Knowing Bronco Plan Is One Thing, Stopping It Is Something Else

Cornerbacks LeRoy Irvin and Jerry Gray, those self-acclaimed gunslingers, the last of a dying breed of one-on-one specialists, took another set of slugs to the ego Sunday.

How bad has it become? Bad.

For starters, Irvin, never known as a homebody, is talking about becoming a social shut-in.

“When things are going good, you don’t mind going to the grocery store,” Irvin said. “But now that things are going bad, I’m going to send my wife to the grocery store. I’ll stay in the house until we get back on the winning track.”

Meanwhile, Gray must be wondering what happened to all that respect Pro Bowl players are supposedly accorded. The Denver Broncos treated Gray more like a rookie than royalty as they continually challenged him and his partner, Irvin, all afternoon at Mile High Stadium.

The whole experience left Gray mildly perplexed.

“It’s just the way it worked out,” he said, trying to explain the 35-24 loss. “They didn’t really do anything we hadn’t seen.”

That’s not entirely true. Irvin and Gray haven’t seen too many 21-point third quarters at their expense. But they saw one Sunday, and it was about as pretty as that four-game Ram losing streak.

Nor have they seen themselves miss tackles like the ones they missed against the Broncos. And they won’t soon forget the constant strain quarterback John Elway caused the Rams’ secondary with his scrambling routines.

“We contained him a lot,” Gray said.

Then he thought about what he had just said.

“But the times we didn’t, he made the plays.”

It was what the Rams feared most, of course: the Elway of old, the Elway that darts in and out of pass pockets and in and out of tacklers’ grasps. It is the same Elway that can bide time until one of his tiny Amigo receivers breaks loose for large gains. It is the Elway who looks nothing like the guy who had been the center of criticism here before Sunday’s game.

“John was fired up today,” said Bronco Coach Dan Reeves. “He wanted to win the football game. He made some big runs and key plays for us. We’re down to the part of the season where you can’t worry about him getting injured; you gotta go for it. John is just going for it.”

Irvin and Gray will vouch for that. They’ve got the bullet wounds to prove it.

“I know you didn’t come here to praise me,” Irvin said as reporters approached his locker. “You probably came here to bury me.”

As shootouts go, the two cornerbacks never even reached for their holsters. No time, what with Elway zipping passes past and over Ram defenders. And when he wasn’t collecting one of his 272 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air, he was running, so much so that the leading Bronco rusher was none other than Elway, who gained 42 yards and another touchdown.

The scores, which came in shocking bunches, turned a calm, slowly developing game into a Bronco touchdown-fest. What makes the whole thing harder for Irvin and Gray to stomach is that they were forewarned.

“We knew we could not give up the big play,” Irvin said. “That was the only way they could beat us. I mean, they couldn’t run the ball against us. If we would have just cut out the big plays, we would have had them under control. As it turns out, we didn’t.

“It’s so screwed up because you know what they like to do, you know what their game plan is.”

Scouting report lesson No. 1: Bronco wide receiver Mark Jackson is adept at adjusting pass pattern as Elway scrambles.

Tell it to Irvin, who lost track of his man on a 39-yard touchdown pass play early in the second quarter. It would be the first of three one-play scoring drives.

“As (Jackson) got up the field I started looking back to see if I could see Elway looking at me,” Irvin said. “I couldn’t see Elway and I kind of panicked. So when I turned around to look for Jackson, he was 5 yards behind me. I never should have taken my eyes off Jackson, but I did and that’s a cardinal sin.”

His penance was watching Jackson prance into the end zone.

Scouting report lesson No. 2: After all turnovers, or change of possession where favorable field position is involved, the Broncos will attempt to score quickly.

“We knew that,” Gray said.

So what happens? On first and 10 from the Ram 39-yard line, Elway finds Jackson. One play, one score.

On first and 10 from the Bronco 42, Elway finds Jackson on a 58-yard touchdown pass play. He breaks a Gray tackle on the way. One play, one score.

After Charles White fumbles away the ball at the Denver 46 midway through the third period, the Broncos take their time. On second and 3 at the Rams’ 7, Elway gave the ball to Tony Dorsett, who passed it to an open Sammy Winder. Caught in the middle of all this was Gray, who had to make a choice: cover Winder or let Dorsett run. He picked Dorsett.

“What do you do?” Gray said.

Attend to your wounds mostly.

Irvin said not to worry; he and Gray will ride again. They have to, they’re cornerbacks.

“I think Jerry and myself are two of the top cornerbacks in the league, although people have their doubts,” Irvin said. “We consider ourselves the last of the one-on-one gunslingers. We don’t mind playing man-to-man, or being out there on the island. We love it. What we got to realize is that sometimes we get shot down.”