David Bruton Jr. has worn the captain’s patch on his chest for several years now, and on Sunday he proved once again why.

In case you haven’t been made aware, Bruton broke his fibula during the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and proceeded to play 63 more plays on a broken leg. As you might expect, when this news came out on Monday morning, the outpouring of amazed responses was fun to watch, and Bruton was quick to thank the fans and his team for all the support.

And if you’re wondering what he’s referring to when he says “cheap shot,” he’s not talking about the play that injured his leg; he’s talking about this one, which occurred just a few snaps later:

Again, by that time, Bruton’s leg was already broken — a fact that nobody, including Bruton, was aware of at the time. And you can see Sylvester Williams, Malik Jackson and Derek Wolfe immediately jump to Bruton’s support, slamming Steelers lineman Cody Wallace back into the ground.

It’s clear that Bruton was a leader on this Denver Broncos team, and he will continue to be just that from the sidelines. Now, if they can rally behind their fallen comrade, maybe the Broncos can find the extra motivation they need to help close out some of these tight games in the second half.