Matt Peart played 57 snaps Sunday in London with a torn MCL in his left leg.
The Broncos’ left guard was injured on Denver’s first possession of the outing in London and, according to right tackle Mike McGlinchey, “didn’t even ask to get looked at.”
Peart was pass-protecting on the play and New York Jets defensive end Jermaine Johnson flew around the pocket and ended up getting launched into the air and into Peart’s left leg.
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“That’s so tough. You can’t (put it into perspective). It’s hard to imagine,” McGlinchey said. “It’s hard to even know. That’s a big injury that happened very early in that football game that he had to just deal with and play with, and play through it. …
“It’s putting it on the line for our football team, putting it on the line for himself and his career. That’s an unbelievably unselfish player and you don’t see that often. Now, hopefully we don’t have to make a habit of doing that kind of thing, but, man, that’s tough as nails.”
Now the Broncos will have their third starting left guard in as many weeks and Peart will likely miss the rest of the season.
The options include Alex Palcezwski, who is likely the top option if the criteria is simply: “Who’s the next best player?” Calvin Throckmorton was just promoted to the 53-man roster and is a true guard. Alex Forsyth has experience playing guard in addition to being Denver’s No. 2 center.
“We have a real good plan,” coach Sean Payton said without elaborating, noting the staff and front office met to talk about what happens next at the position.
“It’s not easy to replace (left guard) Ben Powers, no matter who it’s going to be,” McGlinchey added. “He’s a phenomenal player and a phenomenal person and leader for this team. But our depth here has proven to do well, and we’re very confident in the guys we have and the group we’ve been able to build the past two or three years. We’ve stayed together, there’s a lot of continuity.
“Everybody knows what’s expected of them and I’m excited for these guys to get their shot.”
McGlinchey has seen a lot of Palczewski over the years, considering the third-year man nicknamed ‘Palcho’ has been his backup at right tackle in addition to being the No. 2 right guard.
“He’s awesome. He’s exactly the guy you want in your room,” McGlinchey said. “He’s exactly the guy you want on your team. He’s a great player, he’s so tough, wants it so bad. He’s just continued to get better and better and better as I’ve seen him from his rookie year on.
“Whether it’s him or somebody else, he’s going to come in and do a great job for us because that’s what he is. He’s a gamer, he’s tough and no matter what he’s going to get his job done.”
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