The Denver Broncos have a huge game against the LA Chargers in Week 6, and LA's injury report is surprisingly long. LA was on their bye week in Week 5, so they surely had time to get healthy, right?
Wrong. For the Broncos, they had just three players not practice in Josh Rynolds, Alex Palczewski, and Luke Wattenberg. It's important to note that the team brought back OT Cam Fleming, so that may mean that Palczewski isn't going to play. Wattenberg is dealing with an ankle injury and Reynolds has a hand injury.
Two replayers wh have been on IR in Audric Estime and Damarri Mathis were both full participants in Wednesday's practice, which is huge. Denver is getting IR players back it seems, but the Chargers somehow had seven players not practice on Wednesday:
Chargers are coming off a bye yet 7 players didn’t practice today. pic.twitter.com/Vgi6FGruS3
— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) October 9, 2024
They also had nine players limited, so in total, 16 LA Chargers were either limited or not practicing on Wednesday. It seems like the Chargers have been bitten by the injury bug for years now, and with some of these players being important starters for LA, it's not going to be a shock if Denver comes into the game with advantages at those positions.
Broncos seek their fourth win in a row against a banged-up team
The one thing to note here about the Chargers is that they do seem to be well-coached. They were able to hire Jim Harbaugh away from the college ranks. Harbaugh had coached the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-2014, making the Super Bowl in 2012.
However, LA doesn't have as much talent on their roster as the Denver Broncos do, and their QB, Justin Herbert, has not yet thrown for 200 yards in a game this year. In fact, he's been pretty pedestrian, and LA's offense ranks 28th in the NFL, scoring just 17 points per game.
They do have the 1st-ranked scoring defense in the NFL, but three of their opponents have been Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers, Gardner Minshew and the Las Vegas Raiders, and Justin Fields and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
This does project to be a low-scoring game, as we've got two of the best defenses in the NFL going up against each other, but Denver has the better and more explosive offense through Week 5, so it'll be interesting to see if they can take advantage of that, especially being at home again. The Broncos being able to get to 4-2 with a win against the LA Chargers would be absolutely massive, as it would also be their second-straight divisional victory.