| Shannon Sharpe played the dignified diplomat Monday.
The subject was Bill Roman- owski, the former Broncos linebacker turned Oakland Raider.
Sharpe and "Romo" have a relationship that makes the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union look warm and fuzzy. Yet when Sharpe was asked if he expected Romanowski to try to take out tender-shouldered Denver quarterback Jake Plummer when the teams meet Monday night, Sharpe practiced some restraint.
"He'll be his customary Bill Romanowski self," Sharpe said. "The thing is, and the thing you always admire, is that you know he will be ready to play. You know he will do everything during the course of the week to get himself in the best situation where he will be ready to play. It's just the extra stuff that, you know, people are kind of fed up with."
"Extra stuff" like Romanowski punching teammate Marcus Williams during practice this season. The blow broke the reserve tight end's left eye socket, sent him to a hospital and ended his season. Sharpe was highly critical of Romanowski's behavior.
"It's wrong, it's totally wrong," Sharpe said. "But for so long, people talk about Romo and they say, 'Oh, you want a tough guy like this. Or, you want a guy like this in your corner. Or, this is the guy you want to go to war with.' No, you don't.
"Because the guy is a distraction. It's ridiculous."
Or stuff like the play during the Raiders' 34-10 shellacking of the Broncos on "Monday Night Football" last season when Sharpe suffered a partially dislocated elbow on a deep pass Romanowski was covering. Sharpe, who missed three games, said at the time that he believed Romanowski tried to hurt him.
To which Romanowski fired back: "Well, Shannon's got a big mouth; that's what I think of that. If Shannon wants to cry about that, that's his deal."
For now, Sharpe appears to be letting last year's injury, and subsequent war of words, stay in the past.
"I haven't seen that play," Sharpe said. "Everybody tells me how bad it looked. But I was able to come back and make a contribution the last half of the season. I'm ready to just go play. I don't have any grudges. It's not a situation like me and Romo were best of friends before that happened. It's not like he's losing any sleep or I'm losing any sleep."
Gardener gearing up
Defensive tackle Daryl Gardener is expected to make his Broncos debut against the Raiders and is expected to play about half the game. He geared up for the event by practicing against two offensive linemen Monday and will follow that routine today. He's expected to be a full-time participant when the Broncos practice Wednesday.
Gardener, Denver's high-priced, free-agent acquisition, missed training camp and preseason as well as the first two regular-season games because of a wrist injury he suffered during an early morning fight outside an Aurora pancake house in July.
Portis the prankster
There's nothing shy about running back Clinton Portis. The second-year pro out of the University of Miami continues to confound and amuse the Broncos' veteran players. Before Denver's 37-13 victory at San Diego on Sunday, Portis watered down Sharpe, 35, wide receiver Rod Smith, 33, and tight end Dwayne "House" Carswell, 31, three of the team's oldest players.
"Yesterday we were warming up and House said, 'Man, I can't believe that Portis threw that water in my face,"' Sharpe recalled with a bemused look. "I said, 'He got you, too?' And then Rod turned and said, 'He got you, too?' So nothing has changed.
"He's the same old Clinton, running his mouth. I tell him he needs to get in better shape."
Kudos to Coyer
So far so good for new Broncos defensive coordinator Larry Coyer. In the first two games, his unit has allowed just 23 points and is ranked second in the NFL in rush defense, giving up 86 yards per game. Although the pass defense is 28th (212.5 average), a lot of that pass yardage came during garbage time in the second half when San Diego and Cincinnati were playing catch-up.
Coach Mike Shanahan said he was particularly pleased with Denver's performance at San Diego.
"That is what we are impressed with, whenever you hold the opposition to 1-for-11 on third downs, and they are zero-for-three in the red zone," he said. "And we still got a turnover (an interception by Ian Gold). Those are areas that we were pretty poor in (last season), but we held the opposition to 13 points."
Source: Denver Post | |
