East Rutherford, N.J. – There has been plenty of talk about how much the Broncos’ defensive front has improved.
But the Broncos have gone three consecutive games without a sack. They are tied with – get this – the Cleveland Browns for dead last in the NFL with eight sacks. The Broncos have four former Browns on their defensive front – Ebenezer Ekuban, Michael Myers, Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren. They also have Trevor Pryce back healthy.
The Broncos’ defensive front has received plenty of praise for its aggressive, furious play. The linemen have hurried the quarterback, deflected passes, drawn holding penalties.
There were times in the first half Sunday when the Broncos appeared to rattle Giants quarterback Eli Manning with their mix of cornerback blitzes and multiple formations.
Manning never was knocked down with the ball in his hand, though, and he wasn’t so rattled in the end that he couldn’t complete a stirring comeback from a 23-10, fourth-quarter deficit. The Giants won 24-23 at the Meadowlands.
At some point, doesn’t all the talk need substantiation with the sack?
“It’s always a concern when after the game you don’t have any sacks,” Ekuban said. “But give credit to (Manning). He stayed composed and didn’t get rattled in the fourth quarter when it mattered.”
Mara gravely ill
When running back Tiki Barber jogged off the field Sunday after the Giants’ last-minute victory over the Broncos, it hit him:
All this season, the kindly gentleman with the big smile and twinkle in his eyes, who for years has been the first to shake his hand in victory or defeat, wasn’t in the small alcove behind the double blue steel doors leading to the locker room. And after the season’s most emotional triumph, Barber wanted to see that smile and give the guy a big hug.
But owner Wellington Mara was home in bed, gravely ill.
Mara, 89, underwent surgery in the spring to have cancerous lymph nodes removed from under his arm and his neck. He has not attended a game this season.
Players, coaches and friends around the NFL have been asked by the Giants to keep Mara in their prayers. All week, anxious Giants players have been asking for almost hourly updates on his condition.
“I have missed him all season, but especially after this one,” Barber said. “I have so many memories of Mr. Mara – sitting with his cane on the sidelines during training camp or at practice, his encouragement, the classy man he is, all of that. But the thing that struck me was that he wasn’t here for this win.
“When I got to the locker room doors, it came to me: He’s always right there. It made the victory bittersweet for me, but hopefully he knows we won this one for him.”
Mara, who was 9 years old when his father, Timothy, bought the franchise for $500 in 1925, is in his 81st season with the club. He has spent decades as the franchise patriarch, celebrating two Super Bowl victories and earning the respect and reverence of his players, who always refer to him as “Mr. Mara.”
Anderson rushes to top
Broncos running backs Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell have figured it out. They understand that the two of them together is greater than any one running back.
“One of us gets hot, we know it’s going to be a long day for people,” Bell said. “The other is going to come in and together we’ll keep pounding and pounding. I’m rooting for him and I know he’s rooting for me.”
In the previous two games, Bell rushed for 114 and 127 yards. Against the Giants, Anderson had 120 yards and Bell had 60.
Bell is on pace for 1,040 yards. Anderson is on pace for 1,092. That puts them on pace to become only the fourth 1,000-yard back duos in NFL history.
“If it ain’t broke there’s no sense trying to fix it,” Anderson said. “There’s nobody in that backfield or on this team that’s thinking about self. We’re all thinking about team. If you get a lot of guys committed to that concept you can do great things.”
Elam getting there
Broncos kicker Jason Elam entered the game in a long-range slump, connecting on just 4-of-9 field-goal tries from beyond the 40. He regained his stroke in the first quarter, hitting from 49 and 42 yards. The 42-yarder was especially impressive because it came after holder Jake Plummer muffed the snap and disrupted the timing.
“Jake almost got to run it because I was almost about to pull off it,” Elam said. “I got just enough of it with a one-step swing.”
Although Elam would hit another short field goal, his day became bittersweet when his 49-yard attempt midway through the fourth quarter fell wide right.
“I hit it and I said, ‘That’s good,”‘ Elam said. “It went up right down the middle and just broke right. I have no idea. Usually I know what I had done. But on that one, right now I don’t have any idea why it did what it did.”
Still, it’s tough to expect any kicker to nail a 49-yarder at wind-swirling Giants Stadium.
“Yeah, but my job is to make field goals and I was feeling good at the end there and it wasn’t meant to be,” Elam said.
Cramping their style
In the final seconds, with the Broncos up six but the Giants having first-and- goal from the 8, Denver had to play without rookie cornerback Darrent Williams.
He had to come out when cramps to both calves prevented him from playing at the game’s most pivotal moment.
“Punk cramps got me,” Williams said. “I don’t know what it is. They bothered me almost the whole game.”
It was one thing when Williams and fellow cornerback Lenny Walls suffered dehydration cramps in the heat and humidity of Miami in the season opener. But Walls also was sidelined with cramps while Jacksonville scored on a touchdown pass in the Broncos’ fourth game, rookie Domonique Foxworth suffered cramps in the chill and rain in the fifth game against Washington and Williams went down again in the chill at the Meadowlands.
Walls crumbling down
Cornerback Champ Bailey and safety Nick Ferguson played through injuries, with Bailey coming back from a left hamstring injury and Ferguson returning from an ankle injury. However, the season-long carousel of medical issues went on as Walls left the game in the first quarter with a groin pull.
“It’s not good right now, but I’ll be back,” Walls said. “I hurt it pretty bad … Us DBs can’t get a break this year.”
Walls said he doesn’t know if the injury will keep him out Sunday against Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, Bailey said he felt much better Sunday than he did last week against New England when he had to leave the game in the third quarter because of soreness. He missed the two previous games with the injury.
“I won’t know until Wednesday how I really recovered. It’s sore, but I’m much better,” Bailey said.
Watts unplugged
Darius Watts’ career hit a low Sunday when he was one of Denver’s eight inactive players. Watts started training camp as Denver’s No. 3 receiver, the same spot he held last season. After dropping several passes – an issue that plagued him as a rookie – he was bumped to the No. 4 receiver by Jerry Rice, who then retired in September. Charlie Adams then earned the No. 3 spot and Watts remained at No. 4.
Denver had just four receivers active Sunday and Todd Devoe was the fourth. Watts has only two catches for 22 yards this season. He had 31 catches last season. When talking about Watts, coach Mike Shanahan often has said Watts needs to show consistency in practice to get more playing time.
Running back Ron Dayne also was inactive. Dayne’s playing time has been minimal for the past several weeks.
Denver’s other inactive players were receiver David Terrell, cornerback Roc Alexander, offensive lineman Chris Myers and defensive linemen Monsanto Pope and Marco Coleman
Simms all wet
On the broadcast of the game, former NFL quarterback and current broadcaster Phil Simms speculated that Plummer was sick because he was drinking a lot of water. Plummer doused that speculation when asked. He already had heard about it.
“Those guys don’t know what they’re talking about,” Plummer said. “Sorry Phil … I wasn’t sick.”
Don’t want to hear it
Predictably, there were questions after the Broncos dropped to 5-2 for the third consecutive season after starting 5-1. It didn’t go over well.
“We’re sick of hearing about a 5-1 collapse,” Plummer said.
Footnotes
Despite playing with a second-degree MCL sprain, Denver right tackle George Foster held Giants star defensive end Michael Strahan sackless. …
Denver middle linebacker Al Wilson led the Broncos with nine tackles. …
Denver special-teams ace Keith Burns was poked in the eye while covering a kickoff, but returned to the game. … Denver was penalized six times for 53 yards. … As he has for the past several weeks, Adams took over for Darrent Williams on returns late in the game…. The Broncos’ passing game finally came alive away from Invesco Field at Mile High. Plummer completed passes of 37 yards to Rod Smith and 33 to Kyle Johnson, his two longest passing plays of the season on the road.
Going fourth
Including Sunday’s 24-23 victory over the Broncos, Giants quarterback Eli Manning has been stellar in the fourth quarter. He is this season’s second-rated passer (behind the Browns’ Trent Dilfer) when trailing or leading by seven or more points. And he is the NFL’s fourth-best, fourth-quarter QB this season. A look at fourth-quarter passer ratings:
Player, team Att Comp Yds TD Rating
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis 33 27 318 3 137.1
Carson Palmer, Cincinnati 41 32 396 3 121.1
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh 22 13 143 2 108.7
Eli Manning, N.Y. Giants 38 20 373 2 104.4
Chad Pennington, N.Y. Jets 21 14 146 1 102.5
Note: Denver’s Jake Plummer does not rank in the top 25.
(Source: STATS LLC, copyright 2005)
Staff writer Jim Armstrong and Kevin Manahan of the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger contributed to this report.
