By BERNIE LINCICOME
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
It is always unwise to play next week's game until you have played this week's game, which is the kindest explanation for what happened here Sunday.
Preoccupation with San Diego is the only acceptable excuse for the Denver Broncos' 17-13 escape of the Raiders because to believe the Broncos are as awful as they looked against Oakland, one of the worst teams in football, is to just throw in the season and give the Super Bowl to the Colts.
"We looked up and saw what they did (the Chargers outscored Cincinnati 49-41) and that gave us some impetus," Broncos fullback Kyle Johnson said. "We had to keep our end alive for next week."
So, the big showdown is still on, already moved to prime time, the NFL's flexible schedule ready to sort out the two best AFC teams that are not Indianapolis, not that the Colts were any more world beaters Sunday than the Broncos.
The Colts barely kept their mojo vital with their second one-point survival of the season. And if all of this seems not the issue of the day, that is exactly the point.
These weekly skirmishes cannot be removed from the greater football mix, and how things go on Sundays and soon Thursdays and then Saturdays as well, help foretell how this is all going to turn out.
"Those games (next Sunday night) are what you play for," defensive end Kenard Lang said. "They let you see where you are. Every game is a test, this next one is a true test."
This Sunday's test was pure pass or fail, no multiple choice, no essay, no grand thesis here. And the sooner it is tossed with the weekly litter, the better for everyone.
"Down the road, we won't look at how ugly this was," quarterback Jake Plummer said. "It will still count as a 'W.' "
The Broncos won, and there is no taking that away from them, although the Raiders had no problem taking the ball from Plummer. Three times they did so and a fourth had to go to replay before siding in favor of Plummer. It is just that the Raiders could not do much with the football after they did.
The same thing is true of the storied running game of the Broncos, not storied here unless the story is a lie, and it might very well be that. Tatum Bell ran like a feather in a fan, fluttering out only 37 of the 63 Denver rushing yards.
Whatever Mike Shanahan is doing by choosing a Bell a week, and usually the wrong one, the Broncos on the ground might as well be . . . well, the Raiders or any other humdrum offense. In fact, that ought to be how you tell Tatum Bell from Mike Bell, call the one Hum and the other Drum. If not that, then Hodge and Podge.
Mike Bell was benched on purpose instead of Tatum Bell this week, leaving the fate of the Broncos in the hands of Plummer, and if you put the arm of Plummer with the leg of punter Paul Ernster, you still have only half a scarecrow.
With that and the Chargers coming for a spotlight game Sunday night, prospects are chilling indeed.
"With our defense, you know the other team is not going to get a lot of points," Plummer said. "You just tell yourself to keep pushing and we were down only six points at half. All we needed was a touchdown to take the lead and, sure enough, we got it."
How that happened is nothing to build a future on. At fourth and less than a yard, rather than trust the once trusted running game, the Broncos let Plummer pass the ball to one of his own players, never a sure thing. And the only reason they were even at that point was because a punt return fumble by the Broncos' David Kircus was negated by one the rarest penalties ever called, running down under the punt out of bounds.
Had not Chris Carr stayed out of bounds too long, the Raiders would have had the ball, with the lead, at the Broncos 20-yard line. Clearly the turning point.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out," Shanahan said.
The Broncos seem almost back where they started, not just back at the beginning of the season when the defense was bailing out Plummer each week, but even beyond that, back into training camp when the roster was in flux and Shanahan was piecing and patching trying to find the team he would go to war with.
"We go week to week," Shanahan said. "We're trying to get our best players on the field."
Shanahan seems to be using the roster for punishment. He benched tackle George Foster and brought players up from the practice squad. And which Bell will it be next week?
Ask not for whom the Bell tolls. He is probably inactive.
