Broncos hope to play Teddy Bridgewater in Pittsburgh

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – Teddy Bridgewater tends to face the Steelers on Sunday, a week after suffering a concussion in the Denver Broncos’ loss to Baltimore.

He could do without his top target, however. Wide receiver Courtland Sutton twisted an ankle in practice on Friday and was included in the injury report as questionable.

The Broncos started the season with enviable depth at wide receivers, which even enabled them to trade Trinity Benson for the Lions. But they lost Jerry Jeudy (high ankle sprain) by November and KJ Hamler (ACL) for the season.

Sutton is tied for the team leadership with 18 receptions for 257 yards on his comeback from a cruciate ligament rupture in Week 2 last season.

Bridgewater was released for full practice on Friday and met with medical staff afterward. He’s hoping to get the green light on Saturday morning before the Broncos (3-1) fly to Pittsburgh (1-3).

“He’s been making good progress at the moment, he’s cleared up to that point,” said coach Vic Fangio after Bridgewater snapped the most snaps on Friday. “You will decide the final verdict tomorrow.”

Backup Drew Lock took all of the snaps of practice Wednesday before Bridgewater returned, and recorded most of the first-team reps on Thursday and Friday as he went through the league’s concussion log.

Bridgewater left just before halftime last week after wearing a helmet on his chin from Raven’s rookie pass rusher Odafe Oweh. The hit was not reported, but Fangio hinted this week that the NFL agreed with him that he should be punished.

Fangio said guards Dalton Risner (ankle) and Graham Glasgow (knee) are ready to return after missing out on last week’s game.

Lock, who lost his starting job to Bridgewater at training camp, was ineffective as a substitute on his first appearance, completing 12 of 21 throws for 113 yards in the second half of Denver’s 23-7 defeat last week. He was released three times and threw an endzone interception with 3 seconds remaining.

Fangio said he liked the way his team dealt with the aftermath of their first loss since last season (they went 3-0 last season).

“I think it was good. A loss should sting a lot, but you need to flush it out of the system quickly and prepare for the next game, ”he said. “There’s only one team left (the Cardinals) and that’s part of the NFL moving on to the next game.”

WEDDING HAPPINESS

The Broncos make their Saturday round in Denver before they fly because all of the meeting rooms in Pittsburgh are booked for weddings.

“Due to the pandemic, many weddings were canceled last year and postponed for this year, and by the time the NFL schedule came out in early May, many Pittsburgh hotels were booked with weddings,” said Fangio.

“So we have a hotel. We don’t have a meeting room for Saturday night, ”said Fangio. “We will hold the normal meetings that we would do here at the hotel before we leave.”

NOTES: The often injured TE Albert Okwuegbunam, who sore a hamstring Wednesday, could go on IR on Saturday, Fangio said.

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