ShareThisBy BERNIE LINCICOME
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The law of averages is still, after all, a law. It is not an inkling of averages or a whim of averages. No, it is a law.
And sooner or later, the law was going to catch up with the myth. That's another thing it is not. It is not a myth of averages. It is real.
The myth is that the Denver Broncos could run a wedding usher behind its offensive line and he'd get 1,000 yards by Thanksgiving. They could take the bag boy from the supermarket and make the Super Bowl.
Sure, trade in a paper hat for a hard helmet and be a star. You can't swing a dead coyote without hitting a potential Broncos running back.
I might have suggested as much myself. I might have believed as much myself. When the myth conflicts with the truth, pick the myth.
The myth is that it is the scheme, the system, the method that makes the Broncos running game and not the running back. Or it is the mystical, magical touch of coach Mike Shanahan, who blesses the task.
So it is that Clinton Portis could be sent off to Washington to frolic amongst those who found him a bit more delightful than did the coach of the Broncos. And with every Champ Bailey interception, a reminder follows. Who needs talent at running back?
Well _ and here we are, back at the law _ the Broncos do. Sooner or later, ordinary running backs would be sure to do ordinary things. Sooner or later, talent would become necessary.
I do remember imagining this: There would be Portis and LaDainian Tomlinson, battling each other from here to San Diego twice a year, and Priest Holmes was viable then, not missed in Kansas City because Larry Johnson has legs.
And here we are, the best running team in the division running auditions for the game roster.
All of those other departed mugs like Portis and Mike Anderson and Reuben Droughns and shrugged-off Heisman relic Ron Dayne, even Olandis Gary; all of them but Terrell Davis _ let us please leave T.D. that much _ were so many round pegs for round holes, the key being the holes.
To run for the Denver Broncos you must know the hole. You must know where the hole is and trust the hole. You do not make your own hole. You must see the hole, hit the hole and get through the hole.
You do not dance behind the hole. You do run around the hole. You do not improvise the hole. You make one cut, you hit the hole and count the yards. See the hole, be the hole.
One of the things Portis did was improve the hole. Portis had talent. Still does, and he also has a broken hand, but that happens. That is another part of the law.
Running backs get hurt. Usually the good ones.
Or maybe it is that, when bad running backs get hurt, no one cares.
T.D. got hurt. T.D. had talent. Some of the others had talent, but no one now has enough talent because starting down the other half of the season, the running game is a lottery risk.
Might as well pick a number, something that feels right this week. No. 26. No. 20. No. 34. No. 29? Where did he come from? Off the practice squad. Shanahan isn't picking a running back, he's picking a drawback.
Maybe it is not the running backs. Maybe it is the offensive line. The line has had changes, one from injury to Matt Lepsis, one from pique with George Foster.
Tinker. Tinker. Blocker. Back.
The thing is, Denver must have a running game. It cannot do what San Diego did against the Bengals, though it will get that chance eventually. Jake Plummer does not work as a drop-back passer, a classic read-and-throw guy. He doesn't have the arm, he doesn't have the head.
The Broncos need play action for their quarterback. The Broncos need to roll out their quarterback. The Broncos need help for their quarterback.
Here's another law. Run the ball. Stop the run. That wins most games. The Broncos can stop the run, or have. We shall see what they do with Tomlinson on Sunday night.
Shanahan makes his situation sound reasonable. Practice well, play on Sunday. Do what is best for team. Sheer spin, utter desperation.
But how much better is it for the team to have one good dependable guy in place, a Portis, a Tomlinson, starting and succeeding rather than playing short straw each week?
How much better to have talent to use rather than problems to choose?
The law is hard. That is why it is the law.
