Some of the injury news from Dove Valley hurts less than others.
Tests showed the sprained left knee ligament suffered by Broncos middle linebacker Nate Webster is not as severe as the knee injury suffered by outside linebacker D.J. Williams.
Webster, who was injured in the first quarter of the Broncos’ 34-30 win Thursday night at Cleveland, won’t be able to play next Sunday at Atlanta, but he could return by either the following game, Nov. 23 against Oakland, or Nov. 30 against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands.
Williams, injured last Sunday against Miami, is not expected to return from his medial collateral ligament strain until at least Dec. 7 against Kansas City.
Meanwhile, cornerback Champ Bailey may try to return earlier than expected from his groin strain and play against the Falcons. Bailey suffered the injury Oct. 20 and was supposed to be out four to six weeks. The game at Atlanta would be 26 days from his injury.
The Atlanta game had been long anticipated by Champ and his brother Boss Bailey, who grew up in Folkston, Ga., and later played at the University of Georgia. The Baileys have a brother and sister and many friends and relatives who live in the Atlanta area. Boss Bailey, the Broncos’ strongside linebacker, is out with a season-ending knee injury.
Replacing Nate.
Niko Koutouvides will get the first chance to start at middle linebacker until Webster returns, but the Broncos may also give reps this week to Spencer Larsen and newly signed Mario Haggan. Larsen, a rookie, is currently a fullback but was a middle linebacker during training camp and the preseason.
Tailback search.
To fill the void created by placing not one (Anthony Alridge), not two (Michael Pittman), not three (Andre Hall), but four (Ryan Torain) tailbacks on the season-ending injured reserve list, the Broncos are expected to grab a back off the unemployment line Monday.
Candidates include Vernand Morency, a former Rockies’ minor- league center field prospect, LaBrandon Toefield and former Bronco Ron Dayne.
Morency hit .294 and had 25 steals in only 44 games for the Rockies’ rookie-league club in 1999. The breaking ball eventually sent him to football, where he starred at Oklahoma State and played in the NFL for Houston and Green Bay. He worked out for the Broncos last month.
The Broncos will not re-sign Tatum Bell or Mike Bell.
Visiting Elam.
Once he’s done kicking against New Orleans today in a game that potentially carries NFC wild-card implications, life will get hectic for Atlanta’s Jason Elam.
The Broncos’ kicking legend and his current Falcons will host his former team next Sunday.
“Yeah, I think all of Denver is descending on my house (next) weekend,” said Elam, who set nearly every Broncos kicking record during his 15 seasons here. “I don’t know how many tickets I’m going to have to come up with, but I’ve got all kinds of people who are putting dibs in for that game.”
It didn’t fully hit Elam he was no longer a Bronco until Week 3 of the NFL season, when he finished helping the Falcons defeat Kansas City in an early-afternoon game.
“I was eating at P.F. Chang’s after our game and the Denver game was on,” Elam said. “I told my wife, ‘This is really weird.’ ”
Elam has made 17-of-19 field goals this year; his replacement in Denver, Matt Prater, is 16-of-19.
Mike Klis, The Denver Post
