"Banged up" Brock Osweiler battles through injury, leads Broncos to playoff berth

On Sunday morning, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that Brock Osweiler’s left shoulder injury sustained against the Pittsburgh Steelers was worse than originally let on. Glazer reported Osweiler had a grade two shoulder separation, meaning his AC ligament is completely torn.

On Monday night, Osweiler played through the injury and lead his team to victory in a must-win game, throwing for 299 yards and a touchdown on 27-of-39 passing and orchestrating two impressive late-game drives, the second one eventually proving to be the game-winner.

Oh, and according to Gary Kubiak, Osweiler suffered an elbow injury on that same left arm during this game.

“Coming into the game, I was a little bit banged up,” Osweiler said following the win. “Coming out of the game, I’m a little bit banged up, but that’s football. Everybody in that locker room, Week 16, is banged up. I’m no special case. Everybody has got their bumps and bruises, and I’ll be good to go come next week.”

Playing through injuries is a great way to earn the respect of your teammates, especially when you play well, just look at the way Osweiler talked about his teammate, who was also playing banged up.

“I knew Demaryius [Thomas] was hurt. I didn’t know how bad,” he said. “You can kind of see a little bit, but D.T. is a warrior and D.T. played his butt off tonight. He came up big for this football team when he needed to. I think that just says everything about him as a person and as a player. D.T. is going to fight for his teammates. D.T. will make big plays when the ball comes his way, and he’s a big-time player. I’m very glad that he’s on our side.”

But the story was Osweiler, who looked like a seasoned vet once he got rolling in the second half, as the Broncos ended their second half scoring slump, putting up 14 in the half and three more in overtime. But, as we always must remind ourselves, it was only his sixth start.

“Well, I’ve learned a lot. In fact, I was just talking to some of the guys in the locker room about some of those things that I’ve learned along the way,” the quarterback told reporters. “Through the learning experiences I’ve been trying to eliminate mistakes. I don’t want the same mistake to happen twice. I think I’ve grown through this process, but once again, I don’t want to make this about me. Tonight was a huge team win. It’s very special to this team.”

So what’s the most important thing he’s learned?

“Obviously protecting the football,” he explained. “When you protect the football and you have the defense that plays the way that our defense plays, you’re going to give your team a chance to win the game. I think ball security, regardless of the opponent, is a huge priority every single week.”

Protect the football, manage the game and make big plays when the team needs it most, three things that Brock Osweiler has shown the capability to do and three things that could spell a recipe for success for the Broncos in the playoffs.