PRO FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT

CIRCLE THE WAGONS

Wait till next month.

That was the refrain from the dispirited Denver Broncos’ locker room after a 41-6 loss Sunday to the Green Bay Packers.

“We didn’t play our type of football,” tight end Shannon Sharpe said. “Today, they were a better team. But are they 41-6 better than we are? No, I don’t think so.”

Sharpe said this game won’t mean a thing if the teams meet again on Jan. 26 in the Super Bowl.

“How would I feel? I would feel good,” Sharpe said. “We’d play a lot better, mainly because of what would be at stake.”

The Broncos had already secured home-field advantage in the AFC, so Denver Coach Mike Shanahan rested quarterback John Elway, still hindered by a strained left hamstring.

Sharpe said the Broncos clearly missed Elway.

“But who’s to say that if we have John that we win?” he asked. “We’ve got to find a way to play better when he’s not in the game.”

Perhaps there was some good in the defeat.

“I think this will wake us up, because we’ve been playing well for eight, nine, 10 weeks,” said cornerback Lionel Washington. “And we lost today because we didn’t play well, no matter who was out there.”

Elway said he wasn’t sure if he’d be back next week against Oakland, but Sharpe said the rest of the Broncos can’t worry about that.

“There ain’t no guarantees,” Sharpe said. “You know, John might get nicked up or the hamstring might act up in the playoffs.”

All the Broncos can do now, Sharpe said, is “look at what we did wrong, which is a lot, and look at what we did right, which is very little.”

AHEAD OF HIS TIME

A moment of silence in memory of Pete Rozelle was observed at all 14 NFL games Sunday.

“All of us will long remember his creative leadership of the league, and his interest in and service to NFL fans,” said Rabbi Raphael Tenenhaus, who briefly eulogized Rozelle in the invocation prior to the New York Giant-Miami game.

Fox Television began its game with a short tribute to Rozelle, using a montage of photographs, beginning from the time he was elected commissioner at age 33 to his teary retirement.

ESPN signed off its NFL highlights show with a tribute to Rozelle.

And the network’s Joe Theismann said during the Sunday night Vikings-Lions game:

“We probably wouldn’t be sitting here today were it not for Pete Rozelle and his vision.”

HEY, THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN EVERY DAY

In Sunday’s game against Miami, New York Giant rookie defensive back Conrad Hamilton was so happy after his first career interception, he threw the ball in the air.

Teammate Phillippi Sparks retrieved it and gave it back to Hamilton.

“He brought it to me,” Hamilton said, “And he told me, ‘You’ve got to keep it. That was off Dan Marino.’ ”

AND BOB DOLE HAD A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

After gaining a season-high 115 yards in 19 carries against St. Louis, Chicago’s Rashaan Salaam got carried away when discussing what might have been had so many Bears not gotten injured.

“If our whole team would have stayed healthy like last year, I think we would have been easily 13-1 right now.”

Last year at this point, the healthy Bears were 7-7 before finishing 9-7.

I GUESS JOE PISARCIK WAS UNAVAILABLE

Giant quarterback Dave Brown aggravated a left shoulder injury but did not miss any playing time against Miami. “I really thought he was out, but he came up and said he was ready to go back in,” Coach Dan Reeves said.

Let’s see, Brown is the 34th-ranked quarterback in the NFL. His passing skills have made Garo Yepremian look like Joe Montana. Sure, he had a good game Sunday, but over the last couple of seasons Brown has shown his real value. Zero. Would it have killed you to look at another quarterback? Maybe bring someone in from the stands?

DOCTOR, DOCTOR, GIVE ME THE NEWS

Chicago linebacker Vinson Smith severely sprained his right ankle against St. Louis. . . . Baltimore offensive lineman Herman Arvie was carried off the field in the closing minute after injuring his right shoulder and neck against Cincinnati.

LISTEN, I HEAR CRICKETS

Benny LaBrayere and M.J. Duffey had a rare commodity at the Louisiana Superdome on Sunday--loyalty.

The longtime season ticket holders were at the Atlanta-New Orleans game, among the few fans of any kind in the tiny crowd, and the extremely rare season ticket holders still coming to games.

“We got our tickets the first season and we’ve been coming ever since,” LaBrayere said. “We have a lot of experience in cheering for losers.”

A week after the Saints drew 26,310--the smallest crowd in the 30-year history of the franchise--another minuscule crowd of 32,923 turned out to watch a pair of 2-11 teams.

“Used to be I’d make a lot of money on game days, now you drive past the Superdome and it’s like nothing is going on in there,” said United Cab driver Gene Gilliam.

One scalper had seats available on the first tier of the Superdome. Their face value: $45.

“I’d like $35,” he said. “How about $30? I might go $25 in a little while.”

Harold Johnson said he could not even give away his six tickets.

“I probably won’t go in,” Johnson said before the game. “I tried to give the tickets to friends and couldn’t find any takers. So I thought if I could sell them for like maybe half price I would. If I can’t do that, I’ll just leave them lying out here and hope someone finds them and uses them.”

LOOK IN THE STANDS! IT’S ILLEGAL USE OF HANDS!

Ruben Guzman loves the San Francisco 49ers and loves his fiancee, Jennifer Leister.

It seemed only natural to combine the two.

Guzman married Leister during halftime of the 49ers’ game against Carolina.

End zone seats.

About a dozen rows up.

A wedding party of nine, including a 49er-loving minister, took part in the ceremony, then sat down and enjoyed the second half.

Guzman’s license plates read “1ST TO5.” In 49er language, that means San Francisco was the first team to win five Super Bowls.

Leister is being more than just a good sport. It was her idea to wed during the game, she said.

“It’s turning out to be a big game,” Guzman said before the game started. “Because it’s going to decide who’s going to lead the division.”

Hopefully, the marriage will end better than the game did for the 49ers.

--Compiled by HOUSTON MITCHELL

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NOTEWORTHY

--Looking for a reason for the Redskins’ recent skid? Look at their rushing:

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Timeframe Att Yds Avg TD Yd/G W-L First 10 games 316 1,427 4.5 22 142.7 7-3 Last four 88 246 2.8 0 61.5 1-3

*--*

--New England’s Curtis Martin became only the 15th player in NFL history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in his first two seasons.

--Henry Ellard’s three-yard touchdown reception for Washington late in the fourth quarter against Tampa Bay was the 765th catch of his 14-year career, moving him ahead of James Lofton into fourth place on the list. He trails only Jerry Rice, Art Monk and Steve Largent.

--Longest current playoff droughts:

Team:Last Playoff Year

Arizona: 1982

Tampa Bay: 1982

Seattle: 1988

St. Louis: 1989

Cincinnati: 1990