Young is old news to Chiefs

Running back records second 100-yard game against Kansas City

By Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Monday, December 10, 2007

Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

Broncos running back Selvin Young eludes Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard in the second quarter Sunday. Young rushed for 156 yards on 17 carries. "We were running the left side all day," quarterback Jay Cutler said. "And Selvin was making great cuts."

No one is sure how Selvin Young fits in long term in the Broncos backfield, even the player himself.

But the Kansas City Chiefs probably won't miss him should Travis Henry eventually relegate Young to footnote status.

Young had his second career 100-yard performance Sunday and second in a month against the Broncos' AFC West rival while Henry still was getting his wind back after a left knee injury.

The two games Young has had against the Chiefs began similarly, too.

The first-year back sprinted to a long run early and kept up the heat until the game was out of reach. His career-long 50-yarder on the Broncos' second offensive snap Sunday set the tone in a 41-7 walk-away victory just as much as a 24-yard scamper did in Kansas City on Nov. 11.

"In a team game, if anybody lights a fire, it's going to spread," Young said after finishing with a career-best 156 yards.

Young provided that spark, while the Chiefs allowed the blaze to rage out of control.

Led by Young and supplemented by Henry's 1-yard touchdown, the Broncos rumbled for 168 yards on the ground before halftime - the sixth-highest total in a half since Mike Shanahan took over as coach in 1995.

The Broncos finished with 215 rushing yards, the second-highest total this season.

"We were running the left side all day," quarterback Jay Cutler said. "And Selvin was making great cuts."

Kansas City did its part, too.

"I know we didn't tackle worth a damn," Chiefs end Jared Allen lamented.

Young especially used the Chiefs' speed and aggressiveness against them, bursting into the open field and watching potential tacklers fly past him.

"The offensive line came to play, especially sealing those edges," said Young, who put up the Broncos' best individual rushing total since Reuben Droughns' 166 yards on Nov. 21, 2004. "We were getting outside and once we got outside, they were overrunning it. And we were able to cut back. I felt like a running back (Sunday)."

Young's success allowed Cutler to pick and choose his spots through the air off play action and produced a 17-point advantage at halftime, even if the backfield production slowed in the second half.

Young's overall production came on 17 carries and his rushing yardage total was the second most in a game in Broncos history with fewer than 20 attempts. Clinton Portis had 14 carries for 165 yards on Nov. 23, 2003, against the Chicago Bears.

It likely earned Young another starting nod Thursday in his hometown of Houston.

"I don't really care about starting and all that," Young said of his present contribution. "I'm still excited about playing right now."

An undrafted player from the University of Texas, Young has rushed for 569 yards on 100 carries this season. In doing so, he has become the sixth undrafted running back since the inception of the common draft in 1967 to crack 500 yards as a rookie.

Indianapolis' Dominic Rhodes (1,104 in 2001), Carolina's Fred Lane (809 in 1997), the New York Jets' Clark Gaines (724 in 1976), the Broncos' Mike Bell (677 in 2006) and Green Bay's Samkon Gado (582 in 2005) are the others.

"Obviously, a lot of people passed on me, so it's great to be somewhere and have a home where people believe in you and give you an opportunity. And I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity I get," Young said.

The rookie had been banged up the past couple of weeks, with leg and elbow problems limiting him to seven carries the past two games.

But he proved healthy in practice last week and allowed the Broncos to take it slow with Henry, who was overworked by necessity Dec. 2 at Oakland after coming off a monthlong absence.

Kansas City, loser of six in a row, entered the game as the league's 21st-ranked run defense at 115.8 yards per game but was trending downward.

Oakland's Justin Fargas, San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson and Young have cracked 100 yards against Kansas City the past three games.

"Their big guys knocked our big guys around up front," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said.

And the relatively smaller guy knocked them out.

Young (5-foot-11, 207 pounds) again proved he can deliver the big play with his speed and vision to find cutback lanes. But he knows if he's going to establish himself as a workhorse runner for the Broncos past 2007, he'll have to do a better job running between the tackles.

That admittedly is one of his goals and will make him the complete back able to compete for a long-term starting job.

"I can get stronger and a little bigger in the offseason," he said, adding, "I'm aware of the future."

rasizerl@RockyMountainNews.com