There have been some unsubstantiated reports coming out of Denver that Kyle Orton may have a more serious injury on his throwing hand than previously thought.

Orton received a serious gash on his right index finger in the second quarter of the nationally televised pre-season game against Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears.  

The injury occurred on a third and two incomplete pass to Correll Buckhalter.  Orton was in his throwing motion as his hand appeared to have hit Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye on his gloved right hand.  Orton immediately winced and shook his hand in pain while disgusted as he came off the field.  

The gash was bleeding and appeared to be about an eighth of an inch wide.

The replay showed that Orton’s right hand did not touch a helmet which commonly leads to these types of injury’s to quarterbacks.  

The replay confirmed that the hand hit the gloved hand of Ogunleye.  

The Broncos immediately denied that the finger was broken, which eventually led to today’s speculation.

It appears that Kyle Orton did dislocate one or more of the knuckles on his right index finger.  This could mean that he has ligament strains or damage as well.  Moreover, when knuckles in particular are dislocated, the force can also cause the natural sacks of fluid beneath the knuckle to rupture out of position permanently and possibly burst.  This can lead to arthritic conditions later in life.

 If any or all of this is true it could take two to eight weeks before he is able to throw a ball without pain.  If the ligaments are strained, stretched, or torn that will have the most significant impact on Orton’s prognosis for returning sooner than later.

So where this leaves the Broncos is with two serious injuries to their top two quarterbacks Kyle Orton and Chris Simms, with only their rookie third string quarterback Tom Brandstater to shoulder the load. 

 

 

Read more Denver Broncos news on BleacherReport.com

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