If they weren’t so focused on trying to cover them and beat them, cornerbacks Darrent Williams and Domonique Foxworth might want to thank them.
The Indianapolis Colts are a primary reason Williams and Foxworth wound up playing for the Broncos.
Perhaps between backpedaling sprints while guarding Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne at Invesco Field at Mile High on Sunday, Williams and Foxworth can give the Colts’ receivers a pat on the back for a job well done.
“Of course, we know about how we did get picked apart the previous years and that’s probably why the Broncos brought us in,” Williams said. “We accept it as a challenge. We want to perform and show them they brought us in for the right reason.”
In the seasons of 2003 and 2004, the Colts annihilated the Broncos in the playoffs by a combined 56-point scoring margin. The passing totals by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in those two blowouts looked like a full season from the 1960s: nine touchdowns and 835 yards.
After the 2003 whipping, when Harrison and little-known Brandon Stokley combined for 277 receiving yards and four touchdowns, the Broncos traded star running back Clinton Portis for one of the NFL’s top cover cornerbacks, Champ Bailey. And veteran safety John Lynch was signed as a free agent.
The shift in the Broncos’ priorities had begun.
After getting embarrassed again in the 2004 playoffs, when Wayne and unheralded tight end Dallas Clark combined for 333 receiving yards and three touchdowns, the Broncos brought back speed linebacker Ian Gold, who didn’t play in either playoff massacre, and used their first three picks in the ensuing draft to select a cornerback, cornerback and cornerback – Williams, Karl Paymah and Foxworth.
“It would be hard to say it was a coincidence,” Foxworth said. “But I don’t know if it was the full reason. I’d like to think that maybe our ability had something to do with us being here.”
OK, so maybe it’s a stretch to say those whippings by the Colts alone explain the Broncos transforming their identity from a precision offense masterminded by coach Mike Shanahan to a speed defense built on stopping a Manning-guided offense.
But at the very least, the Colts punctured the Broncos at their softest parts. None other than Lynch said after the Broncos’ 17-7 victory Sunday at Cleveland that his team had been built in large part to counteract the Colts’ offense.
“What the Indy defeats did was expose some depth weaknesses in our defensive backfield,” said Ted Sundquist, the Broncos’ general manager. “But if you’re trying to put a team together to counteract one team, you’re going to find yourself exposed in other areas against 30 other teams. We did feel like we had to add some corners. Not necessarily to counter Peyton and Marvin and Reggie and that whole crew. We just needed to shore up the position in general.”
The Colts will come to Invesco Field with their glitzy passing attack and 6-0 record. The Broncos will be ready with a defense that has allowed the fewest points in the league and that has helped produce a 5-1 record.
The winner will be considered the AFC’s team to beat.
“The best in the AFC will be proclaimed some time in January,” Foxworth said. “But this game is important for our confidence as we go through the rest of the season, and it could be big as far as getting home-field advantage in the playoffs.”
Unlike 2003 and 2004, speed is now a shared characteristic. The Colts have set the NFL’s offensive speed standard the past four or five seasons.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say they have the fastest players,” Sundquist said. “But they execute what they’re trying to do in a fast manner. They’re a well- oiled machine with an Indy car driver behind the wheel.”
Indeed, Harrison, at 34, no longer is the NFL’s speediest receiver. But as he cuts sharply off the RCA Dome’s artificial turf and snares a Manning zinger in full stride, the play would put an Olympic sprinter in a chase.
The Broncos, however, appear better able to keep up with the Colts, especially on Invesco Field’s grass, than they did in those playoff debacles.
Williams, not Kelly Herndon, starts opposite Bailey at right cornerback. Foxworth, not Roc Alexander, is the nickel back who figures to be in for at least half the plays Sunday.
Up front, the Broncos applied virtually no pressure on Manning in those playoff losses.
“I know one thing – if you don’t put any pressure on him, he’ll pick you apart,” Shanahan said. “That’s just the nature of the beast.”
Then again, the immobile Manning often plays more human than beast when under duress. Elvis Dumervil, perhaps, can make him look human. Dumervil, a Broncos rookie who had 20 sacks last season at Louisville, has five in his past two games.
Will the Broncos better defend the Colts on Sunday than they did when it mattered in 2003 and 2004? A better question is, can the Broncos defend way, way better?
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com.
