Denver group wants Williams

A group that led a campaign to legalize marijuana possession in Denver is posting a billboard advertisement encouraging suspended running back Ricky Williams and the Broncos to get together.

Williams applied for NFL reinstatement this week, his agent said. Williams has played in only 12 NFL games since the start of the 2004 season, but rushed for 3,225 yards in 2002-03. His current suspension began in April 2006 after he violated the league’s drug policy for the fourth time. He tested positive for marijuana this April, again delaying his return.

Williams remains under contract with Miami, where he won the NFL rushing title in 2002. But Coach Cam Cameron has not indicated whether he wants Williams to stay with the Dolphins, who fell to 0-4 Sunday.

The billboard, across the street from Invesco Field, where the Broncos play, will be unveiled today and will stay up for a month. At a cost of $3,000, it features a player with dreadlocks in a blue and orange jersey and reads, “Ricky, come to Denver. . . Where the people support your SAFER choice.”

In 2005, Denver residents passed an initiative removing all penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults. The campaign was run on the message that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Police have continued prosecuting people under state law, however. Federal law also prohibits possession.

“Ricky Williams would feel right at home here,” said Mason Tvert of the group Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation.

The Minnesota Vikings are 1-3 and their fans are discouraged, but owner Zygi Wilf reiterated his support for Coach Brad Childress.

“We just feel very comfortable with Coach Childress and with his philosophy, and we’re behind him 100%,” Wilf said.

After starting his first season 4-2, Childress has lost 11 of 14 games in charge of the Vikings.

New York Jets linebacker Cody Spencer was put on the reserve-non-football illness list, ending his season.

Spencer, in his fourth NFL season and second with New York, played in the opener against New England but was inactive the last three weeks.

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and nose tackle Casey Hampton, forced out of the Arizona game because of injuries, are expected to play Sunday against Seattle.

The Steelers aren’t as certain about four-time Pro Bowl receiver Hines Ward, who missed only his fourth game in 10 seasons Sunday because of a sprained knee. He will begin the practice work week today listed as day to day.

Michael Vick was attentive and inquisitive during an eight-hour class in empathy and animal protection at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals headquarters in Norfolk, Va., according to PETA spokesman Dan Shannon. Vick was the only student for the Sept. 18 class, Shannon said.

Shannon said Vick told him “he wished he had gotten to take a course like this five years ago.”