Denver Broncos injury report: Michael Crabtree downgraded

As the Denver Broncos get set for a matchup against the Oakland Raiders, their AFC West foe may have to gameplan without WR Michael Crabtree…

The Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders are set for their first showdown this season, one that has some pretty significant AFC West implications already. The Raiders, as it turns out, could very well be without one of their top offensive playmakers in wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

At the very least, it doesn’t seem like Crabtree will be 100 percent.

Crabtree was limited the first two days of practice this past week with a chest injury, and was downgraded to ‘OUT’ on Friday.

That’s never good. Here’s the final injury report:

The Raiders list Crabtree as questionable, which is fair given the amount of practice he participated in this week. He’s really the kind of player they can count on on limited practice preparation to just go out and make plays on Sundays, so it would still be a bit of a surprise if they decided to hold him out for this game.

You never like to joke about injuries, but many Broncos fans thought perhaps Crabtree was suffering from a broken chain as news emerged that he was questionable for this game.

For those of you who remember last year’s game in Denver, you’ll know exactly what that means…

For the Broncos, fellow wide receiver Cody Latimer is listed as questionable with a knee injury. Unlike Crabtree, he was upgraded from ‘DNP’ to ‘limited’ on Friday’s practice. Latimer is undoubtedly the Broncos’ special teams ace, and has been playing a bit more prominent role in the offense.

Paxton Lynch, who was expected to still be out past the bye week, is still not able to practice. The Broncos are really taking things slow with him.

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As we saw last game, it doesn’t necessarily matter which key players are injured for a team, as the Buffalo Bills won without their starting left tackle and big money defensive lineman. Losing Crabtree would be pretty significant for the Raiders, who have been watching Amari Cooper struggle some with dropped passes this season.

Behind Crabtree on the depth chart are Seth Roberts, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Johnny Holton.

For the Broncos, there have been some positive developments on the injury front this week. Rookie cornerback and third round pick Brendan Langley is back from his knee injury that has kept him out since the team’s week one victory.

Devontae Booker, who has been working his way back from a wrist injury, is not even on the report this week.

A couple of players (Jamaal Charles, Domata Peko, Aqib Talib) are only on the report because of veteran ‘off’ days they have been receiving.