4. Drew Lock, Courtland Sutton hurt during the same game
The Denver Broncos, after dropping their first game of the season, hoped to go into Pittsburgh and pull off an upset in week two.
They almost did just that, but the Broncos lost more than just a game when they traveled to Pittsburgh.
First, Drew Lock was hurt while trying to catch himself falling to the ground and simultaneously being hammered into it like a stake by Steelers pass rusher Bud Dupree. Lock suffered a significant injury to his throwing shoulder and was slapped with a vague but not season-ending timeline for a return to the field.
In the same game, star wide receiver Courtland Sutton — playing in his first game of the season after a shoulder injury prior to week one — let a ball hit him in the hands for a tip-drill interception.
As the Steelers were trying to run the interception back, Sutton attempted to make a tackle and ended up tearing up his knee in the process. Specifically, Sutton suffered a torn ACL and MCL in that particular game.
Lock obviously came back from his injury after starts from both Jeff Driskel and Brett Rypien, missing minimal time thanks to a rescheduling of the team’s matchup with the Patriots, but Sutton’s injury paired with Von Miller’s injury meant the Broncos had lost their best players on both offense and defense for the year.
It could be a piece of this post all its own, but injuries throughout the 2020 season have been the primary reason this team is eliminated from the playoffs. Head coach Vic Fangio said in his many, many years in the NFL, he cannot recall a roster being more impacted by injuries than these 2020 Broncos.