PRO FOOTBALL : Denver Coach’s Primary Concern Was Secondary as Injuries Mounted

Dennis Smith would have shrugged his shoulders, if he could. But Smith’s right shoulder was in no condition to shrug. The condition it was in made getting dressed a test of courage.

Smith is a member of the Denver Broncos’ defensive secondary. Sunday, that put him on the endangered species list.

Shortly after the Rams’ 20-16 victory over the Broncos in Anaheim Stadium, Smith emerged from the visitors’ training room, where the Denver defensive backs could have held their postgame meeting. He kept his right arm bent, holding the forearm close to his waist.

Smith was uncertain of the extent of his injury. “I just know it hurts,” he said.

Smith’s day on the field ended early in the fourth quarter when he dove to deflect a ball in the Denver end zone, a fraction of a second before it reached the hands of Ram receiver Henry Ellard. The play was made in what is transformed into the right side of a baseball infield, which doesn’t exactly make for a smooth landing.

What it made for was a separated shoulder, an injury that left Smith trying to put his socks on with one hand as he later sat in his locker-room cubicle. Smith’s plight symbolized that of his team’s. The Broncos were short-handed.

Five plays after Smith was helped to the sideline, Denver free safety Steve Foley--who had already intercepted two Dieter Brock passes--limped off with a bruised knee.

Suddenly, Denver Coach Dan Reeves was looking to borrow a nickel. Starting corner back Steve Wilson had left the game late in the third quarter with a bruised knee. Louis Wright was in uniform but was not fully recovered from a knee injury. Randy Robbins, who the Broncos like to use as a fifth defensive back, is on the injured reserve list with a broken arm. Reeves was left with four healthy defensive backs.

It’s no coincidence that, on the possession that followed the injuries to Smith and Foley, Brock completed 5 of 5 passes for 58 yards and, with the help of Charles White, led the Rams to the winning touchdown.

Foley was able to return for a few plays. The right knee he had at first feared was seriously injured was only bruised. But his return was not enough to keep the Rams out of the end zone when it mattered most.

“You play with what you have,” Foley said. “We lost three defensive backs and couldn’t go into the nickel. We still had to cover three wide receivers and a tight end. That makes it tough.”

Said Reeves, of the Broncos’ weakness in numbers: “We got a chance to protect the lead but it’s tough when you lose three defensive backs. That means you can’t go into the nickel formation.

“We finally got them into some third-down situations where you’d like to go to five defensive backs, but we only had four.”

Charlie West, who coaches the Broncos’ defensive backs, had to improvise a quick juggling act. The revamped Denver secondary, as outlined by West, looked something like this:

Mike Harden, the starting right cornerback, was playing at Smith’s strong safety spot. Roger Jackson, a reserve strong safety, was at the free safety spot normally occupied by Foley. Ken Woodward, who started at right outside linebacker, moved to Harden’s position at the right corner. Tony Lilly, a back-up free safety, was at the left cornerback spot in place of the injured Wilson.

Confused? So was West.

“We kind of made the best of a situation we didn’t particularly like,” he said.

“Regardless of what area of play you’re dealing with, anytime you lose front line people, it’s going to affect you. It started to limit us in terms of what we could do. It made us more restrictive in the calls we could make.”

Between them, Smith and Foley accounted for 259 tackles and 9 interceptions in 1984. They were sore by game’s end, and sorely missed.

“We went into the game a little thin at defensive back with Louis Wright hurt,” Denver linebacker Steve Busick said. “Dennis and Steve are really big parts of our defense. When they’re out, it hurts a little.”

Smith left the Denver locker room Sunday with his right arm in a sling. It hurt a lot.