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The Broncos believed Knowshon Moreno suffered a mild sprain of his knee on Sunday. It turned out to be much worse.

The team announced Monday that Moreno will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

This will go down as a lost season for the 2009 first round pick. He only had 37 rushes and 11 catches on the year. That’s seven rushes more than Lance Ball had on Sunday.

John Fox and the Broncos coaching staff view Moreno as a third down back and nothing more. After this setback, Moreno may have work to do just to remain in the team’s 2012 plans.

Denver announced that Jeremiah Johnson was activated from the practice squad to help replace Moreno. Willis McGahee’s status for Thursday’s game is uncertain.