Broncos lack stop-entiousness

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The word was a bit Bush-esque but still made sense. Aggress-tivity.This came from the Philadelphia Phillies' Shane Victorino, who was explaining the natural athletic instincts that caused both dugouts to empty at Dodger Stadium. That is baseball, by the way, several degrees below football in aggress-tivity, but part of the nature of competition.It came to me that it might be what the Denver Broncos lack, especially on defense, some of that aggress-tivity, more than simple aggression but a collective outrage, a shared resentmentness.There must be a whole inventory of attributes the Broncos do not have. To name a few, antago-lence. Belliger-ality. Hostil-mosity.These are much preferred to the alternative, which would mean that the Broncos simply are not good enough, that they do not match up man-to-man with other teams. That would be inadequality.You wonder if John McCain's campaign supporters might have more aggress-tivity than the Broncos defense, or when Mike Shanahan is going to whip somebody's you-know-what, as McCain promised to do in the final presidential debate.When baseball and politics out-aggresatize football, the world has slipped its leash. Here might be another helpful description of the Broncos defense. Gentl-if- luous.That is when the other team's offense is treated with kindness, with a general sympathy, so that no one is hurt or upset or indignant. Everyone comes away pleased. No enemies are made, not to the extent that later they all cannot hug and sing camp songs.Rechecking my play-by-play against Jacksonville Sunday, I counted 21 incidents when the runner or the pass catcher took a hit from a Bronco and continued on for more yardage, suddenly appearing much farther downfield than if he had been handled roughly rather than gentl-if-luously.This does not count all the times -- and I admit I lost track -- a receiver or a runner was allowed to move freely for many yards before coming into contact with a Bronco. This is called anti-obstruction-ocity. Or, to put a positive spin on it, impede-lessness.The non-tackle or the semi-tackle is an uncommon occurrence in the NFL because it is practiced just the opposite of how it takes place with the Broncos, the general rule being to hit hard and low and wrap both arms around the runner instead of high and soft and with only a couple of fingers. So, not only are the Broncos gentl-if-luous, but they are contrardict-umous as well.Of course, these are all general terms and do not address individual or group deficiencies such as the complete absence of pressure on the quarterback from the defensive line. The word for this is front-four-bearance.Teams without a pass rush are known to be sack-religious.When, on the rare occasion a lineman does get to the quarterback, this is known as a Dumervil.The Broncos are, as far as can be detected, completely safety-free, not to be confused with a free safety. This is a little-recognized condition called journeyman-dering; that is, starting safeties who have played for eight other teams.To illustrate, when an opposing quarterback looks across the line and sees Marquand Manuel and Marlon McCree, he has to keep himself from smacking his lips and muttering yum-yum as he calls the signals.And receivers who know that they have nothing to fear fly down field like fawns in a meadow, only occasionally having to wonder what that little bump was as they frolic into the end zone.A position that once was manned by Steve Atwater, Dennis Smith and John Lynch is now occupied by wedding ushers. This is known as being deterioratory.Linebackers do appear from time to time in the Broncos defense, showing up like freeloaders after the check has been picked up by somebody else. The favored method is to see which one can avoid making the first hit so they can then jump in and get some credit for a tackle.The term for this is d'Artagnanism, harking to the Three Musketeers, where Athos, Porthos and Aramis did all the fighting and d'Artagnan got the glory and the girl.Avoiding Champ Bailey comes under the general heading of wisdom, leaving the other cornerback -- as Dre Bly shall be forever known -- responsible for all the catches made by opposing receivers.Bly suffers from the unfortunate condition known as isolation-embarrassmentia, taking most of the blame because he most obviously deserves it.My list is incomplete. I am sure there are many other things the Broncos defense can be called, some in single syllables, some just in sounds or gestures.(Contact Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News at lincicomeb(at)rockymountainnews.com.)