The Broncos walked away from Week 15 with an incredible win over the Packers, but injury concerns weighed heavy over their win. Offensively, the Broncos now had two major concerns within their unit with rookies RJ Harvey and Pat Bryant having injury issues. Beyond just Week 15, the Broncos are awaiting the return of starting guard Ben Powers on the offensive line.
As for the defense, the biggest blow came to starting safety Brandon Jones, who is expected to miss considerable time with a pec injury. Initial reports suggest that he could miss more time than cornerback Pat Surtain, who also missed time with a pec injury and returned in under a month. Jones will be out for a while, keeping him off this week's injury report.
As for the players who were on he report, it came back overwhelmingly positive for the Broncos. Rookies Harvey and Bryant were listed as full participants, special teamer Karene Reid was a full participant, the spectacular Marvin Mims was a full participant, and Ben Powers practiced in a limited capacity, meaning that he will undergo another full week of practice this week as he works his way back from the IR.
Tuesday's injury report could not have been any better for the Denver Broncos
At this point in the NFL season, the priority for most teams in a strong playoff position is the health of their 53-man roster. The Broncos have been fairly healthy for the duration of the season, but the nagging injuries that pop up during a full season have begun to rear their ugly head. However, it seems as though the Broncos dodged a bullet on the number of those injuries based on Tuesday’s report.
If the Broncos were to lose Harvey for an extended period of time, the team would have some serious issues in their backfield. They are already still struggling to make up for the loss of JK Dobbins, but Harvey has been able to maintain production in different ways since gaining the starting role.
If the Broncos need to turn to the third and fourth stringers, their hopes of a run in the AFC playoffs would effectively be over. Adding to this, being down Bryant for another week would be a difficult test against a solid Jaguars secondary.
As for Reid and Mims, the Broncos' special teams have significantly improved over the last month or so. The unit was at 1.1 of football’s worst, but they have made legitimate improvements and strides since facing the Raiders in Week 10.