in addition to the tingling in his shoulders and arms.

"Just happened so fast, just the game of football," Wilson said. "I think we all know the consequences of this game. We play it as young kids, we understand it's a violent sport, and sometimes things like that happen.

"I had a lot of prayers go up for me, people believed in me, and I think that's why I came through unscathed."

Wilson said he hopes to be ready to go.

"I'm doing what I love for a living," Wilson said. "This is what I worked my whole life for, beginning as a child. I go out and expect to win and play well. And my teammates expect me to be out there. It's my job, my duty to make sure that happens.

"I'll just take it day by day ... I'm not scared, I play the game for what it is. I love it, passionate about it, if I feel like I can go, I will."