ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The past 24 hours have been one loss after another for the Denver Broncos.
First, the Broncos lost their season-opening AFC West Division game Sunday, falling to the rival Raiders, 32-23 in Las Vegas.
Then came MRI results back home Monday on two of their starting players, running back Javonte Williams and outside linebacker Randy Gregory. Williams suffered an ACL tear and other damage in his right knee, a source told 9NEWS.
Later in the day, sources told 9NEWS that Gregory will also miss several weeks from a right knee injury that will require arthroscopic surgery to repair. The good news is Gregory's ACL is intact. There was worry there.
Broncos' head coach Nathaniel Hackett confirmed the severity of the injuries to Williams and Gregory during his day-after-game press conference Monday.
"Both those guys are obviously very important to our team,'' Hackett said. "Losing Javonte is so unfortunate, a dynamic player in this league. Randy, having him have to miss some time right now, is hard because he's been a great force on the team but, hey, somebody's got to step up.''
But still losing Gregory is a huge blow to the Denver defense as he had been a force through the first three games, recording 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. The Broncos' top free-agent acquisition in March with a five-year, $70 million deal, Gregory pulled up clutching his right knee as Raiders' quarterback Derek Carr cut inside for a 9-yard scramble for a first down with about 6 minutes left in the game.
Carr and the Raiders wound up killing another 4 minutes off the clock before finishing the drive with a game-clinching touchdown.
Gregory is expected to go on injured reserve (IR), which would sideline him a minimum of four weeks, but he will almost certainly be out longer.
"He's going to have to get a scope, so we're going to have to see what's going on inside there and then we'll find out more as the days come forward,'' Hackett said.
With Gregory down, Baron Browning took most of his snaps at outside linebacker. Second-round rookie Nik Bonitto, and second-year player Jonathon Cooper, who missed the past two games with a hamstring injury, are other backups to Gregory and fellow edge starter Bradley Chubb.
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