The NFL is a grueling game, but this is getting ridiculous.

For the Denver Broncos, the injuries aren’t just mounting, they’re piled as high as a mountain.

In fact, they seem unsurmountable.

Over the last week, the Broncos have lost: 2 games and 4 starters to the Injured Reserve. Beastly running back Javonte Williams tore his ACL, LCL and PLC and then pass rusher Randy Gregory injured his knee. Williams is done for the season while Gregory could return this year.

Then, as the Broncos lost to the Colts in ugly fashion, they had starting cornerback Ronald Darby (ACL) and left tackle Garett Bolles (ankle) go down with season-ending injuries of their own.

And now we know there was another injured Broncos player in those two losses: Russell Wilson. He injured his lat near his right shoulder in the loss to the Raiders.

According to ESPN’s piece, the Broncos diagnosed the shoulder in the days leading up to the Colts game. They gave Wilson an injection to help with the pain and he played through it.

Many wondered openly on Twitter why Wilson’s velocity was off during the Colts game, and this seems to be the reason why.

The hope is, per ESPN’s sources, that with the rest (10 days between games) Wilson will heal but the likelihood is this injury will linger for multiple weeks going forward. His partially torn lat, near the shoulder, doesn’t require surgery so that’s good news for Broncos fans.

The bad news is, even with Wilson at quarterback, Denver’s offense has been awful. Their 15 points per game are 31st in the league, the Broncos’ 21.7% in the red zone is dead-last and Wilson’s 4 passing TDs are 26th.

And even though Wilson’s injury isn’t too severe, the Broncos currently have nine players on the injured reserve. As Jason from Over the Cap shows, Denver’s second by a slim margin for the amount of contract value currently ($48.6M) on the IR, Physically Unable to Perform and Non-Football Injury lists.

There are no excuses in the NFL and every team deals with injuries. But Denver is down badly right now.

The Broncos have a lack of leadership from head coach Nathaniel Hackett and some are questioning the leadership of Wilson, too. At 2-3 and coming off back-to-back losses, Denver seems to be on the edge of a precipice.

Broncos Country overestimated how good this team would be immediately with a new coaching staff, new quarterback and new offense. Now with the expectations more clearly set, the team can look to build from the bottom up. Hackett, Wilson and many more individual players can work to improve their game over the course of the season and build momentum going into 2023.