Showered, dressed and knowing a large media throng was circling for his presence, Jake Plummer was in a great mood.
He was joking about how his mother Marilyn had brought a secret-family herb down from Idaho, an ointment that was sure to heal fullback Kyle Johnson’s sprained ankle. He talked about how his dad Steve would be envious of his recently refurbished 1962 Impala.
Plummer was happy, kind, friendly. Not exactly the disposition anyone would expect from a quarterback who had just thrown for only 102 yards in a 21st century NFL game.
Yet, the Broncos won by a 13-3 score against the Oakland Raiders. Once the Broncos got up 7-0 in the first quarter and 13-0 with roughly four minutes remaining in the first half, the offense didn’t see the field much in the third quarter, and coach Mike Shan- ahan used a conservative, ball-control strategy in the fourth quarter.
So when Plummer finally stepped in to face his media friends, he was not afraid to address the matter of his unimpressive passing stats.
“When all is said and done you play it to win,” Plummer said. “In this system and with our head coach, he wants to win and he wants to dominate. He wants to put up points, he wants to put up yardage and we’re not doing that right now. We’ll find an answer. Coach Shanahan is one of the smartest offensive minds in the game and we’ve got great players. We’ll start going.”
Elam getting stronger
Bothered by a calf strain in training camp, which then might have led to a hip problem early in the season, Broncos kicker Jason Elam finally started feeling healthy the week of the New England game in Week 3.
He is 5-for-5 in field goals since, including two Sunday from 51 and 22 yards.
Busting first-quarter egg
With 39 seconds to spare, the Broncos scored their first points in the first quarter this season when Tatum Bell scooted in from the 2-yard line. It came in their fifth game and was set up by two plays – a missed 54-yard field goal by Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski with 1:33 remaining that gave the Broncos’ superb field position, and a first-play, 54-yard bootleg pass from Plummer to Javon Walker.
The worst-starting NFL teams are now the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, who have each scored three first-quarter points through six games, and the Cleveland Browns, who have six points in five first quarters.
The prognosticator
To guard against overconfidence this week playing the then 0-4 Raiders, Shanahan’s message was about the danger of playing 0-4 teams. He pointed out that since 1999 – the only time his Broncos started 0-4 in his 12 years as coach – winless teams through four games win the fifth game 60 percent of the time.
The early games Sunday supported Shanahan’s claim. The 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers stunned Cincinnati, 14-13. And two other 0-5 teams – Detroit and Tennessee – also won.
Dumervil plays again
Fourth-round draft pick Elvis Dumervil was active for the second consecutive week after being inactive for the first three games. Dumervil registered his first NFL sack in the first quarter and added another in the second quarter. Dumervil led the NCAA in sacks last season at Louisville.
“It’s great to get out there in the regular season and make a contribution,” Dumervil said. “What I do is rush the passer so to get a chance to get sacks is really satisfying.”
While Dumervil was active, newly signed Kenny Peterson was not.
Denver’s other inactive players were receiver Todd Devoe, safety Hamza Abdullah, running back Cedric Cobbs, linebacker Nate Webster, guard Chris Kuper, tackle Adam Meadows and tight end Nate Jackson.
Kyle Johnson out
Johnson suffered a sprained right ankle on the second play of the game and did not return. Johnson is expected to undergo an MRI today.
Johnson was on crutches and said he didn’t know what to expect on how long he’ll be out.
The Broncos didn’t report any other significant injuries.
Trash talker
Darrent Williams lets it be known. The 5-foot-8, 175-pound right cornerback will talk trash when necessary.
When Oakland running back LaMont Jordan decided to run out of bounds in the first half while there was still some yardage to be had, Williams let loose.
“I said, ‘You’re so much bigger than me and you’re scared?”‘ Williams said. “Both me and (Denver linebacker Ian Gold) got on him after that. We were saying he was scared. He didn’t say anything. He just went back to the huddle. I guess he was scared.”
Moss is active
When the Broncos watched film of Raiders receiver Randy Moss, they noticed that he played mostly on the left side this season. However, Sunday night, Moss played on the left, on the right and in the slot.
“That was smart,” Broncos safety John Lynch said. “They were really moving him around. It seems like the game plan was to get him the ball as much as possible.”
Moss had a game-high five catches for 86 yards. Lynch also said Moss did a solid job blocking.
Flag day
The Raiders were penalized 13 times for 95 yards in the game.
“This was the first game all year I felt we lost our composure,” Raiders coach Art Shell said.
Blown coverage
Raiders defensive lineman Warren Sapp, never at a loss for words, blamed a missed assignment in Oakland’s secondary for the 54-yard, first-quarter pass from Plummer to Walker that set up Denver’s only touchdown.
Sapp said Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha was supposed to have help from another player in the secondary.
“We had it right, but a guy didn’t follow the receiver like he should,” Sapp said. “We have enough defensive stuff to stop an army. That (coverage) was exactly what we were looking for and we didn’t get it. We just have to play right.”
Footnotes
Releasing punter Todd Sauerbrun last week and replacing him on the roster with Peterson saved the Broncos almost $1 million. With a $99 million payroll, the Broncos are approximately $3 million below the salary cap. The Arizona Cardinals rank No. 1 in salary-cap room with more than $10 million. …
The loss dropped Shell’s record vs. the Broncos to 11-2. …
The Broncos’ 13-3 win marked the second time in franchise history they had won by the same score in back-to-back games. They beat the Ravens 13-3 the previous Monday night. The other time came in 1997, when they beat Seattle 35-14 in Week 2 and St. Louis by the same score a week later.
Staff writers Jim Armstrong and Tom Kensler contributed to this report.
