Ten times a late-season injury has changed a team’s fortunes across sports

For the Denver Broncos, irrepressible optimism was replaced by exorbitant doubt in a matter of moments.

The Broncos will have to continue their journey through the AFC Championship Game, and potentially beyond, without starting quarterback Bo Nix. It was announced shortly after Denver’s 33-30 AFC divisional-round win over the Buffalo Bills that Nix had broken his ankle on one of the game’s final plays.

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The injury means backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham will be asked to start at home against the New England Patriots with a Super Bowl berth on the line. Denver entered the postseason as the AFC’s No. 1 seed and owns an 8-1 home record this season. But the sudden change at quarterback has made the Patriots 5.5-point favorites and dramatically shifted the outlook of the Broncos’ season.

It is not the first time across sports that a late-season injury to a key player has significantly altered championship hopes. In some cases, backups stepped in and saved the day.

In Week 14 of the 2017 NFL season, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles came in for injured MVP candidate Carson Wentz and finished the journey through a Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots.

In 1990, Jeff Hostetler took over for New York Giants starting quarterback Phil Simms, who broke his foot in Week 15. Five wins and one precariously wide-right kick from Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood later, Hostetler and the Giants were Super Bowl champions.

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Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out. Here are 10 examples across sports in which a major injury changed a team’s fortune. Let us know in the comments which ones we missed.

Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, 2019 Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors suffered a double whammy in the 2019 NBA Finals. With the Warriors trailing the series 3-1 entering Game 5, Durant tore his Achilles after just 12 minutes of court time. Golden State managed to win the game to stay alive, but then Klay Thompson tore his ACL in Game 6. Without the team’s second- and third-leading scorers that season, the Warriors lost the finals 4-2 to the Toronto Raptors.

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ten-times-season-injury-changed-111606610.html

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Publish date : 2026-01-21 11:16:00

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