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Broncos report: Impending loss of Williams puts defense in deep hole

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 2, 2008 at 8:27 p.m.

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Numbers Game

5 consecutive games the Broncos have not scored a rushing touchdown, the first such streak in Shanahan's tenure as coach.

He Said It

"I'm disappointed in myself. . . . We just have to play better. Especially me."

Jay Cutler, in the wake of his three-interception game against the Dolphins.

Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams and safety Marlon McCree wrap up Miami running back Ronnie Brown on Sunday.

Photo by © The Rocky

Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams and safety Marlon McCree wrap up Miami running back Ronnie Brown on Sunday.

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A Broncos defense missing one captain is about to be minus another.

Weak-side linebacker D.J. Williams suffered an unspecified injury to his medial collateral ligament on Miami's long fourth- quarter touchdown drive and was on crutches after the game.

There's no immediate timetable for his return, according to coach Mike Shanahan.

But with a short turnaround before Thursday's game in Cleveland, Denver almost certainly will be minus its leading tackler for the Browns and quite possibly beyond.

Williams would be the third Broncos defensive starter sidelined in recent weeks, joining Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey (groin), who's out at least a month, and his brother, Boss, who's out for the season because of a knee injury.

The Broncos also might be without safety Marlon McCree, who was injured on the same play as Williams while defending a third-and-19 screen pass.

McCree had worked his way back into the starting lineup Sunday. But he already was in the locker room in the game's final moments, walking stiff-legged on a bum left leg.

McCree and Williams will have magnetic resonance imaging exams today.

"We're not going to fold," defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson vowed. "We're still going to go out and do what we're supposed to do. Those are two big losses. But we still have got to play."

Rookie Wesley Woodyard replaced Williams in base situations, with Louis Green in the nickel package.

"It's really tough. I don't know what to say or do," a downcast middle linebacker Nate Webster said about the possibility of an extended period without Williams. "Having that bond and that rhythm is important, knowing that guy next to you and how we play together.

"It hurts. He's a leader of our defense, a captain."

Calvin Lowry, who already had been playing in the nickel, replacing strong safety Marquand Manuel in that package, filled in for McCree.

Adding insult to those injuries is the potential loss of starting running back Michael Pittman, too.

Pittman already had seen a specialist after suffering a neck stinger in the loss at New England. He exacerbated the problem in the first quarter Sunday and was forced out of the game when the pain became overwhelming.

"I don't know if I'm going to play next week or when I'm going to play. I'm very frustrated right now . . . ," Pittman said. "I've just got to find out what's really wrong with me."

Going Hog wild

Peyton Hillis lost his starting fullback job to Spencer Larsen because he wasn't as physical when serving as a lead blocker.

His hands never were in question, which he again demonstrated Sunday.

Hillis, a rookie out of Arkansas, caught seven passes for 116 yards. He had a 47-yard reception and a 39-yarder. He even hurdled a defender to open the second half.

"Really, I just worked 110 percent in practice. And I've done a lot of things good, not great. I'm not perfect by any means," Hillis said of his reinsertion into the lineup. "But I think the last couple weeks I've shown them I can do it."

It's just the fourth time a Broncos running back has had a triple-figure receiving game. Floyd Little was the last, in October 1974. Bobby Anderson has the team record (143 yards) at the position on Sept. 30, 1973.

Hillis also became the first member of the Broncos backfield to score a receiving touchdown this season with his 1-yard catch in the fourth quarter.

Seeing yellow

For a moment, with less than 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the crowd was going wild, the Broncos were celebrating finally taking the lead over the Miami Dolphins with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Jay Cutler to Brandon Marshall.

But the play, which could have given the Broncos a 17-16 lead with a quarter to play, was nullified by an offensive pass-interference call on Marshall.

Marshall did slightly push his forearm against Dolphins safety Jason Allen on the play, but Allen didn't break stride or alter his coverage because of the contact.

Asked after the game what he saw, Cutler said, "I can't say, I'll get fined."

Shanahan said, "When I looked up at the replay (on the stadium Jumbotrons), it looked like normal one-on-one coverage."

He then asked, in his postgame news conference, what others thought, offering, "You guys can't get fined, I can."

Even Dolphins coach Tony Sparano didn't sound convinced.

"It was separation with the inside arm," Sparano said. "I am not going to be really emphatic about that."

Broncos cornerback Dre Bly was fined $20,000 earlier this season for comments about the officiating in the Broncos' loss to the Jaguars.

Rare interception

When Broncos cornerback Karl Paymah intercepted Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington in the third quarter, it was the first interception by the Denver defense since defensive tackle Marcus Thomas picked one off three games ago against Tampa Bay.

Champ Bailey had the only other interception by the Broncos secondary this season, in the Broncos' Week 2 victory against San Diego.

"You have to know your role when you're called upon," Paymah said. "That's what I'm here for. You have guys like Dre Bly and Champ Bailey, they are great athletes, but I'm here for a reason. When they go down, they are relying on me to keep it going. That's the mind-set you have to have. I feel like I'm one of the best athletes on this team and I have to prove it every day."

Porter power

Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter, who graduated from Colorado State, had an early second-quarter sack of Jay Cutler to set a season-best mark. Porter has 111/2 sacks this season.

He also had two tackles for losses on running plays by the Broncos, helping hold Denver to 14 rushing yards.

"Whenever you're able to make a team one-dimensional, it helps you know what they are going to do," said Porter, who attended CSU's 45-42 loss to Brigham Young on Saturday. "It enabled us to get more pressure on Cutler, and he had to step up and rush his throws, which we were able to make into some mistakes."

Ed-die, Ed-die

Eddie Royal has been limited to punt returns only because of his starting role on offense. But with Andre Hall hobbled by an ankle sprain and Glenn Martinez deactivated, Royal got dual special-teams duties.

He let the opening kickoff slip through his fingers. But he then popped a 95-yard runback, which is the longest nonscoring kickoff return in Broncos history. Only Nemiah Wilson (Oct. 8, 1966) and Goldie Sellers (Oct. 2, 1966) had longer runbacks, both with 100-yard touchdowns.

"It's bittersweet," Royal said. "Its good to make a play like that, but I have to finish it off."

Long wait is over

Jarvis Moss had his first-two sack game as a pro.

On the first, the 2007 first-round pick took advantage of John Engelberger forcing Pennington to roll right and hurry out of the pocket. Moss also tackled running back Ronnie Brown as he took a direct snap out of the "Wildcat" formation and ran to his right, looking to throw.

"I've been working my butt off," Moss said, happy about his personal accomplishment but disappointed at the team's fate. "I go to practice and try to outpractice everybody and show the coaches that I'm prepared and that I'm going to go out and play physical and smart. And it's kind of carried over to the game, the way I've been practicing lately."

Mildcat offense

Speaking of the "Wildcat" offense, it hardly affected Denver. The Dolphins ran it four times in the first half Sunday, resulting in 3 rushing yards and the 8-yard sack.

"(The Broncos) do a great job," Brown said. "We knew coming in that despite the stats these guys do a good job of flying around and making plays."

The "Wildcat" didn't make an appearance in the second half.

"I did expect to see a little more of it, but we had some success against it early on," Broncos linebacker Jamie Winborn said.

"We knew they weren't going to stay in it the entire time. They looked at films from previous games and thought maybe they could run and maybe they could pass a little bit. It just boils down to they made the plays that they needed to make when it counted."

Etc.

* Matt Prater, who did miss a 49-yard field-goal attempt, tied a single-season franchise record for field goals of at least 50 yards. Prater kicked a 50-yarder against the Dolphins, his fifth made kick of the year of at least 50 yards. And Brett Kern continued his recent stellar play by averaging 46.3 yards with three punts inside the 20, including one on a 61-yarder that pinned the Dolphins at the 11.

* Pennington's 57.5 percent completion rate marked the first time Denver has allowed a quarterback to hit on less than than 60 percent of his passes.

* The Broncos used rookie Josh Bell as their nickel back over Jack Williams. Bell was signed Oct. 27 off the practice squad, and it was his NFL debut.

* Denver fell to 3-11-1 against Miami in the regular season.

* Royal now leads all rookies in receptions this season. Royal has 46, along with three touchdowns.

Brad Byler contributed to this report.

Comments

  • November 2, 2008

    9:05 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    pwsbronco writes:

    What does it matter at this point. Sorry about Williams, but as far as that goes, we have not been able to stop or even slow anyone down all year. So what does it really matter at this point. At least when we lose again, we can say " oh yeah we had some injuries"
    like that would mean anything, shhhh*****t.
    I am so beyond caring about who is hurt this week or next week because it has been a revolving door for us that past few years. Cant keep anyone healthy on this team, maybe we can blame the trainer. Yeah, lets blame him also, then we have just about covered everyone we would like to see heading down the road. This is crazy man, it just doesn't matter anymore..... lets go bronco's....Just to tired to even get energized about this team..... We have a handful of player that are awesome and then we have the others...............hurry up playoffs and get here so I don't have to bleed like this anymore, end this suffering ..........PLEASE....

  • November 2, 2008

    9:38 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Squatch writes:

    This is not good DJ is the only dependable tackler the team has on top he is the only player that has a nose for the ball. Losing Pittman is huge and im not sure Torain is ready or if Selvin can make a difference at this point.

  • November 2, 2008

    10:11 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Spider writes:

    Albeit there a lot of injuries on this team, there is too much talent on this team to be playing this badly. Someone up at Dove Valley needs to take a look at the big picture and stop the bleeding.

  • November 3, 2008

    12:42 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Dynamicdave writes:

    Spider , I start with the coaching. Get your boys ready, or sit the hell down and bring someone else aboard to motivate these kids. I'm not talking about Shanahan, but rather, the WR coach and, as of late, the RB coach. They keep trying to pound the rock up the middle? RUN OUTSIDE! STRETCH the D! USE OUR SPEED! DOH! But Mike, you are the one who has to answer. Us, as fans, see it... Your turn?

  • November 3, 2008

    7:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Broncody writes:

    Wow. wow. wow. 14 yards? Kidding me?! Our only two players that are pro-bowl caliber on defense are down now.Cutler... what happened? Our team wears horses on their helmets not fish. Shanny... a mastermind could get an offense going even if the defense knows what you have now. The opponents have been planning for the high powered air attack and you can't get counter that with anything? Wow. Give me a chance to call the plays. What could happen... we lose a game... been there done that. Lets mix it up, try something crazy and different and see what happens.

  • November 3, 2008

    8:28 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    hallandnash writes:

    Somebody tell Green to turnaround.. why these LB's can't figure out that the balls coming is beyond me.

  • November 3, 2008

    12:46 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Johnnyk7 writes:

    Cutler has hexed himslef since he went off boasting about his arm being better than Elway's! That coupled with a ton of injuries has killed our beloved Bronco's! Cutler has a lot to prove to even be talked of in the same breath as Elway. Obviously, Cutler believed his own ppress after just three games this year. I would respect him more if he didn't open his big mouth! Let him carry a cruddy team on his shoulders to the Superbowl like John did, and he will get the respect of us diehard Denver fans! I almost thru my Cutler jersey into the BBQ yesterday. But, I decided to give him a chance to try to grow up & mature. I'm putting 16 on Cleveland in the pool this week...crying out loud! And to make thigs worse, it looks like we lost DJ Williams.
    Out.

  • November 3, 2008

    12:51 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    OPETH72 writes:

    There are .500 record teams on the way up (Colts, for one) and then there are .500 teams on their way down. It is clear which one the Broncos are. It is funny that, now, even Marshall is coming out and looking at it from an outsider's perspective. The rest of the organization needs to join with him. SD is literally holding the door open for any team in the West to go by, and it seems every team is merely saying "no thanks". Which is to be expected from the Raiders, and the Chiefs have their obvious troubles that would keep them from accepting such an offer. This could have been a year of opportunity. Yes, the first 3 games sent expectations through the roof. The let down that has followed is ridiculous. This team is inconsistent in every phase of the game. Inconsistent from week to week, and inconsistent within the 60 minutes the game is played. I am starting to seriously question Shanahan here. I am not looking for him to lose his job, but he and this team are starting to carry around that "we are just cursed" look. And it is not the case. It is their sorry play, execution, preparation, and coaching that is got them where they are. They are draining my Sundays dry. I hope they don't make Thursday evening a bummer, but I don't really trust them anymore. It is my fault for coming in with some faith every week. Ignoring reality at game time and believing this team will only see winning as an option. It is always just one or two players, though. And even those change week to week. Why can't these guys get on the same page and play a complete game start to finish????????? Until that happens, Sundays (and this Thursday) are going to be a lot less enjoyable, because this dumb a** here is not going to give up and quit watching.

  • November 3, 2008

    1:37 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    El_Braino writes:

    Wouldn't it have been cool if the Broncos ran the Wildcat formation a couple of times? What if they brought back the option like last year? Oh wait, we have to play predictable...

  • November 3, 2008

    2:09 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Dynamicdave writes:

    pwsbronco, I hear there's an opening on the Raider Nation. It's ok to be bummed, but talk like that is not the talk of a Broncos fan. Like I tell people, thick and thin, I support the Broncos and won't miss a game. If you want to stop watching, that's up to you, but somehow I have a feeling that you'll be watching Thursday nights match. Take an aspirin and relax.

  • November 3, 2008

    4:22 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    tom3565 writes:

    Maybe they will shift Webster back to the weak side and place Larsen or Niko in the middle.