Broncos Safety Played with Broken Leg During Sunday’s Game

Sunday's loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers was a tough one for the Broncos to take, but even tougher was the team's safety, David Bruton Jr., who played a majority of the game with a broken leg – ouch.

With only one minute and fifty-eight seconds left in the first quarter, Bruton collided with his own teammate, cornerback Aqib Talib, during a defensive play. After the huge hit, the Broncos' safety felt a sharp pain in his leg, but thought it was just a bruise, so continued playing for the entire rest of the game. In reality, he had fractured his leg.

Two plays after injuring his leg, Bruton took a helmet-to-helmet postplay hit from Steelers center Cody Wallace. Bruton was evaluated by trainers after this play on the sidelines, but again toughed it out and returned to the game. Wallace was penalized with unnecessary roughness for his dirty hit and can most likely expect to receive a fine too.

Bruton realized the severity of his leg injury after getting checked out by the medical staff once the game was over. Even while playing with a broken leg, Bruton managed to play 77 snaps on defense, more than any other Broncos player in the game, and had another 18 snaps on special teams. His recovery time is expected to be around four to six weeks. As of last Sunday, the Broncos were already down three of their safeties due to hamstring and ankle injuries, so here's hoping for quick recoveries!