Gary Kubiak updates the Denver Broncos' injury situation

ENGLEWOOD, Colo – The Denver Broncos got a huge win to improve to 2-0 on Sunday afternoon, but as often is the case in the vicious NFL, the win came with losses on the personnel side. The good news, though, as head coach Gary Kubiak revealed on Monday morning, is that none of the injuries are season-threatening.

As has become more widely known now, team captain and defensive leader Demarcus Ware’s injury is the worst of the bunch.

“Demarcus is going to have surgery tomorrow morning, I think,” Kubiak explained. “He’s going to miss some time, [Broncos head athletic trainer Steve Antonopulos] Greek has talked to me in terms of like four or five weeks, something like that. . . Obviously, we know we’re going to get him back, so that’s very encouraging.”

The loss, while tough, comes at a position where the Broncos have a bevy of talent. Shane Ray, Shaquil Barrett, and even Dekoda Watson have all shown an ability to rush the passer at a high level.

Another loss, though, came at a position where the Broncos do not have nearly that much depth. Virgil Green suffered a calf injury in the game, but the news is sounding positive on that end.

“I would say Virgil is day-to-day right now,” the head coach said. “He has a strained calf. this is something we’ve gone through with Virgil before. Of the three guys that we talked about (Ware, Stephenson, Green), Virgil is probably feeling better than any of them.”

If Green is unable to go, second-year man Jeff Heuerman, who Kubiak said was ready to play on Sunday, will be set to see the first action of his NFL career.

Finally, Kubiak addressed the loss of his right tackle Donald Stephenson.

“He’s probably going to miss a week here, but we feel like we’re lucky,” he explained. “This is also something that he dealt with—I want to say—back in OTAs, and he missed about eight to 10 days. . .The good news is, we have some versatility in the fact that Ty [Sambrailo] was ready to go yesterday. We chose not to suit him up; we chose to suit up the six defensive linemen and rotate them. Ty is ready to go so that gives us some flexibility in what we can do.”

Kubiak was not ready to make a call yet on where Sambrailo would slide in when Stephenson is officially ruled out. On Sunday, Michael Schofield slid back out to right tackle from his more natural right guard spot. Considering how well Schofield has performed on the inside, it seems most likely Sambrailo will play the tackle position when the Broncos take on the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday.

No team is going to stay healthy for an entire season, but the Broncos feel fortunate to have not lost any of these players for too long a period.