NFL Feature Capsules - AFC: McGowan set for tough test against Dallas Clark
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Brandon McGowan helped shut down two of the NFL's top tight ends for the New England Patriots. On Sunday night, he'll try to stop another.
Controlling Dallas Clark, the AFC's leading receiver, seems to be a major challenge for a player who made the league as a rookie free agent in 2005 out of Maine and missed all but two games last season with an ankle injury.
Yet McGowan has played quite well against top tight ends in his first year with New England.
He arrived as a free agent after four seasons with the Chicago Bears and took the starting job at free safety from James Sanders, who held it the past two years but started only the opener this year. In the Patriots' third game, tight end Tony Gonzalez caught just one pass for 16 yards in New England's 26-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons. In their seventh game, McGowan was solid again as Kellen Winslow had two receptions for nine yards in a 35-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"He's done a lot of good things and he did them for the Bears," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday. "He runs well, tackles well. He's physical. He's a very instinctive player, knows where the ball is — the reasons why we were interested in the offseason and signed him.
"He's been a versatile and productive guy for us."
McGowan played eight games as a rookie but only one the next year when he had an Achilles' tendon injury. He was healthy in 2007 and started nine of his 14 games. He started the opener last season — a win against the Colts — then hurt his ankle in the second game and was placed on injured reserve.
In that Indianapolis game, Clark caught one pass before leaving with a knee injury that also kept him out of the next game.
"He's a good tight end," McGowan said. "I see Peyton likes him and he likes the other receivers. The defensive backs are going to have our hands full this week."
Clark had 14 catches last Sunday, one less than the NFL record for tight ends, in a 20-17 win over the Houston Texans. His 60 receptions lead the AFC.
Rodney Harrison, who retired early this year after six seasons as a Patriots safety, is impressed with McGowan.
"I watched him play well against Tony Gonzalez," Harrison said. "He's a guy that's a smart kid. He's always in the right place.
"Peyton's going to go to all his (receivers) so you always have to cover all his guys. You have to pay attention to the run game as well. ... They choose to pass the ball because now a 5-yard pass play to Dallas Clark is like a 5-yard run and they're very content with having second-down-and-4 against any team."
McGowan is one of several new starters on a defense that became younger with the retirements of Harrison and linebacker Tedy Bruschi and trades of defensive end Richard Seymour, linebacker Mike Vrabel and cornerback Ellis Hobbs. Yet the Patriots have allowed the second-fewest points (only the Colts have been better) and the seventh-fewest yards in the NFL.
Cornerback Leigh Bodden signed as a free agent after playing five years with the Cleveland Browns and last year with the Detroit Lions when they went 0-16. A game against the Colts (8-0) is one reason he chose the Patriots (6-2).
McGowan didn't focus on the rivalry between the AFC powers when he signed.
"I never thought of it like that," he said, but "it's a pretty cool game."
McGowan goes into Sunday with three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery this season. His 46 tackles are second on the team to strong safety Brandon Meriweather, who also is having a strong season.
But they haven't faced a player like Clark, who runs well after making a catch.
"The quarterback gets him the ball with the chance to run with it, but he's very good," Belichick said. "He's fast and he's got good balance. He's strong. Tight ends are hard to match up against. The (defensive backs) don't have the size and the linebackers usually can't match their speed and quickness."
McGowan expects the coverage plan to be similar to that for other tight ends.
"It's not really much different," he said. "You've just got to watch tape, get in there and try to find out his weaknesses."
Colts DE Freeney enjoying chase for NFL record
INDIANAPOLIS — Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney still gets a thrill out of the chase.
Whether he's trying to split multiple blockers or has a chance to exploit those rare one-on-one matchups with his spin moves, Freeney's goal never changes and his motor never stops.
His job: Put opposing quarterbacks on their backs, something he does with more efficiency than just about anyone in the NFL.
"You want to get that sack because that's our bonus," Freeney said with a smile Wednesday. "I guess in a perfect world, starting the game, it would go first play, sack, second play, sack, third play, sack, and then you could go to the locker room."
If only it were that easy for opponents to get Freeney out of their backfields.
His 9½ sacks rank third in the league this season and on Sunday night, against bitter rival New England (6-2), Freeney has a chance to run down NFL history. If he can take three-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady to the ground, Freeney will tie the record for most consecutive games with a sack (10). Denver's Simon Fletcher and Dallas' DeMarcus Ware are the only other players to do it.
Clearly, it's a concern for Brady.
"He's the best pass-rusher in the league and he's been that way since he came into the league," Brady said. "Any time you're playing them (the Colts) you don't have as much time to throw so you've got to make those decisions quicker."
Indy fans are not surprised.
They've watched Freeney fine-tune a rare blend of speed and power to confound opponents, and just when linemen think they've figured out the dizzying spins, the 6-foot-1, 268-pound end throws them off with a powerful bull rush.
Most analysts thought Freeney was too small to hold up in the NFL when the Colts took him with the 11th pick in the 2002 draft out of Syracuse.
Indy (8-0) knew better and Freeney has been proving the doubters wrong ever since.
Freeney has recorded more sacks (80) over the past eight seasons than anyone except Miami's Jason Taylor and forced more fumbles (36) than anyone in the NFL. The Colts expected nothing less.
"In that system, Dwight is the key," former coach Tony Dungy said. "You have to have pressure and force people to block you. That's why Bill (Polian) took Dwight with the first pick after I got there. We thought Dwight was the best player to do that, and it turned out to be a great marriage between a great player and a great system."
And Freeney, now 29, isn't slowing down.
He is on pace to break the franchise's single-season record for sacks (16), which he set in 2004, and could finish with a career-high in tackles. He needs one more sack to match last season's total (10½), and Freeney has fit into Indy's revamped defense perfectly, even when he's asked to drop into coverage.
Freeney missed the last seven games in 2007 after having surgery on his left foot, an injury that still bothered him early last season. This year, he has played through a strained right quadriceps that was supposed to keep him out four weeks and cartilage that broke loose in his right knee a couple weeks ago.
But he hasn't missed a game.
"Dwight is a great football player, who prides himself on coming in and getting better," said linebacker Gary Brackett, the defensive captain. "Last year, he was coming off of an injury. This year, I think, has been one of his better years."
Numbers are not the measuring stick Freeney prefers.
He steers the discussion away from Indy's unbeaten season or the fact Indy needs one more win to match New England's 18-game winning streak, second-longest in league history. The Patriots also hold the NFL record of 21 straight from 2006-08.
He doesn't want to talk about the sacks record, either.
Instead the Hartford, Conn., native would rather focus on doing his job even better.
"I've never been a big records guy. You know, I like to think if he had held onto the ball just one more second, I might have three more sacks," Freeney said, referring to no quarterback in particular. "It has been fun. There is a new energy around here because we have a new coach and new things. But you measure the year at the end."
-- Michael Marot
Steelers a different team with Polamalu back
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers watched a snow-splattered Troy Polamalu make a seemingly impossible, one-handed scoop interception on a mushy field against Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers last season. That doesn't mean they believed it.
"Impossible," linebacker James Farrior said.
Not one quarter into the first NFL game of this season, Polamalu made a climb-the-ladder, one-handed interception of a pass by Titans quarterback Kerry Collins that the Steelers believe was comparable to last season's snowball grab.
"He's one of the all-time greatest safeties," safety Ryan Clark said Wednesday. "He's awesome. There's no other way to say it, he's the best safety in the NFL, point blank, period."
Which raises this question: Does Polamalu and all of his game-altering plays make the Steelers the best team in the league? With Polamalu in the lineup, the Steelers are 4-0 this season and 13-1 in their last 14 games, counting the postseason.
For all the attention the unbeaten Colts (8-0) and Saints (8-0) are getting, it almost seems as if the Super Bowl champion Steelers are being overlooked because of two last-minute losses that Polamalu missed with a left knee injury.
With Polamalu back, the Steelers (6-2) will carry a five-game winning streak into Sunday's pivotal AFC North game against the Bengals (6-2). Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, Polamalu's one-time roommate at Southern Cal, already knows what he's getting into.
"Love watching him play," Palmer said. "Hate playing against him."
Statistics don't always quantify what Polamalu means to the Steelers — he was chosen for the Pro Bowl in 2007 without making a single interception all season — but they do illustrate how he might be having the best season of his seven-year career.
Because of his knee injury, Polamalu has played in only 3½ games, yet he is tied for fourth in the AFC with three interceptions and tied for seventh with 10 passes defended.
Polamalu, a Pro Bowl player each of the last five seasons, showed again Monday in Denver how a dynamic defensive player — and not just a quarterback, running back or wide receiver — can alter a game. And why his "43" jerseys are nearly as ubiquitous in Pittsburgh as Terry Bradshaw's "12" once was.
With the Steelers leading the Broncos (6-2) by 14-10 early in the fourth quarter, Polamalu jammed the line of scrimmage before bursting up the middle to drop Correll Buckhalter for no gain at the 9. One play later, Polamalu dropped into deep coverage to intercept a Kyle Orton pass intended for Brandon Marshall, and the Steelers scored three plays later.
"He didn't just take over the series, he took over the game," Farrior said. "He can do that at any point."
Against the Broncos, Polamalu once lined up outside the left tackle, only to streak across the field to tackle a wide receiver in the flat.
"That's what Troy does," Farrior said. "It looks like chaos, but he's definitely under control and has an idea what he wants to do. Sometimes things change during the play and he'll go do it, he'll take over. He's not afraid to take those chances and that's what separates him from other players."
Polamalu, told what his teammates were saying, almost seemed embarrassed. He also refuses to compare himself to the other top safeties, such as Baltimore's Ed Reed.
"I don't know," Polamalu said. "I'm just doing the things I'm coached to do. I'm just one of 11 guys out there."
To the Steelers, he's one of a kind. Quarterbacks rarely seem to target him, yet he has made an interception in all but one game this season.
"You've got guys who are irreplaceable, and then you've got Troy," nose tackle Casey Hampton said. "There's no other Troy — not just on this team, but in the league. He's the difference."
What Farrior disputes is that Polamalu is a freelancer, someone who doesn't hesitate to abandon the defense that's been called to gamble.
"I think he watches more tape than anybody else," Farrior said. "Whenever he's out there taking chances, calculated risks, it might have been something he saw on tape a few weeks before. There might have been a game a couple of years before where he read something, saw something, so that he's not afraid to go and pull the trigger."
To Clark, Polamalu is more patient and less improvisational than he was a few seasons ago. He's also better.
"So much is written about him doing his own thing," Clark said. "I think he's improved on not doing that. ... Some guys in this league, you can make a mistake with them. You can't do that with Troy. He capitalizes on those and makes big plays. That's how he can take over a game."
-- Alan Robinson
Bengals' young CBs Joseph, Hall form solid tandem
CINCINNATI — When Joe Flacco threw deep down the left side, Leon Hall was there to intercept. When the Ravens quarterback tried to go deep again, Johnathan Joseph picked it off.
Nice symmetry.
The Cincinnati Bengals' first-round draft picks have grown into one of the better cornerback tandems in the NFL, one reason why the defense is on the rise. Each of them has four interceptions, leaving them tied for fifth place in the league.
Much of the focus will be on them Sunday when they cover Pittsburgh receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes during a showdown for first place in the AFC North — both teams are 6-2.
"They're definitely becoming a great tandem, especially in the AFC North as far as the two corners that Santonio and I face," Ward said Wednesday on a conference call. "Both of those guys were first rounders, and they're starting to play up to their potential."
They're playing the way the Bengals envisioned when they made Joseph their first pick (24th overall) in 2006 and followed that by making Hall their top pick (18th overall) a year later. Cincinnati hoped they would grow into bookend pass defenders.
Before they did that, they had to grow into close friends.
Given their draft stature and the high expectations, the two of them have developed a bond in their short time together. They were side by side as they walked off the practice field on Wednesday, and that's not unusual.
"I do notice," defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said, as the cornerbacks walked past him. "I see a lot of Leon rubbing off on Johnathan and vice versa in other ways. They sit next to each other in meetings. Johnathan has become more physical, like Leon has. I think they're a good pair of guys."
Their lockers are next to each other in the football-shaped dressing room, providing plenty of opportunities to make small chat and keep up on things. Their closeness has helped both of them grow.
"I think probably the biggest thing — which really goes side by side with how we go off the field — is that we're just real good friends," Hall said. "So we communicate better on the field. We try to compete against each other out there, and that helps a lot.
"We get along well easily, so it's not something we had to force. It just naturally happened."
Both had to go through some tough times to get to this point.
Joseph moved into the starting lineup as a rookie, but had a tendency to drop potential interceptions. A foot injury limited him in his second year, and ankle and foot injuries cut his 2008 season in half. Hall has played in every game during his two seasons, going through the usual growing pains for an NFL cornerback.
Quarterback Carson Palmer has watched them develop during practices.
"I don't know of a better tandem," Palmer said. "The two guys in Green Bay (Charles Woodson and Al Harris) are really good, but I don't think I would take either of those guys over our guys.
"Our guys are young, fast and physical, and they both have been working on their hands to make big plays. Johnathan Joseph was always getting his hands on the ball, but he worked hard in the offseason and he is converting tipped balls and interceptions."
The cornerbacks also have been very helpful in defending the run. Cincinnati's defense ranks second in the league at stopping the run, right behind Pittsburgh. Joseph is third on the team in tackles, and Hall is tied for fifth.
Coach Marvin Lewis likes the way they've been able to take advantage of their one-on-one matchups consistently.
"They are playing both fundamentally sound and smart, and I put a big capital on 'smart,'" Lewis said. "That's key to playing cornerback in this league. Both guys have tremendous athleticism, speed and ability to play the ball in the air. What gets you in trouble at that position is when you try to do too much."
-- Joe Kay
Ravens' Hauschka gets kicked around after misfires
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — It didn't take long for Steve Hauschka to fully comprehend the delicate job security of an NFL placekicker.
After Hauschka misfired on an important field goal attempt Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens brought in two kickers for tryouts. Mike Nugent and Billy Cundiff were given a look Tuesday, but neither walked away with a contract.
The Ravens remain hopeful that Hauschka will correct his flaws and prove he's the right man for the job.
"We're not ready to say we don't think he's going to be a good kicker in the NFL," coach John Harbaugh said.
As a rookie last year, Hauschka handled the kickoffs as the backup to 40-year-old Matt Stover. Tired of having two kickers on the roster, the Ravens opted against inviting Stover to training camp this summer, and Hauschka won the job over Graham Gano.
Hauschka is 8 for 11 in field goal tries, but his misses include a potential game-winning 44-yarder against Minnesota and 38-yarder Sunday in Cincinnati that would have gotten Baltimore within a touchdown with six minutes left.
Thus, the Ravens are apparently assembling a short list of potential replacements in case Hauschka continues to struggle with clutch kicks.
"I figured they probably would," Hauschka acknowledged Wednesday. "They're going to do what they have to do and I'm going to have to do my job — go out there and make kicks in a game."
During the week, the former North Carolina State star rarely misses.
"I'm very confident," he said. "I've been kicking the ball real well in practice; it's just a matter of transferring it to the game. That's the next development I have to make — kick the ball in the game with as much confidence."
Harbaugh blamed Hauschka's misses on bad technique, saying, "If you look at those two swings, those are both poor swings."
To which Hauschka replied: "Sometimes you don't hit the ball as well as you'd like."
After kicking for three years at Division III Middlebury College, Hauschka was outstanding during his lone season at NC State, going 16 for 18 on field goal tries and 25 for 25 on conversions. He's already botched more kicks with Baltimore in eight games than during his year with the Wolfpack.
"I've missed kicks before, but not that many. This is probably the first time I've gone through something like this," he said. "In college, I had a streak where I hit 20 in a row. I'm sort of used to getting on a good roll like that. So it's been tough for me to miss a few kicks. I'm looking to start a new streak and get the confidence going."
Hauschka remains hopeful, and believes his teammates feel the same way.
"Guys are backing me up. A lot of veterans are still supporting me," he said. "The organization wants me to be the guy, and I want to be the guy, too. It's a little painful at times to miss kicks and let the team down and to let the fans down, but my job is to go out there and make the next kick."
-- David Ginsburg
Quinn back in saddle for Browns
BEREA, Ohio — Brady Quinn and the Cleveland Browns are right back where they started.
Benched by coach Eric Mangini just 2 1/2 games and 69 pass attempts into the season, Quinn will start Monday night's game against the Baltimore Ravens, the team he was facing on Sept. 27 when the former Notre Dame star was yanked at halftime.
Quinn's got his second chance. Now he must make the most of it.
"I'm excited to play," he said. "I'm excited to be part of Monday night."
Quinn never worried about getting another opportunity. He was confident it would come. Patience is the one thing he has mastered during his short pro career.
"That's kind of how I've learned to live life, at least in the NFL," he said.
Mangini's decision to switch back from Derek Anderson to Quinn wasn't met with overwhelming support in Cleveland's locker room. Several Browns players interviewed on Wednesday said they were unaware of Quinn's return to the top of the depth chart.
With his team at 1-7 and showing little progress amid growing speculation about his future, Mangini may as well give Quinn another look to see if he can get things going. Quinn can't do any worse than Anderson, who was a disaster in five starts.
Anderson posted the NFL's lowest passer rating (36.2) and was unable to crank up Cleveland's offense, which to this point has been outscored by the New Orleans defense. Mangini said it wasn't all Anderson's fault, but there was no way the Browns could continue in reverse.
"In fairness to Derek, there were a lot of things that played a part in this," Mangini said. "Were there throws that he missed? There were some of those and reads that could have been better. But I really like Derek. And I really like the way he handled himself.
"I don't think by any means this is some sort of final statement on who he is. I think it is an opportunity to continue to grow and I'm sure he will."
Anderson politely declined an interview request before practice.
Quinn was hoping that his 10 quarters as a starter would not define his 2009 season. Since being drafted by Cleveland in the first round two years ago, Quinn has had to sit and wait for his chance to take over the Browns, the team he has loved since he was a boy.
But after beating out Anderson in training camp, Quinn's first season as a starter was abruptly interrupted in Week 3. He was given the hook by Mangini once, so is he worried about it happening again?
"No," he said. "I mean, why should I be concerned? I've been through it before and I understand the adversity that comes with that. It's not something I'm scared of."
He's not saying so, but Quinn may be a little nervous about the Ravens (4-4), who are coming off a 17-7 loss to Cincinnati and have dropped four of five after a 3-0 start. Baltimore can't afford to lose more ground in the AFC North and Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and the rest of the Ravens' attacking defense will be out to make life impossible for Quinn.
"They're always angry," Quinn said with a laugh, "at least when I watch them on film. They're a solid defense. We're expecting the same on Monday night."
Mangini said he'd like to stick with Quinn for the remainder of the season. Mangini has seen positive development in Quinn, who never lost confidence and worked hard in the weeks he was behind Anderson.
"I think his overall control of the offense has gotten better," Mangini said. "I think especially over the last two to three weeks he's been very efficient as a passer and I've liked the things he's done. There are a lot of tools in this offense that are available and I'm looking forward to him using those."
It's not clear what "tools" Mangini was referring to on an offense ranked 30th in scoring, 31st in total yards and 32nd in passing yards. Since Quinn's last start, the Browns traded star wide receiver Braylon Edwards, leaving rookies Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie as the club's primary targets.
Quinn didn't go into details about his relationship with first-year offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. Despite denials, there have been rumblings that the two have not gotten along. Quinn was asked if he and Daboll had a heart-to-heart to patch up any differences.
"Can you rephrase what heart-to-heart is?" Quinn joked. "We've talked. The past is the past."
Quinn's benching may have been a costly one. If he had played in 70 percent of Cleveland's offensive snaps, escalators in his contract would have earned him nearly $11 million this season. That's a near mathematical impossibility now, but Quinn is more concerned about adding a win to Cleveland's paltry total.
"The season's only halfway over," he said. "We're going to do our best to try to fix things and move forward."
-- Tom Withers
Jets rookie QB Sanchez ready for season's 2nd half
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Mark Sanchez balanced his duties last week as the scout team quarterback for his old high school and the starter for the New York Jets.
That meant 16-year-old receivers running the same routes Jets players did in recent games.
Sanchez spent his bye-week break watching video of the first half of his rookie season. When he'd see an errant throw, a missed read, poor footwork, he wanted to run out onto the field and redo the play — and get it right this time.
"Man, I know that read," Sanchez would think. "I know how to take a seven-step drop, reset, look at my first progression, look at the second progression, and just drill it down the middle of the field. I can do that."
So he enlisted some kids from his alma mater, Mission Viejo High in southern California, to help. Sanchez returned the favor by impersonating San Clemente High quarterback Chase Rettig, who has committed to Boston College, at the Diablos' practice.
He must have done a good job — Mission Viejo beat San Clemente 55-7 on Friday.
Everything Sanchez touched seemed to turn to victory earlier this NFL season, when his career with the Jets got off to a 3-0 start. But now they're 4-4 at the midway point, a skid that includes Sanchez's three-interception game at New Orleans and five-INT day against Buffalo.
Sanchez celebrated his 23rd birthday Wednesday, which depending on how you look at it is a symbol of how young he is — or how quickly he can mature.
"Don't we wish we can all go back to being 23?" coach Rex Ryan joked. "Golly, he's a young dude. What were we thinking drafting him that high?"
What they were thinking, of course, was this was a young quarterback capable of starting in the NFL.
"It's funny, he's got such a huge responsibility, you forget that this guy is 23 years old," Ryan said. "It's pretty amazing."
As right tackle Damien Woody said, "He's not doing bad for himself right now."
"He has everything in front of him — that's the exciting part," Woody said. "The guy's only going to get better. As long as he continues to keep working at it, keep those same work habits that got him to this point, just continue to improve, then he's going to be a heck of a football player."
Sanchez has done a far better job "managing the game," as Ryan put it, in his last two outings. Then again, it's also the time of year to start fielding questions about the dreaded rookie wall, and whether he'll crash into it.
"This is about that time," Sanchez conceded. "It's important to not shy away from it or hide from it or not talk about it, but what ways can you avoid it?"
That means continuing to lift weights and run during practice. But he has stopped throwing passes during pregame warmups to rest his arm, a trick suggested by backup Kevin O'Connell, who picked it up from Tom Brady while with the Patriots.
November also means questions about how this southern California kid — and University of Southern California alum — will fare in the cold of the Northeast. On a chilly, windy day, Sanchez was one of the few Jets practicing in short sleeves Wednesday.
With temperatures in the low 50s, it wasn't exactly preparation for a January snowstorm. But as Sanchez said with a laugh, "It's cold for me." And it'd be cold to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who visit the Jets on Sunday.
"It's just something you've got to start to embrace and understand we need to use it to our advantage," Sanchez said, "especially when we get teams from Florida or warm-weather teams coming in."
And he knows he needs to increase his completion percentage even as the winds pick up and hands get colder. Sanchez ranks 30th in the league at 53.3 percent. He believes 60 percent is realistic for a rookie — with hopes of eventually reaching 70 percent.
The intangible quarterback stuff Sanchez already seems to have down. Trust in the huddle is built in the summer, he said, during casual chats with teammates between workouts.
"Talking to them about where they're from, where they went to college, how many brothers and sisters they have," Sanchez said. "Not just to make conversation but to kind of find out, learn about these guys, know what they're all about. Who's got kids, how old are they."
Sanchez has "done everything right," Ryan said. Then the coach paused, remembering the moment Oct. 25 in Oakland when television cameras caught the rookie trying to discreetly put mustard on a frankfurter and eat it late in a 38-0 win.
"With the exception of the hot dog," Ryan quickly added. "He's done ALMOST everything right."
-- Rachel Cohen
Denver Broncos' low-risk offense stuck in low gear
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Kyle Orton showed up at Dove Valley clean-shaven, his splotchy beard and mangy mustache having swirled down the drain much like the Denver Broncos' offense the last two weeks.
He didn't go with the clean look just to finally comply with his wife's wishes, either.
"No, lost two games in a row," the superstitious quarterback explained Wednesday. "Might as well change something up."
Orton and the Broncos (6-2) need to change a lot more than just his ragged appearance if they're going to bounce back from back-to-back blowout losses to Baltimore and Pittsburgh in which the offense reached the end zone just once.
"Well, we've got to score points," Orton said. "So, we're moving on from the last couple of weeks. We've got plenty of areas to improve on."
Since starting off 6-0 before their bye, the Broncos have seen their low-risk offense stuck in low gear, their ground game screech to a halt and Orton return from outstanding to ordinary.
With defenders who are unconcerned about a vertical passing game clogging the intermediate lanes, the Broncos' dink-and-dunk offense has been exploited. It sure doesn't figure to get any easier Sunday at Washington, where the Redskins (2-6) sport the league's top-ranked pass defense.
Also, the Broncos' leading receiver, Brandon Marshall, is dealing with a bad back that kept him out of practice Wednesday.
One way or another, Orton said the Broncos have to "find some ways to make some bigger plays."
"It's tough to always rely on eight-, 10-play drives to score points. So, it would be great to find ways to score on three- or four-play drives," he said.
Some deep passes might do the trick.
"Yeah, you've got to take shots (but) you don't want to force the ball," Orton said. "We're not looking to force the ball. We've got plenty of weapons. We've got plenty of ways to move the ball down the field to not have to force things. But certainly when they're there, we'd like to be able to take them."
The deep ball has been nonexistent in Denver's offense all season.
"Everybody wants to say, 'Throw the ball 50 yards downfield.' Well, that's all great, you can say that, but there's a lot of things that go into that: coverage, you've got to have time to throw it downfield, you've got to have the run hopefully to set up the coverage that you want to throw it against," Orton said. "We had a couple called, we didn't get the looks that we wanted and we didn't throw them."
And coach Josh McDaniels isn't going to call long pass plays just to get the scuffling offense a confidence boost.
"If you need that and if you're looking for that, you're in trouble. Because those plays are few and far between a lot of times in this league and if you're sitting there trying to play offense hoping for one big play, you're going to have a long day," McDaniels said. "You'd better be able to execute against good defenses. These teams know what they want to try to take away and when they try to take those things away and you try to force the ball in spots, you could end up turning it over four, five, six times in a game."
The Ravens and Steelers sport two of the best defenses in the NFL, so some of the Broncos' troubles can be attributed to a very difficult schedule as much as to opponents finally catching up to them.
Orton figures the Broncos themselves have had as much to do with their stumbles as Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu have.
"You've got to look at what they've done to us and also we've got to look at what we've done to ourselves," Orton said. "We've played two good teams, two good defenses, and I think they've done some good things against us. But really, the most important thing for us is to look at the things that we've done to ourselves and try to correct those as fast as possible."
Penalties, wrong reads, poor routes, bad blocking.
Orton said one way to jump-start the passing game is to get the ground game going again. The Broncos have managed just 93 yards on 33 carries since their bye week, and if you take out an 11-yard scamper by Orton, the running backs are averaging just 2.5 yards a carry.
Correll Buckhalter and rookie Knowshon Moreno combined to gain just 27 yards on 14 carries in Denver's 28-10 loss to Pittsburgh on Monday night.
The Broncos' run game should get a boost this week with the return of fullback Peyton Hillis, who sat out Monday following the death of his grandmother.
"It's tough listening to the game on the radio," he said.
-- Arnie Stapleton
Heyward-Bey remains confident despite struggles
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Darrius Heyward-Bey has done nothing in the first half of his rookie season to quiet the critics who questioned why the Oakland Raiders drafted him seventh overall ahead of many more accomplished receivers.
Brought in for his breakaway speed that Oakland hoped would revive the vertical passing game, Heyward-Bey has only five catches for 74 yards and no touchdowns in his first eight games as a pro.
"I haven't made the plays I wanted to make, but I've definitely been solid just looking at my grades that come out of the game. ... I've been very solid. There's always room for improvement as a whole receiving corps. We've been all right. We've been all right."
Oakland's receivers have once again been one of the worst groups in the league, catching just 28 passes the entire first half of the season.
But coach Tom Cable last week singled out Heyward-Bey's performance in the previous two games as one of the highlights of the first half. Heyward-Bey had three catches for 38 yards in those two games, hardly the production expected out of a top 10 pick but better than what he had done in the first six games.
The Raiders drafted him ahead of receivers like Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin in part because he was the fastest player at the NFL combine. The pick was roundly criticized but the Raiders defended it, saying that Heyward-Bey's experience in a pro-style offense at Maryland would make for an easier adjustment to the NFL.
But that has not been the case as Heyward-Bey has failed to develop a chemistry with quarterback JaMarcus Russell and failed to match the numbers put up so far by Crabtree and Maclin.
Maclin has caught 25 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns for Philadelphia, while Crabtree has 14 catches for 167 yards despite missing five games in a contract holdout.
Heyward-Bey just has the five, including none on passes that have gone more than 21 yards in the air — what was expected to be his specialty. Heyward-Bey said he didn't have any specific numbers as his goals this season.
"I didn't come in thinking any crazy numbers or anything," Heyward-Bey said. "I just want to help this team win. We've only won two so I'm not helping."
The Raiders have started a pair of rookies at receiver all season, with fourth-round pick Louis Murphy lining up opposite Heyward-Bey. While Murphy has better production that his rookie teammate with 16 catches for 232 yards and a touchdown, he has dropped six passes and has let mistakes linger and bring his entire performance down.
Murphy said the bye week came at a perfect time as he works on his adjustment to the NFL and expects a strong second half starting with Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
"It's like being on a merry-go-round and it's spinning real fast, you've got to hang on," he said. "So it's starting to slow down, starting to get adjusted, starting to get my game, playing together, and just my preparation for the game, settling and getting adjusted to the NFL."
The rookie receivers will get a boost this week with the return of Chaz Schilens from a broken foot that has sidelined him since training camp.
Schilens struggled for much of his rookie season a year ago before breaking through with six catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns in his final two games. Schilens had just nine catches and no scores his first 14 games and hopes to see similar improvement late this season from Oakland's rookies.
"They're both confident guys," Schilens said. "They've been out there for eight games now and I feel like they're making improvements, now it's all about making plays and continually growing. It's not accepting what you did last week as being good enough, making plays, being assignment smart, all that stuff. And they're doing it. They're working on it."
NOTES: DE Greg Ellis did not practice while recovering from minor operations on his knee and shoulder. He still could play this week if he can return to practice by Friday. ... Cable has not decided on his starters at WR or RB for this week.
-- Josh Dubow
