Perhaps dampening the Broncos’ successful Sunday was an injury to rookie cornerback Darrent Williams. He left the game with a strained groin in the first half and did not return. He is expected to undergo an MRI today.
“It might be bad,” Williams said. “We’ll see. But it hurts really bad and it could take a while. We just have to see.”
Williams said it doesn’t appear he has a tear. However, groin injuries can linger because there is limited treatment.
Williams said he originally suffered the injury making a touchdown-saving tackle on the Ravens’ B.J. Sams on the opening kickoff. Williams aggravated the injury on a kickoff return.
“I just couldn’t go after that,” Williams said.
He was replaced in base situations by fellow rookie Domonique Foxworth and by Curome Cox in nickel situations.
“You have to be ready if somebody goes down,” said Cox, who was elevated from the practice squad earlier this season.
Wilson backs Warren
Broncos middle linebacker Al Wilson was asked to fill in the blank.
Among Denver defenders, it would be a crime if _______ didn’t make the Pro Bowl team.
“Gerard Warren,” Wilson said.
Gerard Warren? The guy has 16 tackles. Sure, he’s a starting defensive tackle for a 10-3 team and two of his tackles were sacks. But still, 16 tackles in 13 games?
Then again, about the only person who understands a great defensive tackle from an ordinary one is the guy playing behind him.
Wilson knows his job is largely dependent on how Warren does his job.
“He creates so much havoc,” Wilson said after the Broncos’ 12-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. “People don’t see it, but he keeps double teams. A lot of teams notice that when they watch film. The media doesn’t really see it because the numbers aren’t there. But to me, that would be the guy.”
The Pro Bowl teams are announced Dec. 21, which means the players should be getting their ballots this week. At this point, cornerback Champ Bailey is about the only Broncos player considered to have a decent chance at the individual honor.
Bailey might have secured a Pro Bowl spot Sunday when he set a team record with an interception in his fifth consecutive game, and eighth of the season.
“I don’t want to think about it,” said Bailey, whose sixth Pro Bowl appearance is likely because he has returned two interceptions for touchdowns. “If it happens, it happens.”
Running game stalls
For much of this season, the Broncos’ running back committee was on a historic pace. Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell were on their way to becoming the first tandem in 20 years to each rush for 1,000 yards in a season. And only the Atlanta Falcons, with scrambling quarterback Michael Vick, had rushed for more yards among NFL teams.
While the Broncos remain second in the NFL, they now are closer to third-place Seattle in rushing, as their running back committee has stalled in recent weeks. Anderson had only 21 yards on eight carries Sunday as Bell became the featured back with 16 carries for 63 yards.
“Instead of looking at the coach and going, ‘Who’s going in?’ I’m just going in without asking,” Bell said. “Maybe it might start something new.”
In four of the past five games, however, the Broncos have not dominated with their running game. Their 96 yards rushing Sunday was their lowest output since their season-opening loss against Miami.
“We just seem to match up well,” Ravens coach Brian Billick said. “As I’ve said before, with some of the successes we’ve had against them, we just seem to match up well against their style of running game. I don’t know if it’s anything more technical than that.”
Anderson’s pace is down to 1,072 yards, averaging 29.7 yards in his past three games. Bell is on pace for 921 yards.
“House” back home
For the first time since suffering season-ending injuries in an car accident Oct. 27, Broncos guard Dwayne “House” Carswell attended a game Sunday, taking it in from his team’s sideline.
“I’d been gone so long, I felt like something got taken away from me a little bit,” said Carswell, who underwent surgery to repair multiple internal injuries. “So being back on the field and back in the locker room was real good for me.”
Veal suddenly shining
Denver backup Demetrin Veal continues to be a productive part of the defensive line rotation. Veal ended the game with four tackles and a fumble recovery. Last December, he was signed by Denver off the Ravens’ practice squad. He has gone from a prospect to a valuable part of the defensive line since.
“It’s been a riot the way things have worked out,” Veal said. “This game is a good reminder of what has happened to me the past year. I feel like I have a long way to go, but this is a reminder of how the year has been.”
Stover feeling frustrated
Matt Stover, who kicked a 29-yard field goal to give Baltimore an early 3-0 lead Sunday, was not about to question Billick’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter when the Ravens needed 10 points to win the game and lost 4 yards on a run.
“I mean, I understood Brian and (assistant) coach Jim Fassel’s decision to go for it,” Stover said. “In that situation we hadn’t been hitting the end zone very often. … As it ended up, we had an opportunity to stop them, get the ball back and kick the game-winner. We’ve done that a few times already this year, so we were trying to get in position to do that.”
In looking back at the game, said Stover, “there were three possible field goals, and we turned the ball over on two and didn’t get the first down on the other, so, yeah, it was frustrating. Who wouldn’t be frustrated? But you know, I’ll never second-guess my coach.”
Heap of trouble
If there was a Raven more frustrated than Stover, it probably was tight end Todd Heap, who had five catches for 65 yards but was the targeted receiver on two interceptions inside the Broncos’ 25 and on the third-down overthrow that left Baltimore with fourth-and-goal at the 1 with just less than 10 minutes left in the game.
“The red zone is where you win games,” Heap said. “When you get down there, you have to score points. It’s really frustrating when you drive the ball down the field and don’t come away with anything.”
Burns plays
As expected, Denver special teams captain Keith Burns played after missing one game with a sprained knee. With Burns back on the field, rookie safety Hamza Abdullah, who replaced him on special teams at Kansas City, was inactive again.
While Burns returned to the field, backup offensive tackle Cornell Green did not. He’s missed the past two games with a shoulder injury.
Denver’s other inactive players were wide receivers David Terrell and Darius Watts, cornerback Roc Alexander, defensive tackle Monsanto Pope, tight end Nate Jackson and defensive end Marco Coleman.
Saturday game-day fever
Denver is done with the Sunday portion of its regular season. The final three games are on Saturdays.
The Broncos will have today off; usually the players’ day off is Tuesday. Denver will prepare for Saturday night’s game at Buffalo on Tuesday.
Footnotes
The Broncos have won 10 games, the fourth time in franchise history they have strung together at least three 10-win seasons in a row. The team record is four, from 1984-87. The Broncos have won 10-plus games 17 times, all in the past 29 seasons. … Denver is 7-0 at home for the first time since finishing 8-0 in 1998. … The Broncos converted a season-best 50 percent on third down (8-for-16). They’re now 58-of-167 (34.7 percent) overall. … The Broncos forced four turnovers and committed one, moving to plus-18 for the season. That’s second in the league behind Cincinnati (plus-24). … No. 3 receiver Charlie Adams played extensively for Denver and had three catches for 35 yards. … Center Tom Nalen started his 164th game for Denver, passing former defensive back Louis Wright for sixth in team history. Former safety Dennis Smith is fifth with 170 starts.
Staff writers Joseph Sanchez and Jim Armstrong contributed to this report.
