Broncos star cornerback Pat Surtain II suffers ankle injury vs. Colts, but returns

The Broncos received the scare of all scares in the first half of Week 2’s matchup with the Indianapolis Colts.

Star cornerback Pat Surtain II, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, went down in coverage on a third-down play midway through the second quarter Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Surtain lingered on the turf for a minute in pain, appearing to grab at his lower left leg.

Eventually, Surtain was helped up to a sideline medical tent, an arm draped around the shoulders of Broncos VP of health and performance Beau Lowery and head physician Dr. Karim Meijer. He lingered in the medical tent for a long stretch of the second quarter, eventually exiting after almost 10 minutes and testing out his leg on the sidelines.

Surtain, though, returned to the game late in the first half after the Broncos announced he was questionable to return with an ankle injury. Beyond the obvious, it was a particularly important development against the Colts, as defensive coordinator Vance Joseph tasked the corner extraordinaire with shadowing Colts rookie tight end Tyler Warren in several alignments.

Surtain passed his first test in the follow-up to his DPOY campaign in Week 1 with flying colors, matching up with the Titans’ Calvin Ridley and not allowing a single catch on 34 coverage snaps, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Entering Sunday, Surtain had played 67 of a possible 69 games across his NFL career, a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro selection.

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