Broncos on track for another Indy showdown
The elephant sitting in the middle of the Denver locker room — the subject everyone knows is there but very few want to deal with — is the undefeated Indianapolis Colts.
You know, the Colts? The team that has plastered Denver in the playoffs the last two years by a combined score of 90-34.
You know, Indianapolis? The city that coach Mike Shanahan said was imperative to avoid in the playoffs if Denver is ever going to get back to the Super Bowl.
There they are, two games ahead and showing no signs of slowing. Barring a drastic change, and if form holds, all signs point to another rematch with the Colts in Indy.
This time, though, it would be in the AFC title game instead of the first round of the playoffs.
“They’re undefeated. They’re in our conference. So, I guess you have to look at them,” Broncos running back Ron Dayne said. “But it’s not like we spend any time worrying about it. We’ve got to worry about our own stuff.”
That, by and large, is the company line among the Broncos. Predictably, they talk about taking them one at a time and worrying about next week, not the playoffs.
For the most part, that strategy has worked.
At 9-2, the Broncos have so far avoided the midseason slump, the likes of which have plagued the franchise the last few years. They have a two-game lead over San Diego and Kansas City in the AFC West, with a game at Kansas City coming Sunday.
Denver has positioned itself well to earn the division title, a home playoff game and a bye week. All would be monumental. The Broncos haven’t earned any of those since 1998, the year they won their second Super Bowl. That Super Bowl still stands as their last playoff win.
Despite all that promising news, the Broncos know if the season ended today, they would be a second seed and the Colts would be No. 1.
It would mean another week of preparing for Peyton Manning. On the turf. In Indy.
Sure, the Broncos have reason to believe they’ve improved over the last two years, when they gave up a combined 934 yards passing in a pair of embarrassments. The pass rush has improved with the addition of Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren — among others — and the return to health of Trevor Pryce. Rookie cornerbacks Darrent Williams and Domonique Foxworth have strengthened a position that got rocked in Indy last year despite the addition of Champ Bailey.
Jake Plummer is playing better. Mike Anderson, Tatum Bell and Ron Dayne are a formidable running back trio.
But, as their undefeated record plainly states, the Colts have clearly gotten better, too.
“You always look at how other teams are doing,” said cornerback Roc Alexander, beaten repeatedly in last year’s 49-24 loss. “I saw them on Monday night. They looked good. But you play week to week. If we play them again, we play them again.”
Could it be that the Broncos have simply picked the wrong year to get really good? Indianapolis is the first team to start 11-0 since — who else? — the 1998 Broncos, who went 13 games before their first setback.
The good news for the Broncos is that Indy does have a reasonably difficult schedule the rest of the way, with a home game against San Diego (7-4) sandwiched between trips to Jacksonville (8-3) and Seattle (9-2).
Denver’s remaining schedule is a bit easier, but far from a cakewalk because of this week’s game at Kansas City (7-4) and the season finale at San Diego.
And as they’ll tell anyone who asks, the Broncos are minding their own business, not looking ahead toward that train coming down the tunnel.
“If they end up undefeated, that’d be great for them, great for the league or whatever,” Broncos safety Nick Ferguson said. “At this point, I’ve got other things I need to focus on. At some point, maybe we’ll play them, and then I’ll focus on that.”