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Walker looks beyond milestone

Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 15, 2006 at midnight

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ENGLEWOOD - Javon Walker has no special feeling in his heart now that he's on the cusp of another 1,000-yard receiving season, even if it figures to come two years after he last reached that plateau and, in between, suffered a serious right knee injury.

"To me, it's a given," the Broncos receiver said Thursday. "It's everything after that that's important to me. I look at it as I'm a receiver who should get 1,400, 1,500, 1,600 yards."

Walker needs 77 yards against the Arizona Cardinals to become the ninth Broncos player to get 1,000. Rod Smith has accomplished the feat eight times and Lionel Taylor on four occasions among 25 such seasons in Broncos history.

The last time Walker did it, he was wearing Green Bay Packers colors, with a 1,382-yard performance in 2004. But in the next season's opener, he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament and went through a rigorous rehabilitation.

He was in the midst of that recovery when the Broncos traded a second-round pick for him in April.

"You knew it was there," receivers coach Steve Watson said. "It was just a matter of time."

The first clue to Watson the clock was accelerated came in this season's opener. Walker jumped over two St. Louis Rams defenders, missing the catch, but came right back and made a leaping grab.

Walker, who has 57 catches with three games remaining, claimed he never was worried about making those types of plays "just because I know me. I know my body, how I feel and how I can play."

The caliber of play Walker has demonstrated coming off the injury has surprised Watson.

"Oh, heck yeah," he said. "Big time. For a guy to come back from that, and then go back to the level that he was at, it's incredible. He's a true testament to hard work and also extremely talented."

MISSING PIECE? The Broncos downgraded starting cornerback Darrent Williams from probable to questionable, meaning there's only a 50-50 chance he'll play Sunday.

Williams hurt a toe on his left foot during Sunday's loss in San Diego, and it flared up Tuesday, prompting him to seek treatment.

"Then it got worse," coach Mike Shanahan said.

Williams would be a key loss. The Broncos already lost two safeties and are playing cornerback Domonique Foxworth on the defense's back line.

Arizona might possess the best young three-receiver set in the league in Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Bryant Johnson, Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said.

"We need all our bullets," Bailey said. "We've got guys that can go in and play, but we all know how big a part of this defense Darrent is, and to lose him would definitely hurt a little bit."

The Broncos could opt to move Foxworth back to his old position and insert Curome Cox at safety.

In that scenario, Karl Paymah likely would slide into the nickel cornerback slot.

In other injury news, Jason Elam, less than two weeks removed from suffering a strained left hamstring, kicked in practice and said the injury to his plant leg was improved.

He said he'll be close to 100 percent against Arizona.

. Staff writer Jeff Legwold contributed to this report.