DENVER—You don’t tug on Superman’s cape or spit into the wind. You also don’t normally throw at Champ Bailey in crunch time.
Yet not once but twice Dallas quarterback Tony Romo targeted Denver’s eight-time Pro Bowl cornerback with the game on the line with under 10 seconds left Sunday.
Bailey, who had an earlier interception at the 3, went step-for-step with Sam Hurd on an inside cut on third-and-goal with the Cowboys down a touchdown.
Romo went back to the well again on Dallas’ final offensive snap. Hurd ran a slant route but Bailey got enough inside position to make a diving deflection of the ball with his left hand to force an incompletion with one tick left on the clock.
“Even when he got the pick down near the goal line I said to myself, ‘Probably one of the greatest cornerbacks in history and you choose to throw the ball to his side?'” Denver linebacker D.J. Williams mused. “It really didn’t make that much sense to me.”
Bailey, though, wasn’t exactly stunned by Romo’s persistence. Bailey cited the QB’s gunslinger mentality and confidence in his arm. The cornerback did acknowledge he can’t remember getting thrown toward this much on one afternoon.
“They had been testing me all day and getting little things in front of me all day,” Bailey said. “I didn’t lose patience over that. I just stay with it and keep going. And if you want to keep testing me, putting pressure on me, I’m with you.”
Or at least with Hurd—step for step, time and again.
“I’m glad they did (it),” Bailey said of the back-to-back shots thrown his direction in the end. “I want the pressure on me.”
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NO. 1 WITH A BULLET: Denver’s defense overall played to the level of group ranked first overall in the NFL with only 12 points allowed entering Sunday’s action.
The Cowboys’ top-ranked rush offense gained just 74 yards on 25 carries. Bailey’s interception was one of two takeaways. Dallas’ big guns, including tight end Jason Witten, Roy Williams and Marion Barber, were limited to a combined 93 yards in receptions and 134 yards of total offense.
Broncos safety Brian Dawkins was proud in particular at the way Denver’s defense held its ground in the red zone in the clutch after Hurd’s 53-yard catch-and-run set Dallas up at the Broncos 20 with a minute left.
He recalled thinking back to the opener in Cincinnati, when his team allowed a 91-yard fourth-quarter scoring march, only to be bailed out by a miracle reception by Brandon Stokley for the victory.
“If we want to be considered a good defense, one that can be counted on, you have to hold up when your offense gives you the lead,” Dawkins said. “When you have the lead and the last drive, you’ve got to be able to stand. Today we did a great job after they got down there on a scramble play, of standing.”
Denver has now allowed just two offensive TDs in four games and has limited opponents to a 26.4 percent conversion rate on third down.
Dallas was 3-for-14 in that latter category in falling to 2-2.
“We’ve been hungry since the offseason,” said Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil, who padded his sack total to eight with two more Sunday. “… And we all beat to the same drum.”
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WAR OF ATTRITION: The Broncos lost starting running back Correll Buckhalter with a left ankle injury late in the third quarter. Buckhalter left the locker room on crutches.
“I’ll be all right,” Buckhalter said, adding he wouldn’t elaborate because he doesn’t talk when he gets hurt in games.
That injury, and a fumble on his first carry of the second half, put the pressure squarely on rookie Knowshon Moreno.
Moreno ended up getting stuffed on back-to-back short-yardage carries in Dallas territory, the second on fourth down, late in the third quarter.
But on Denver’s drive to Matt Prater’s game-tying fourth-quarter field goal, Moreno had a pair of carries for nine yards and a short catch. LaMont Jordan chipped in with an 11-yard scamper up the middle.
Moreno (14 carries, 65 yards, 9-yard receiving TD) may have to continue playing a bigger role in the offense if Buckhalter is down for a while.
“Whatever they ask me to do, really,” he responded. “We still have LaMont and some other guys who can come in and do the job, also. We don’t know how bad it is, but we’re just going to keep moving.”
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HAIR-RAISING EXPERIENCE: D.J. Williams, like Samson, may be getting strength from his hair.
Whether it’s the linebacker’s new Mohawk or the move to the ‘Jack’ linebacker position in the revamped 3-4 scheme, the sixth-year pro is arguably playing the best football of his career this season.
“I wish I could fly,” Williams said of his new ‘do’s role in his success. “I think I’m probably going to let it grow the whole season. I don’t know why I did it or what’s the purpose, but I got bored. The funny thing about it is a lot of the guys on the team didn’t know I could grow hair.”
Williams led Denver with nine tackles, recorded a sack, broke up two passes and added a tackle for loss.
“The Jack position, I’m everywhere. I don’t even call it a position. You can’t say I’m an inside ‘backer. I’m deep. I’m on the line. I’m rushing, blitzing, doing a lot of things. But it has a lot to do with the other 10 guys on the field. They’re allowing me to roam and do the things that I do.”
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ET CETERA: Denver has started 4-0 on five previous occasions and made the playoffs each time. Four times it advanced to the Super Bowl. … Only Red Miller (6-0, 1977) started his Denver coaching tenure with more victories than Josh McDaniels. … With normal goal-line blocker Russ Hochstein forced to start at left guard in place of Ben Hamilton (hamstring), those duties were given to linebacker Darrell Reid. Reid’s first assignment came on a key fourth-and-1 and he slipped on his way into the hole, where Moreno was stuffed. Reid played some fullback last year in shortyardage situations while playing for Indianapolis. … Brandon Marshall’s winning TD and Bailey’s late heroics will garner many of the headlines. But Dawkins’ cross-field sprint to knock Hurd out of bounds on his late 53-yard catch was just as critical, giving Denver’s defense a second chance. “Oh my God. I couldn’t even kick it into third gear and I see this 30-something-year-old guy, older than me, screaming down the field,” Bailey said. “That really saved the game.” Dawkins reaction: “Theres a lot of blessings still built up in this body. And if means I have to push the button and run a 4.3 or whatever, I give it to them.” … Kenny McKinley returned kicks for Denver. He follows Peyton Hillis and Eddie Royal this season in that role.
