DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 1: Defensive end Derek Wolfe #95 of the Denver Broncos sacks quarterback Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 1, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Denver Broncos: Five key players from the first four games

Denver Broncos: Five key players from the first four games by Sayre Bedinger

Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr left the game vs. the Denver Broncos with a back injury, and apparently tests showed it’s worse than thought…

The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, but the Raiders lost more than just the game. Star quarterback Derek Carr, who was shut down mostly by the Denver defense, suffered a broken back in this game.

Carr has unfortunately had to deal with some pretty significant injuries in the past 12 months, including a broken leg near the end of the 2016 regular season, just as the Raiders were getting ready for a postseason run.

Here’s the play where Carr was injured:

The final hit — among a few on this play — was applied by Adam Gotsis, who is having a great year thus far. There doesn’t appear to be anything dirty about this hit, but you can be certain that Raider Nation is not going to like Gotsis after this play.

As we wrote following the game yesterday, we hate seeing players get injured, and this couldn’t have happened to a classier player in Carr, who signed a massive extension this offseason.

Carr has embraced his role as leader of the Oakland Raiders, and has done an exceptional job, playing MVP caliber football for the most part when he is healthy and on the field.

After two strong games to start the season, Carr struggled badly against the Washington Redskins last Sunday night, and wasn’t playing his best game against Denver prior to a 64-yard touchdown on broken coverage.

Jack Del Rio said Derek Carr has a fracture in his back and is out 2-6 weeks. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 2, 2017

The Raiders initially declared this injury to be just back spasms, but that proved to not be the case and in fact, much more severe in nature. A fracture in your back is not a minor injury, even with a 2-6 week timetable.

Oakland’s offense actually started moving the ball a little more when E.J. Manuel entered the game, but that coincided with a strange shift in coverage strategy by Joe Woods and the Broncos from man-to-man to some more zone concepts.

Manuel hasn’t won a start since 2014, though he hasn’t had many either.

The former first round pick will now attempt to keep the Raiders in contention in the AFC West, where the Broncos are already a game-and-a-half ahead in the division standings and the Chiefs are undefeated heading into Monday Night Football.

This is terrible news for the Raiders, who have to find a way to keep the ship afloat while their superstar recovers.