The Denver Broncos’ current 6-1 streak has been characterized by the team’s ability to maintain health. In the NFL, avoiding injuries is difficult, particularly with the new 17-game regular season schedule.
Head coach Sean Payton’s hirings and adjustments in Denver have had a profound impact. All teams are susceptible to the unpredictable nature of the virus, though, and the Broncos will need to maintain their string of luck with injuries if they hope to survive the AFC playoffs.
However, the Broncos will be without a vital player who has made a significant contribution to the team’s resurgence when they play the Detroit Lions this week. Although it hurts, the player in question who was ruled out is anticipated to make a quick recovery, which is a significant change from the impressive roster of players who have accumulated on Denver’s injured reserve by December in recent years.
In the meantime, the Lions are largely healthy heading into Week 15, even though they have dropped their last two games. Let’s examine the final injury report for the Broncos vs. Lions game at Ford Field on Saturday night.
Analysis: Despite the disappointment of Dulcich being ruled out of this game, he remains on injured reserve (IR), where he has been for the last two months, despite the Broncos starting him with full participation in practice on Wednesday. This season, he has played in just two games.
What is Dulcich’s chronic injury? That tendon. In order to activate him to the roster in time for Saturday’s game, the Broncos fully anticipated him to practice all week. However, as is so common with athletes who are prone to injuries, it appears that he took another blow during that full-go practice because he is currently recorded as having a foot on top of his hamstring, which wasn’t there on Wednesday.
As I indicated in my introduction above, Denver might suffer from Bonitto’s departure. With seven sacks, he leads the club. The Broncos will need Baron Browning to turn all of his excellent pressures into points in Detroit.
It will be interesting to watch how the Broncos address their lack of depth at outside linebacker in this game, especially with Cooper also down but cleared to play—especially after they waived Ronnie Perkins. Thomas Incoom, a rookie who was not selected, is likely to start.
