ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler doesn’t have the hairline fracture in his left leg he feared.
An MRI on Monday was negative, but coach Mike Shanahan said he didn’t know if Cutler would practice much this week or be under center Sunday at Kansas City.
“He doesn’t have a stress fracture, which is a positive,” Shanahan said. “The X-rays were negative, the MRI was negative. So, we’ll see how sore he is. Right now he’s quite sore. And we’ll get a chance to see how he feels on Wednesday.”
Cutler, who declined to comment Monday, took a helmet to his lower leg, which was badly bruised, in the first half of the Broncos’ 44-7 loss at Detroit on Sunday. He was carted off the field and although immediate X-rays were negative, Cutler said he feared his leg was broken.
“You never know for sure until you get an MRI if there’s a stress fracture,” Shanahan said. “There’s no stress fracture. There is a bruise. It’s badly bruised. We’ll see what the recovery time is.”
Defensive end Cory Redding dived at Cutler helmet-first at the end of the play in which Shaun Rogers sacked the second-year quarterback. Shanahan said he didn’t see the hit, but “if he did do something illegal, obviously, he’ll get fined for it.”
Cutler was the 11th pick in last year’s draft out of Vanderbilt, the last of the “Big Three” quarterbacks chosen behind Arizona’s Matt Leinert and Tennessee’s Vince Young. He took over the starter’s job from Jake Plummer with five weeks left in the season and became the first rookie in league history to throw for multiple touchdowns in each of his first four games.
Patrick Ramsey replaced Cutler and would start against the Chiefs if Cutler can’t go. The Broncos would have to sign another quarterback in that case, and one possibility is practice squad player Darrell Hackney.
Because the Broncos keep only two quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, long-snapper Mike Leach was next in line Sunday had Ramsey gotten hurt.
“Nothing against Mike, but he’s never taken a rep at quarterback and I was going to do everything I could to stay in there and finish the game for us,” said Ramsey, who completed 29 of 46 passes for 263 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Leach was practicing taking snaps on the sideline late in the game.
“Someone referred to it as a ‘break glass’ in case of emergency’ kind of situation,” Leach said. “And you know there’s not a lot of high expectations at that point, so I just go out and do my best and see what happens.”
Mary, completing a 9-yard toss on a fake punt.
Also, X-rays were negative on wide receiver Glenn Martinez (ribs), who has gotten plenty of playing time with No. 1 receiver Javon Walker recovering from knee surgery.
The Broncos (3-5) have been hit by injuries. Last week they placed their career receptions leader Rod Smith (hip) and top draft pick Jarvis Moss (leg), a defensive end, on injured reserve, where they joined end Ebenezer Ekuban, center Tom Nalen, guard Ben Hamilton, linebacker Warrick Holdman and tight ends Stephen Alexander and Nate Jackson.
The Broncos felt like they finally caught a break when Cutler’s MRI came back negative.
“Shoot, that’s our franchise,” wide receiver Brandon Marshall said. “So, we’re happy that he’s here and he’s going to be with us for the rest of the season and it’s just a little sore, nothing the ice tub couldn’t handle.”
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