The Broncos have lost WR Jabar Gaffney for several weeks due to a fractured thumb.  He played in 2 pre-season games for the Broncos as he caught 5 passes for 55 yards (11.0 avg) for the Broncos.  Head coach Josh McDaniels brought Gaffney over from the Patriots with the idea of giving him a good role with the team.

The Broncos have cut TE Jeb Putzier.  Putzier caught 4 passes for 29 yards (7.3 avg) with 1 TD in the pre-season.  Putzier played in parts of five seasons with the Broncos appearing in 41 games (10 starts) in which he has caught 77 passes for 1,087 yards (14.1 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  The Broncos have better TEs than Putzier on the roster so they shouldn’t miss him.

Starting QB Kyle Orton left Sunday Night’s game against the Bears with a open dislocation of his right index finger.  He says that he will be available for the season opener against the Bengals but you never know with this kind of injury.  It’s not as if Orton has played too good before he was injured anyway as he has completed 39 of 58 passes (67.2%) for 367 yards with 1 TD pass and 4 interceptions (61.5 QB Rating).  Backup Chris Simms has looked better than Orton in the pre-season completing 16 of 24 passes (66.7%) for 186 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 interceptions (117.7 QB Rating).  But he has a high ankle sprain and is also iffy for the Bengals game.  Simms is not as good as Orton when the real bullets fly so he would only start if Orton is out.  Rookie Tom Brandstater will start the game this week and the Broncos are crossing their fingers that he won’t be the starter next week.  He has completed 10 of 16 passes (62.5%) this pre-season for 111 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 interception (57.0 QB Rating).  The Broncos better hope Orton is ready for the season opener or the Broncos will have a hard time beating the Bengals.