ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Champ Bailey is a hard cornerback to please.
Bailey and Dre’ Bly held Buffalo’s top two receivers—Lee Evans and Peerless Price—to three catches for three yards Sunday and yet he was unimpressed.
“That’s what we expect to do every week,” Bailey said Thursday. “We can shut down anybody in this league. That’s what we have in us. We can duplicate it. Why not?”
Their assignment this week will be Ronald Curry and Jerry Porter. Curry had 10 catches for 133 yards Sunday against Detroit. Porter was held in check, catching two passes for 26 yards.
“(Porter) is screaming for the ball,” Bailey said. “I expect a lot of production out of him this week.”
Not if Bly and Bailey two have anything to say about it. The Broncos have big expectations in the cornerback tandem that has nine Pro Bowl appearances between them.
“That’s the kind of players those guys are,” John Lynch said. “Is that going to happen all year? No. But we’re fortunate to have them.”
The Bills shied away from Bailey for the most part. That’s what happens when a player has the most regular-season interceptions in the league (21) since 2004.
Asked if teams are purposely staying away from Bailey, Oakland coach Lane Kiffin said, “Yeah. They are. That’s for sure.”
But the alternative is Bly, who has 33 interceptions since coming into the league in 1999.
“We’re going to feed off each other,” Bly said. “We look forward to good weeks every week. We plan on making plays. Having an All-Pro caliber guy on the other side, it’s going to raise my level.”
Bailey had no idea that he and Bly had shut down the Bills so thoroughly until they got on the bus after the game.
“We’re looking at the (stat) sheet and we couldn’t believe it,” Bailey said. “We knew they didn’t make a lot of plays. It’s pretty unheard of to have that happen.”
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RESTING AT HOME@: The Broncos want offensive guard Ben Hamilton to stay away from their training facility and just rest. Hamilton has been out with a concussion since banging helmets with a teammate in camp a month ago.
“We’re thinking that might help,” coach Mike Shanahan said.
Hamilton was inactive for the Buffalo game, breaking a streak of 5,407 straight offensive snaps.
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SMITH ON MEND@: Rod Smith doesn’t have a timetable for when he might return. He is still recovering from offseason hip surgery and is on the physically unable to perform list.
“I’m feeling better,” the 37-year-old receiver said. “I’m trying to rest every day and get better. Seeing them do their thing, it inspires you to go out there. At the same time, you’ve got to be patient.”
Smith is eligible to return to the team after the sixth week of the season.
“I’m just trying to get healthy,” he said.
Earlier this week, his teammates voted to make him a captain.
“It’s a great gesture,” he said. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for any one of them. I think they understand and respect that.”
Asked if he was running yet, Smith said, “I’ll talk about that later.”
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THE WISHBONE@: Assistant head coach/offense Mike Heimerdinger jokingly said the Broncos may have to change their offense to suit Jay Cutler, who had a couple of quarterback option plays against the Bills.
“We’re thinking about putting in the wishbone and running it,” he said. “He only threw for 304 yards. We thought putting in the wishbone would be good.”
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QUICK HITS@: The Broncos have beaten Oakland in seven out of the last eight games. … A win Sunday would give the Broncos a 2-0 start for the first time since 2003. … Cutler has thrown a touchdown pass in all six of the games he’s played. … RB Travis Henry’s 139 yards rushing was the most by a Broncos player in his debut with the team. … CB Domonique Foxworth (ankle) didn’t practice Thursday and TE Stephen Alexander (calf) participated in a limited portion of the session.
