There was far more damage to the Denver Broncos’ health coming out of the Kansas City game than initially thought.
The Broncos are placing fullback Andy Janovich on season-ending injured reserve with a left ankle injury. Janovich suffered the injury on the first play of the game, although he did finish the game.
“He struggled throughout the course of the game,'' said Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak. "We knew he was struggling. He said he was fine. He’s a really tough kid. It happened on the screen, the first play of the game, when he caught the ball. He got rolled up on and battled through the game. The next morning, we went to take a look and we knew we had an issue. It was something that needed to be fixed.''
Janovich’s injury is on top of the foot injury suffered by Broncos’ quarterback Trevor Siemian late in the team’s 30-27 overtime loss Sunday night to the Kansas City Chiefs.
With Janovich out, the Broncos could use Juwan Thompson at fullback.
“I’m ready to step up,'' Thompson said. "I know the offense very well. It’s going to be hard to replace Andy, but I’m going to do my best to do it.”
Janovich, a rookie from nebraska, was used primarily as a lead blocker and core special team’s players this season. He did have four carries for 33 yards with his first carry going for a 28-yard touchdown in the season opener against Carolina.
"We’ll move some guys up, but we’ll miss him,'' Kubiak said. "When that kid was healthy and playing well, it was really a boost for our football team. We’ll miss him. He has a bright future. He’ll be fine. He’ll get healthy.”
