Jason Elam has been kicking in the NFL for 13 seasons. Sunday he had to learn how to kick again.
Elam scrambled to find a new kicking style after straining his left calf in his non-kicking leg during warm-ups. After consulting with the team’s training staff, Elam went back to the practice field and hastily worked on taking only one step before kicking. He discussed the one-step strategy with team kicking consultant Jeff Hayes.
It worked.
Elam connected on both his field-goal attempts, including one from 47 yards, and made all three of his extra-point attempts.
“I should pull my calf again,” Elam said.
Elam said he doesn’t believe the injury will worsen before Thursday’s game at Dallas. However, if it does, he said he will continue the one-step approach.
“I had enough practice with it before the game I had some confidence,” Elam said. “I just kind of punched kicks in.”
The Streak continues
There are no hints of a rabbit’s foot or good-luck charm associated with The Streak.
The beard and shaggy hair goes through various forms of growth, so that can’t be it, either.
Yet, The Streak lives on. Who knew when Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer had a deflected pass intercepted by the San Diego Chargers in the third quarter of the season’s second game that he wouldn’t throw another going into the Thanksgiving Day contest with the Dallas Cowboys?
“I hope you guys keep talking about this the rest of the year,” said Plummer, who completed 18 passes for 225 yards Sunday in leading the Broncos to a convincing 27-0 victory over the New York Jets. “I’ll write a book about it when I’m done and let you know how or why. Right now I don’t care. I’m playing ball and we’re winning and that’s what we want.”
For the record, Plummer’s streak without an interception is eight full games and 219 passes. Another 61 “clean” passes and Plummer will pass Jeff George for the third-longest streak in NFL history. Should Plummer throw 90 more passes without a pick, he will break the league record set by Bernie Kosar in the 1990-91 seasons.
Initially, Plummer’s streaks appeared to be borne out of caution – he passed for just 152, 136 and 92 yards, respectively, in the first three games of The Streak. But he has averaged 239 yards passing in his past five games.
“Jake again played an excellent game,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said.
Fight night
There was a skirmish in the third quarter after New York defensive lineman Shaun Ellis roughly brought down Denver tight end Stephen Alexander. Denver tackle George Foster came to Alexander’s rescue and was penalized for unnecessary roughness on Ellis.
Afterward, the Denver bench erupted, yelling at the Jets and at officials for not calling a penalty on Ellis. He burst toward the bench and was intercepted by John Lynch, who tried to be a peacekeeper.
“I know Shaun and I was trying to calm him down,” Lynch said. “But then I realized I didn’t have my helmet on and I was dealing with this 6-5, 320-pound guy and thought to myself ‘Self, this is pretty stupid.”‘
Alexander was upset with Ellis.
“It was a dirty play,” said Alexander, who claimed Ellis tripped and pushed him backward. “There’s no need for it. I told the official I was fined for a lot less than that, and I better see something from it. It was just dirty.”
Said Ellis: “What took place, took place.”
Rotation of one
Given another chance, Tatum Bell probably would have lowered his shoulder and initiated the contact. Instead, Bell was caught standing still as he absorbed the full force of a tackle and his right shoulder was driven to the turf.
After the hit by Jets safety Oliver Celestin early in the third quarter, Bell, who had slowed to make a cutback on the play, wound up with a bruised chest. He did not return and his quest for a 1,000-yard season may be in jeopardy.
After rushing for 34 yards against the Jets and 44 yards the previous week against Oakland, Bell has 640 yards with six games remaining. That’s still a pace for 1,024 yards, but Bell will have to heal quickly if he is to be productive in the Broncos’ game Thursday at Dallas.
Reaching 1,000 yards shouldn’t be much problem for Mike Anderson after he recorded his fourth game of at least 113 yards Sunday. Anderson is on pace for 1,251 yards. With Ron Dayne inactive and Bell bruised, Anderson carried more of the fourth-quarter workload than usual, although he was spelled late by former Colorado State running back Cecil Sapp, who had five carries for 21 yards.
Still no Bradlee
Bradlee Van Pelt couldn’t believe it. The star of the Broncos’ preseason, Van Pelt has yet to take even one NFL snap. The Broncos have played 10 games this season. Plummer has been under center for every play.
If that weren’t bad enough, Van Pelt looked across the other side of the field and saw Kliff Kingsbury chinning up his helmet. Kliff Kingsbury! After Van Pelt beat out the likes of Danny Kanell and Matt Mauck in training camp, he was the Broncos’ only backup quarterback until Kingsbury was signed to the practice squad.
A few weeks later, the Broncos were so impressed with Van Pelt’s progress, and so underwhelmed by Kingsbury, they cut the former Texas Tech quarterback.
But in the final seconds Sunday, with the Jets having lost not one, not two, not three, but four quarterbacks to injury this season, they had no choice but to pull Kingsbury off their inactive list and send him in as their emergency quarterback.
Kingsbury had one pass knocked at the line by Michael Myers and made another low throw for a short completion – but that’s two more passes than Van Pelt has thrown this season.
“I was thinking, ‘Everybody gets to play but me,”‘ Van Pelt said. “But what you have to keep in perspective is I’m on an 8-2 team. There’s no shame in sitting on the bench when you’re on an 8-2 team.”
Marco and the Duke
Two mild surprises on the active list were tight end Wesley Duke, who was making his NFL debut, and defensive lineman Marco Coleman, who was playing in his 204th game, but only his fourth this season.
Coleman replaced defensive end John Engelberger in part because the Broncos figured the Jets’ offense would initially tilt toward the run. Engelberger is primarily a third-down rusher and Coleman has always been strong against the run.
In his 14th season, Coleman showed he can still bring the heat as he got one of the Broncos’ four sacks, giving him 65 1/2 in his career.
Duke was in on one kickoff return.
“We didn’t run it all the way back so I guess I need to do better,” Duke said. “But a 27-0 victory, I’ll take that for a debut.”
No run zone
The Jets attempted only seven runs Sunday and gained 22 yards. It was the fewest run attempts against Denver in team history. The previous low was nine by New England in 1996.
“It doesn’t get much more difficult than this,” New York running back Curtis Martin said. “This is like an NFL team’s nightmare, what we’re going through.”
Homecoming
Fort Morgan native Joel Dreessen had played at Invesco Field at Mile High when he wore Colorado State green against Colorado. But he has a new memory now. The Jets rookie tight end caught a second-half pass for 7 yards, his first NFL reception.
“(The catch) is overshadowed by the loss,” Dreessen said. “It was nice coming back to my home state. But I’d give anything for this team to get a win right now.
“But spirits are good. We’re going to go back to work like we’re 10-0. That’s the attitude of Coach (Herman) Edwards. That’s the attitude we’re going to have.”
Dreessen had to round up only 16 tickets for family members and friends. Fortunately, others found tickets on their own, he said.
“I probably had about 100 people cheering for me out there,” Dreessen said. “I actually heard one guy behind our bench chanting for me. That felt pretty good.”
Footnotes
Remember when the Broncos ranked last in the NFL with eight sacks after seven games? Since then, they’ve had 10 sacks in three games. … Anderson was penalized for a chop block that was turned down by the Jets because it occurred on third down and the Broncos had to punt. … Denver now has forced nine turnovers in 10 games. … No. 3 and No. 4 receivers Charlie Adams and Todd Devoe played extensively. … For a guy who has missed considerable playing time, Champ Bailey is having a nice season. Bailey intercepted his fifth pass, tying his career high, established in 1999 and 2000 with the Redskins.
Staff writers Jim Armstrong and Tom Kensler contributed to this report.
