Denver Broncos injury report: Key defenders out vs. San Diego

Denver Broncos injury report: The Broncos will be without key defenders for their Week 13 matchup against the San Diego Chargers, including Pro Bowl safety T.J. Ward.

The Denver Broncos’ injury report is a ridiculous looking list of top flight NFL athletes this week against the San Diego Chargers, and four key players have been ruled out for this week’s matchup against Philip Rivers and company.

Here’s the official injury report, sent from Denver Broncos PR:

T.J. Ward and Sylvester Williams were injured against the New England Patriots on the same play, and hopefully will just be out for this week. It’s not looking like a very short term loss with those two, however, as neither was able to practice in any way shape or form this week. They’ll be staying back in Denver for this road trip to continue to receive treatment for their injuries, as will Peyton Manning and DeMarcus Ware.

Manning and Ware are the veteran leaders of the offense and defense respectively, but have missed significant time this season. At least for Ware, it’s been a long road back to full health. He’s been battling back injuries this season, but is still the team’s sack leader. The Broncos are fine playing things slow with him because having his services for the stretch run at this point is more critical than having him for regular season battles.

The Chargers have had plenty of injury issues of their own this season, but Philip Rivers is still throwing for a load of yards. They will be without starters D.J. Fluker and King Dunlap this week, and listed as backups on the depth chart are Chris Hairston and Kenny Wiggins.

For the Broncos, it’ll continue to be the Brock Osweiler show behind Peyton Manning, and the Shaquil Barrett/Shane Ray show behind DeMarcus Ware. Ward’s replacement will continue to be David Bruton Jr., who in my opinion is better in coverage than Ward.

Vault me.

The Broncos also signed Josh Bush this week, who’s likely been ‘on-call’ all year since Ward was also suspended for the first game of this regular season.

Replacing Sylvester Williams will be a combination of Vance Walker and Darius Kilgo up front for the Broncos, whose defensive line depth has thinned out a bit in recent weeks with the injury to Williams and placing Kenny Anunike on IR.

As always, players listed as questionable are sometimes more likely to play than others. The Broncos have had their share of ‘game-time’ decisions this season but there has been no indication that players like WR Bennie Fowler and RG Louis Vasquez won’t play.

Vasquez was also injured in the Patriots game, and rookie Max Garcia did such a great job in his stead he was nominated for the Pepsi Rookie of the Week award.

Everyone else is listed as probable and should play.