Getting home-field advantage throughout the playoffs is nice, but the real perk to having the No. 1 seed in the AFC is that second bye week, and the Broncos needed it.
Gary Kubiak has had his hands full all season juggling players in and out of the lineup as they’ve fall to one injury or another, but he can’t complain; at least he’s not Steve “Greek” Antonopulos, the Broncos head trainer.
Greek has been busier than just about anyone these last few months, but it looks like he, and his staff, are finally making some progress; the Broncos’ injury report looks a whole lot less concerning this week.
It’s been awhile since Brandon Marshall, Peyton Manning and T.J. Ward were all full participants at practice, and it sure does look nice. The fact that Chris Harris, Malik Jackson, DeMarcus Ware and Darian Stewart were all at practice on at least a limited basis is good news, too.
The most interesting question, though, is what has happened to Brock Osweiler. The Broncos said that he was dealing with a knee injury after Week 17, but it has to be pretty severe if he’s still not able to practice, right?
Did that factor into the decision to start Manning?
We’ll probably find out at some point, but it’s not nearly as big of a worry as what the Steelers are currently going through.
Pittsburgh doesn’t just have six of their starters sitting on the sidelines; they have six of their best starters sitting on the sidelines.
Once again, it just goes to show how important that first-round bye is. Not only do you get an automatic “win,” but you ensure you avoid these types of injuries.