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Broncos, Packers cornerbacks refuse to give in to age

Bailey, Bly, Harris, Woodson refuse to give in to age

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 20, 2008 at 10:39 p.m.

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Veteran cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Dré Bly are half the experience equation that will come into play when the Broncos meet the Packers on Friday.

Joe Mahoney © The Rocky

Veteran cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Dré Bly are half the experience equation that will come into play when the Broncos meet the Packers on Friday.

Four of a kind

The Packers-Broncos preseason game Friday night could feature a rare collection of starting cornerbacks - four players in their 10th season or more. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the league's official statistician, it happened only once in 2007 - in either preseason or the regular season - when the Packers faced the Chiefs.

Player, Year

Champ Bailey, 10th (42 Ints., 181 passes defended)

Dre Bly, 10th (38, 151)

Al Harris, 11th (19, 131)

Charles Woodson, 11th (29, 121)

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Those in the game with sun-creased faces and a pile of remember-when stories say it's no country for old men.

They consider it an unforgiving place for those with too many birthdays, for those who cannot maintain their fast-twitch muscles, seamless bravado and the ability to think faster than they can run. Yet, when the Green Bay Packers and Broncos line up to work their way through another preseason night in August on Friday, there is a good chance one of the rarer football occurrences will be on display.

There will be four starting cornerbacks on the field, a double-digit four pack, all heading into their 10th season or more.

"That's experience, experience, experience," Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. "We've got a lot of it out there."

"Damn, that's like 40-something years," Packers cornerback Al Harris said. "It makes you feel blessed. It's definitely a blessing. . . . This game is a revolving door, guys come in and guys leave. The fact you can stick around 10-plus is a good thing."

Bailey and Dre Bly, the Broncos' starting cornerbacks, each are heading into their 10th season; Harris and Charles Woodson, the Packers' starting cornerbacks, are heading into their 11th.

The four have 128 career interceptions and have been named to 15 Pro Bowls at a position that usually shows little respect for its elders. And with little contact allowed between defensive backs and wide receivers in today's game, the demand for players with absolute top-end speed at the position is only going up.

And the can-he-still-run question from personnel people around the league is pushing older players out of the position or getting them moved to safety. That's because with receivers getting bigger and the amount of contact allowed down the field getting smaller, it can be difficult for a corner to stand the test of time unless he finds a way to adapt, to combine brains and brawn.

"I didn't feel like I lost any speed," said Hall of Fame cornerback Mike Haynes, now a vice president of player development with the NFL. "So, I don't feel like that was an issue. . . . The biggest thing you have in your favor, though, if you have continued to work, is you know an awful lot in terms of your education of quarterbacks, receivers, what offenses want to do to combat certain defenses.

"So you are able to size up situations a lot faster with a lot more knowledge, with just a huge database of information to pull from. In a lot of ways, the game becomes a very manageable experience for veteran players, even when they do start to lose a step. And that experience is something that is hard to get; you really have to put in the time to be a good player."

For his part, Bailey said that for every step he might lose physically as the years go by - "And I don't think I have," he said - he believes he can make up for it with work in the classroom.

Players who don't take care of the work off the field will find that any physical changes that come naturally with the passing years, and all the wear and tear on the body the game brings, are intensified.

"I'm a little heavier, maybe, than I was when I came in, but I'm a lot smarter," Bailey said. "I don't know if I'm as fast as I was, but I'm still fast as hell. Back then I had young, fresh legs, but I know where I'm going now and it makes all the difference in the world. Even if I'm not quite as fast - and I think it's pretty close - I play a lot faster because I know what I'm looking at."

"You have to be mentally tough, you have to be smart, and each year you have to try to get better at a different element of the game," Woodson said. "All of us in this game with 10-plus years, we've seen a lot. A lot of things come easier to us than a guy just coming in."

Bly said he also has tried to emphasize flexibility training over strength training as he has advanced in his career.

Bly has a physical therapist from St. Louis - Bly originally was a Rams draft pick when he entered the league - that he visits for a stretching regimen designed to avoid some of the muscle pulls that can hinder older players.

"You don't want those hamstrings to go now, because the recovery time gets longer and longer," Bly said. "Corners, we've just got to be able to run. I don't lift as much heavy weight as I used to, because we've got to be able to run, to be able to move and react. Running is lifting for your legs. You lift some, but I think the position makes flexibility more and more important as you get older."

Haynes said that, looking back on his 14-year career with the Patriots and Raiders, he now would lift more weights with more frequency than he did after he passed the 10-year mark in the league.

"I think continuing to lift would have helped me stay stronger," Haynes said. "I started to get injured at the end, and I just felt like it was because I wasn't as strong. Even though I was just as fast, I just felt like I didn't recover as fast because I didn't lift the same way I did when I was younger."

"There's a lot of factors that can go into it," Woodson said. "You may not be that good, you may get injuries. Who knows? For any player regardless of (defensive backs), linemen, quarterback, to get 10 years in the NFL, it's a tough sport, so it's definitely a blessing. So I count my blessings every day, because the average career in the NFL, I think, is 3.2 years or something. Most guys are in and out of here before they ever get started."

Comments

  • August 21, 2008

    8:49 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    charles1 writes:

    Its great having Champ and Dre in the house, as they bring lots of experience and braun to the game. They are on the verge of HOF status, expecially Champ. Compared with other CB tandums, these two are good to go and tops, when you just look at others in their category.

    I'm glad that Foxworth is making a name and stance for himself, having proved that he is a solid cover corner and can tackle. As well he has shown that he is committed to the team, by playing safety at times real well during the past two seasons. No doubt he's a solid corner, because he was drafted behind Williams and Paymah, yet he moved ahead of Paymah in camp in 2005 draft year and into starting role during games of that season. In fact he was the only rookie CB drafted in 2005 that won NFL Rookie of the Week honors that year, after being drafted 97th. I didn't know this until I read his bio on broncos web site.

    So I think the CB depth on the team is in good hands, with Foxworth as the next best, then Paymah, Williams and the two safeties, expecially Humza who has proven he can play and get to the ball also. I hope they sign Fox to a long-term, because Champ and Dre will be older and that usually means a few steps behind, and it shows that broncos are growing their own.

    Last note, there is a loser name jr red-white that is going on sites talking down broncos players. If you read this jughead's stuff ram him. He talks down Foxworth a lot, like he has a personal issue with him. But I'm not surprised, because most losers talk about people that they aspire to be. I don't like some of the players either, but I keep personal stuff to myself. I just look at the game itself and how they play,but I don't criticize play becaue I don't play the game and none of us can do what these players do. If we could we'd be on the field.
    Charles1

  • August 21, 2008

    10:44 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    RustyWon writes:

    You can have the best corners in the league, like we do, but if there is no pass rush it doesn't matter much.

    There are plenty of average corners (NY Giants) who look great because the D-line is pressuring the quarterback.

    Great corners can do wonders when there is a pass rush.
    Hopefully we'll get to see some of that this year.

  • August 21, 2008

    12:28 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    YuheJi writes:

    Darrent Williams? Did you already forget what happened to him? He was starting opposite Champ until January 1st, 2007.

  • August 21, 2008

    12:36 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    RustyWon writes:

    I think Chuck was referring to Jack Williams, the rookie corner out of Kent State (4th round pick).

  • August 21, 2008

    12:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    YuheJi writes:

    That's what I thought at first, but he said the 2005 draft and that Williams was drafted before Foxworth, though Foxworth was a third round pick.

  • August 21, 2008

    7:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    OPETH72 writes:

    He mentions Darrent in reference to the '05 draft. He mentions Jack when talking about the current roster. They have the same last name, but it is not that hard to keep up with.

  • August 21, 2008

    8:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Brain writes:

    What RustyWon said; we better have a better pass rush; if we do we will have a great defense. That and have to be in the top 10 against the run. NO PROBLEM

  • August 21, 2008

    8:59 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Brain writes:

    Denver will have 2 pro-bowlers at CB this year!