Broncos hoping to play Teddy Bridgewater at Pittsburgh
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Pro Football Writer
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Teddy Bridgewater is trending toward starting Sunday against the Steelers one week after suffering a concussion in the Denver Broncos’ loss to Baltimore.
He could be without his top target, however. Wide receiver Courtland Sutton turned an ankle at practice Friday and was added to the injury report as questionable.
The Broncos began the season with enviable depth at wide receiver, which even allowed them to trade Trinity Benson to the Lions. But they’ve lost Jerry Jeudy (high ankle sprain) until November and KJ Hamler (ACL) for the season.
Sutton is tied for the team lead with 18 receptions for 257 yards in his comeback from a torn ACL in Week 2 last season.
Bridgewater was cleared for a full practice Friday and met with medical staff afterward. He hopes to get the green light Saturday morning before the Broncos (3-1) fly to Pittsburgh (1-3).
“Right now he’s progressed nicely, he’s cleared up to this point,” coach Vic Fangio said after Bridgewater took most of the snaps at practice Friday. “They’ll decide tomorrow for the final verdict.”
Backup Drew Lock took all the snaps at Wednesday’s practice before Bridgewater returned and took the bulk of the first-team repetitions Thursday and Friday as he progressed through the league’s concussion protocol.
Bridgewater left just before halftime last week after taking a helmet to his chin from Ravens rookie pass rusher Odafe Oweh. The hit wasn’t flagged but Fangio intimated this week that the NFL agreed with him that it should have been penalized.
Fangio said guards Dalton Risner (ankle) and Graham Glasgow (knee) are ready to return after missing last week’s game.
Lock, who lost his starting job to Bridgewater in training camp, was ineffective in his first appearance as a backup, completing 12 of 21 throws for 113 yards in the second half of Denver’s 23-7 loss last week. He was sacked three times and threw an end zone interception with 3 seconds left.
Fangio said he liked the way his team handled the aftermath of their first loss since last season (they went 3-0 in the preseason).
“I think it was good. A loss should sting some, but you’ve got to quickly flush it out of the system and get ready for the next game,” he said. “There’s only one team left that’s unscathed (the Cardinals) and that’s part of the NFL, moving on to the next game.”
WEDDING BLISS
The Broncos are doing their Saturday walk-through in Denver before flying out because all the meeting rooms in Pittsburgh are booked for weddings.
“Due to the pandemic, a lot of weddings were canceled last year and they were rescheduled for this year, and by the time the NFL schedule came out in early May, a lot of the hotels in Pittsburgh were booked with weddings,” Fangio explained.
“So, we have a hotel. We don’t have meeting space for Saturday night,” Fangio said. “We are going to do the normal meetings we would do at the hotel here before we leave.”
NOTES: Oft-injured TE Albert Okwuegbunam, who pulled a hamstring Wednesday, might go on IR Saturday, Fangio said.
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