I remember spending my week in Denver early in August as players seemed to drop like flies - Knowshon Moreno, Correll Buckhalter, Elvis Dumervil - all went down in those first days, all missing significant time. The big loss, of course, was Dumervil, who was placed on Injured Reserve with a torn pectoral muscle 10 days ago.
The Broncos also lost WR Kenny McKinley for the year, and had placed S Josh Barrett on Waivers/Injured with the intent of placing him on IR before he was claimed by the New England Patriots.
The injured kept coming too. WR Demaryius Thomas and WR Eric Decker missed time. WR Brandon Stokley was hobbled before being placed on I/R. S Brian Dawkins missed two pre-season games, Champ Bailey missed three. The Broncos lost S Darcel McBath in the Bengals game and have yet to see him return as well.
Needless to say, I hope the Broncos health-care premiums were up to date.
With one exception, however, the Broncos are starting to get healthy. Ryan Harris-aside, Knowshon, C-Buck and Eric Decker have returned. Thomas is close behind. While Harris' loss is a huge one, the Broncos are hopeful to have him back next week at the latest. McBath is getting close as well. The Broncos are as healthy now as they have been at any point since the start of Training Camp.
Other teams are not so lucky. Just in Week 1 alone, four teams are dealing with injuries to their starting quarterbacks:
- Detroit's Matthew Stafford suffered a 2nd degree should separation and is expected to miss 4-8 weeks
- Carolina's Matt Moore suffered a concussion against the Giants. His status is unknown
- Philadelphia's Kevin Kolb also went down with a concussion and won't practice until Friday at the earliest.
- Cleveland's Jake Delhomme is undergoing tests on a sore ankle.
- The news didn't get any better for some other teams. The Eagles lost FB Leonard Weaver and C Jamaal Jackson for the year in their loss to the Packers.
- Green Bay lost starting RB Ryan Grant for the season as well, though some of those reports are conflicting. The injury to his ankles is severe, however, and Grant is expected to miss considerable time if he doesn't head to I/R.
- The Jets lost NT Kris Jenkins to an ACL tear in last night's loss to the Ravens.
- Colts S Bob Sanders might have a torn biceps muscle, an injury that would end his season.
There are likely more injuries, and I am sure you will plug them into the comments. The important thing is- knock on wood - the Broncos appear to have come out of the Jacksonville loss pretty healthy considering how Training Camp began and what happened throughout the League.
Let's cross our fingers that it stays that way.