The Denver Broncos are back in the saddle, preparing all week to face the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. Hopefully, the Broncos’ Week 9 bye afforded Sean Payton the opportunity to further fine-tune a football program that has been steadily on the rise over the previous three weeks.
While the Broncos still have way too many players on injured reserve, they’re about as healthy as fans could hope for entering Week 10. Another benefit of the bye.
The Bills, however, are yet to hit their bye, and they’re a much more banged-up crew. With Saturday’s practices in the books, both teams revealed their final injury report for Monday night.
Browning has been a revelation since returning to the team in Week 7. He’d missed the previous six games on the PUP list, but his return couldn’t have been more timely. His wrist has bothered him, but he was a full participant in all three practices this week.
Powers, whom the Broncos signed to a big-dollar deal in the offseason, has been playing well at left guard. He’s a big reason for Denver’s resurgence on the ground. Like Browning, Powers wasn’t limited in any of this week’s practices.
Analysis: Diggs’ outlook for Week 10 was in question, but he’s a full go, as is Allen — the Bills’ most important player. However, Allen’s injury is to his throwing shoulder, so keep an eye on that on Monday night.
Diggs was limited in practice all week, so being designated a full go is curious, but the Bills are obviously confident he’ll be ready. The Broncos will have their work cut out for them in covering Diggs and a talented Bills’ receiving corps.
Similar to Week 8, the model for the Broncos is to keep Allen and company on the sideline with sustained drives that eat clock and result in touchdowns. Easier said than done, certainly, but if the Broncos’ defensive resurgence isn’t fool’s gold, this is a game that could go down to the wire, despite the oddsmakers favoring Buffalo by 7.5 points at home.
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