The Denver Broncos were trounced on the road by the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, falling 42-15 in preseason Game 2. It was an ugly performance by the Broncos and one that will likely see head coach Nathaniel Hackett go back to the drawing board on a few things, like his emphasis (or lack thereof) on physicality and tackling technique.
Amid the slaughter, the Broncos saw a few guys go down with injury, two of which are key role players. Rush linebacker Malik Reed, the team's No. 3 guy at the position, exited early after suffering an eye injury, while cornerback Michael Ojemudia went down with an arm injury.
After the game, we learned from Coach Hackett that Reed will be fine after being poked in the eye, but Ojemduia suffered a dislocated elbow. The timetable to return from an elbow is 4-6 weeks.
Ojemudia's injury, oddly, is the same one that befell starting inside linebacker Jonas Griffith last week vs. Dallas. Ojemudia was not playing well before he went down but he was penciled in as this team's No. 4 cornerback.
Suffice to say, Ojemudia's injury could reshuffle the cornerback depth chart and how the final roster math shakes out. Unfortunately, the Broncos' cornerback depth was exposed in a big bad way on Saturday, so outside of rookie fourth-rounder Demarri Mathis, who had a down day in Upstate New York, the front office might be compelled to look off-roster for some depth at the position.
Depth offensive lineman Casey Tucker went down on Saturday, too, and was carted off. It turned out to be a dislocated big right toe, which was promptly popped back into place. Hopefully, he can return to practice soon.
The Broncos had a reality check on Saturday in Buffalo. It'll be interesting to see how Coach Hackett and his staff bounce back from their first real measure of adversity.
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