PRO FOOTBALL / WEEK 13 : Broncos, Tough at Home, Face Rams, Best on Road, in Denver

The Broncos have taken to the road this season kicking and screaming, hands clinging desperately to the green, green grass of home.

Hey, these Bronco boots weren’t made for walking, especially on foreign soil that isn’t even soil. If Bronco officials haven’t already deleted the words artificial and surface from their lexicon, it’s only because they’ve been too busy tearing up local miniature golf courses.

The Broncos, proud American Football Conference champions that they are, have become a team afraid to leave the house these days, especially if it means traveling to a land of domed roofs and synthetic carpets.

This is serious stuff. Denver has lost 11 consecutive games on artificial turf, and we’re not talking last-second field goals here. In their last three road losses--to Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and New Orleans--the Broncos have been outscored, 136-44.

Their latest outing was a 42-0 loss to New Orleans in the Superdome. And the Broncos, you’ll remember, have been to the last two Super Bowls.

“I guess there can be something made out of it,” Denver Coach Dan Reeves said. “Because certainly when you lose as many as we’ve lost on the turf, there has to be some reason.”

The fact that the Broncos are home today to play host to the Rams at Mile High Stadium--where grass grows when you pour water on it!--is more than just comforting. It’s almost a godsend.

Denver has the NFL’s best home record (46-13) since 1981 and is 12-2 against the NFC at Mile High Stadium.

Across state lines, though, they’re anyone’s patsies.

Ram Coach John Robinson said he doesn’t think artificial turf has anything to do with Denver’s problems.

“If you just looked at Denver objectively, you’d think those things--speed and quickness--are things that would be enhanced by artificial turf,” he said.

So what gives?

“I think teams that garner a home-field advantage, that feel very secure at home, may look with more apprehension about going on the road,” he said. “Whereas teams like us are anxious to get back on the road.”

Get the subtle hint, Anaheim? Denver’s bane--the road--is the Rams’ sanctuary. The Rams are 5-1 away from home and just 2-4 at Anaheim Stadium. Where the Broncos consider their fans the 12th man on the field, the Rams see theirs as basically out to brunch.

The theory is that the Rams don’t get excited until they walk into an opponent’s temple of doom, where more often a football game is considered more than just a stop between shopping expeditions.

It makes for an intriguing matchup between a team that has to be dragged out the front door of its own town and one that can’t wait to pack the suitcases.

Also, there is a desperation factor that can’t be overlooked. The Rams, who just 3 weeks ago were 7-2 and riding atop the NFC West, find themselves embedded in a 3-game losing skid and perilously close of dropping out of playoff sight.

“There won’t be anyone yawning,” said Robinson, emphasizing the importance of today’s game.

Then there are the Broncos, just about the strangest team going, this side of the nation’s capital. So what about John Elway, the all-world quarterback who’s suddenly sandwiched between Chris Chandler and Kelly Stouffer at the bottom of the AFC ratings chart?

Elway has thrown more interceptions, 14, than touchdown passes, 11, this season.

Robinson, though, knows better than to delve into the problems of somebody else’s superstar. “Analyzing another guy is not a wise thing to do before the game,” he said. “Nor am I that competent. We’re talking about a big-time quarterback.”

If Reeves could put his finger on the problem, he might end up putting his fist through it. At the start of the season, he thought his team might be even hungrier coming off successive Super Bowl losses.

“It’s been a hard team to read,” he said. “I really felt like that would be the case. I haven’t seen that burning desire that I’ve seen the last couple of years. Maybe it’s because of the success we’ve had the last couple of years.”

If owner Pat Bowlen is even thinking about a wholesale house-cleaning--and he’s been asked about it lately--it might have to wait until after the AFC West title-clinching victory party.

Welcome to agony and ecstasy. As former Ram guard Dennis Harrah once said about his team in 1985: “We’re in first place and we stink.”

The Broncos, at 6-6, stink. But they have a more realistic shot at the division title than the 7-5 Rams in the NFC West.

“It’s the only thing you’ve got that gives you solace at all,” Reeves said. “Because it’s been a miserable year. I’ve told our team it’s a 4-game season and we’re still the AFC champions, nobody’s taken it away from you.”

Not yet, at least.

Ram Notes

Veteran tailback Tony Dorsett, considered by some the missing piece to a Super Bowl puzzle in Denver, hasn’t exactly taken the town by storm. He has gained just 578 yards this season with a 3.7-yard average. “He’s done all we’ve asked of him,” Coach Dan Reeves said. “He’s played well. We’ve been taken out of our running game a lot of games because of the score.” . . . Quarterback Jim Everett’s 23 touchdown passes tie him for the league lead with Cincinnati’s Boomer Esiason. . . . The Rams’ Monday night game against the Chicago Bears at Anaheim Stadium Dec. 5 is a sellout.