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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Britton Colquitt’s right leg seemed to get as much work as Tim Tebow’s left arm last year. He punted 101 times, which he likens to packing two years’ worth of experience into one season. This year, it’s down to 37 punts, on pace for 66. Such is life with Peyton Manning under center in Denver. Colquitt’s still getting plenty of work — as Matt Prater’s holder. The Broncos kicker has already collected more PATs (31) than he did all of last season (30). Yes, Manning’s having a great year. Von Miller, too. It’s the special teams, though, that’s the binding to this story of the Broncos’ resurgence. The latest example of executive John Elway’s Midas touch is Trindon Holliday. Claimed off waivers from Houston, the former track star from LSU needed barely a month to become the third player in team history to return a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in the same season. “It just feels good to know that the special teams and I have to be accounted for in the game plan,” Holliday said. So, now the Broncos (6-3) ostensibly have it all: a top-notch punter who flips field position, a clutch kicker, superior coverage and protection units and a roadrunner of a returner. Like so many other things at Dove Valley, it all started to coalesce when Manning chose to make his new home in Denver back on March 20, which led to Tebow’s trade to the New York Jets. Colquitt knew his workload would decrease considerably, making each punt he does get that much more critical. His numbers so far are better than last year’s, when he set single-season team records for gross and net punting average while leading the league in punts dropped inside the 20-yard line. He ranks second in the NFL with a 43.6-yard net punting average, having allowed a league-low 3.5 yards per return. “Well, that’s an incredible punt team,” Colquitt said, noting how gunners Matt Willis and rookie Omar Bolden have been outstanding in coverage along with safety David Bruton, whom special teams coach Jeff Rodgers touts as the NFL’s best personal protector. Unlike Colquitt, Prater prepared for a heavier workload this season. Although he only has 13 field goal attempts so far, he’s gotten more work on kickoffs and extra points this season. “I thought we’d obviously kick off a lot more, we’d score a lot more touchdowns,” Prater said. “So, extra points are fine with me.” Prater had 67 kickoffs last year, 47 of them touchbacks. He’s on pace this year for 94 kickoffs and 64 touchbacks. He had game-winning field goals on the last play in three consecutive games during the height of Tebowmania last year but hasn’t had any make-or-break attempts this year. Still, he’s as clutch as ever, nailing all five of his fourth-quarter attempts. That makes him 33 of 34 in his career in the fourth quarter or overtime. He’s also made all three from 50-plus so far, making him 16 for 19 for his career, an NFL-best 79 percent conversion rate. Prater also leads the AFC with 36 touchbacks, a product of both his aptitude and the altitude. All of this is happening with a new long snapper, Aaron Brewer, an undrafted rookie out of San Diego State. “I think as a snapper he’s got the best mind-set that you can possibly have,” Prater said. California cool. “Yeah, real chilled, nothing bothers him, real calm,” Prater said. “He’s done a great job.” “Yes, he has,” concurred Colquitt, whose 47-yard gross punting average is just shy of the 47.4-yard mark he established a year ago and who is once again among the league leaders in dropping punts inside the 20. “It helps with Peyton around,” Colquitt said. “We’ve had more punts closer to the 50 than last year.” That’s not a knock on Tebow, mind you — Colquitt was as big a fan of No. 15 as anyone — but the workload the fourth-year punter got in 2011 is paying big dividends this year. “It was almost like I played two years in one last year, I was out there so much,” Colquitt said. “The field position mattered that much more. Now, I’m more rested, but definitely the experience from last year helped a lot and just to be more focused on: I might not punt that much this game, so I’ve got to make every one count.” Colquitt doesn’t mind being more of a sideline spectator this season, and Prater said he’d love trotting out for extra points every time. The wild-card in all this is Holliday, whom the Broncos snatched off waivers from Houston three weeks after getting a firsthand look at the short speedster in a loss to the Texans in Week 3. “We felt like he had game-breaking ability and game-changing ability and it took a couple of weeks for that to really show up but certainly it’s shown up,” Rodgers said. It was more his teammates adjusting to him than the other way around, too. “We hadn’t had that many long returns up until that point and the plays are going longer, and the longer the return, the longer guys are going to have to hold their blocks,” Rodgers said. Hiccups, however, have occurred. Holliday flipped the ball out of his hands too quickly on his 105-yard kickoff return TD at Cincinnati and the NFL acknowledged this week that Holliday’s 76-yard punt return at Carolina last week should have been ruled a touchback instead of a touchdown because the ball came out before he crossed the goal line. So, the Broncos have now instituted the “Holliday Rule,” where he has to hand the ball to Rodgers on the sideline the next time he scores. And they certainly plan on him getting into the end zone again. Notes: DE Elvis Dumervil said his sprained left shoulder held up well in limited duty at practice and he expects to play Sunday against San Diego: “It felt good. I tested it aggressively and I didn’t aggravate anything.” … SLB Von Miller ($21,000) and DT Kevin Vickerson ($15,000) are both appealing their fines for hits on Carolina QB Cam Newton. … CB Tracy Porter practiced Friday but will miss his fifth straight game. … RG Chris Kuper (ankle) is doubtful. … Coach John Fox hinted he’ll put LB D.J. Williams on the 53-man roster this weekend. Williams returned this week from a pair of suspensions that sidelined him for the first nine games and cost him about $4 million. (© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Special Teams Is The Glue Of The Denver Broncos

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Von Miller and Kevin Vickerson are appealing fines they said they received from the NFL for hits on Carolina quarterback Cam Newton last weekend.

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Miller, Vickerson say they’ll appeal fines (The Associated Press)

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Ray Edwards’ loss is Kroy Biermann’s gain for the Atlanta Falcons.

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Biermann steps forward as starting DE for Falcons (The Associated Press)

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — There are a few more lines around the eyes, each of them a symbol of some lesson learned during a head-coaching tenure that lasted nearly a decade, had its share of success but ended badly for Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville. Some things, however, haven’t changed. The Broncos defensive coordinator, now 49 and reunited with John Fox in the same role he had a decade ago in Carolina, is still a formidable presence whenever he walks onto a football field. And the schemes the NFL linebacker-turned-coach crafts still make life very difficult for offenses around the league. Asked to describe his approach to defense without using the word “aggressive” — because, really, what defensive coordinator doesn’t want to be aggressive? — Del Rio laughed. “Aggressive,” he said. “I don’t know. There are a lot of good people out there doing a lot of good things. From my standpoint, the No. 1 thing we want to do is create a culture where players understand the things they’re being asked to do. That they build a confidence playing for each other, with each other. And that in the end, you play fast.” Denver’s seventh defensive coordinator in seven years has the Broncos (6-3) playing fast, and at a level this defense hasn’t reached in a while. Yes, they are ranked a more-than-respectable sixth in yards allowed and 10th in points allowed, in the running to finish with the best statistics in those categories since the mid-2000s. But they are also ranked second in sacks per pass play and, with four touchdowns and a pair of safeties, are making the kind of plays that swing games. They are building a reputation as a swarming, playmaking and, yes, aggressive group, which is just how Del Rio coaches it, especially when the talent is there to make it happen. Had it worked this well in Jacksonville over the past few years, the coach might still be there. Instead, he got released 11 games into last season with a 69-73 career record. Some might have sat it out for a while, let some wounds heal and, in Del Rio’s case, collected some easy paychecks, which could have totaled up to around $5 million. Not this coach, who Thursday was standing in the midst of his defenders at the start of practice, shouting, listening, correcting and at one point, insisting the players “get this (expletive) down” by the end of the day. “I love coaching,” he said. “And this was a good opportunity for me to get hooked up with a guy I respect and a program that’s first class.” Indeed, when Fox came calling, Del Rio knew he could get right back into his comfort zone: Coaching defense alongside one of the men he came up with; working in the room with players; getting back to the kind of routine that wasn’t available as much when he was a head coach, where PR, delegating to staff and big-picture decision-making often overshadows the Xs and Os. “That’s something you probably kind of miss after a while,” Fox said. “It kind of re-energizes you. I think he’s having fun doing it.” No doubt, Del Rio said. “When we interviewed, I said, `Hey, I don’t mind being an assistant strength coach again,”‘ Del Rio said. “I love ball with the right people, right organization. I love to be a member on the staff and going through the grind and having my feet in the grass and having a chance to touch some players. That’s what I have a passion for.” Del Rio’s last two stops in his 11-year NFL playing career were in Dallas, where he played for Jimmy Johnson, and Minnesota, where Tony Dungy was the defensive coordinator. It was Johnson’s “all-in mentality,” as Del Rio called it, and Dungy’s ability to coach, teach but not dwell on failure that got Del Rio thinking about the kind of coach he’d like to be someday. He started in New Orleans as, yes, the assistant strength coach, then moved to Baltimore to coach the linebackers from 1999-2001. Led by Ray Lewis, the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2001. Del Rio left Baltimore to join Fox in Carolina in 2002, where he transformed the defense from 32nd-ranked to second in the span of a season. Impressed with that sudden bout of success, and looking to inject some new, young energy into the franchise after firing Tom Coughlin, Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver bypassed coaches with more experience and took a chance on Del Rio, who with blue eyes, blond hair, standing 6-foot-4 and still close to his 240-pound playing weight was a made-for-TV presence in a city looking for a football star. He had also proven he could coach a little, though the perils of going with a guy who had never been the head man reared their head early. There was the infamous tree stump Del Rio put in the locker room. Message: Keep chopping wood, but when punter Chris Hanson did, he swung the ax nearly through his shin and had to be rushed to the hospital. The coach had trouble managing changes at the quarterback position involving Mark Brunell, Byron Leftwich and David Garrard. There was a revolving door of assistant coaches and two playoff appearances to show for eight-plus years on the job. Through it all, though, the players played hard for Del Rio. And, of course, staying in the same job for that long in the NFL is a victory of sorts, no matter how it ends. “Certainly, I’m a much better coach now,” Del Rio said. “I got a wealth of experience. You learn from good and bad. I feel like a better coach at this point. I still have all my fire and desire and energy, which is why I’m doing what I’m doing now.” By returning to his roots — running the defense — Del Rio gets to go back to what he’s best at: Connecting with players, devising schemes that bring out their best, which, in Del Rio’s mind, is what coaching is supposed to be all about. “When I was in college, I started hearing about him and we used to watch the Jaguars defense,” said Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard, who leads the team in tackles and has earned an AFC Defensive Player of the Week honor in Del Rio’s scheme. “They used to always talk about him and the stuff he runs. He’s one of those guys who’s always amped and believes in his players. And him being a past linebacker, it makes it easier for us to follow him, look up to him and believe in him.” The subplot in all this is that the success of the Denver defense could make Del Rio a popular choice to become a head coach again. That’s a particularly delicate topic for the Broncos, who lost Dennis Allen to the Raiders after last season and haven’t had a defensive coordinator serve back-to-back seasons since Larry Coyer from 2003-06. No problem from the boss’s point of view. “Whenever you hire an assistant coach, you want them to have high aspirations,” Fox said. “You want to hire people who may have that ability. Otherwise, you’re not hiring the best people.” Del Rio says he doesn’t look beyond the next Sunday, which in this case is a rematch with the Chargers. If Denver wins, it takes a three-game lead in the AFC West. Knowing far more about life as a head coach than when he took the job in Jacksonville, Del Rio says there’s no rush to move up the ladder again. “When you’re a young guy and you haven’t been there, the urgency and desire to get that opportunity is such that you’d take just about any job given to you,” Del Rio said. “I don’t feel that way now. If there’s something that fits and the right situation comes along, so be it. But in the meantime, I’m all in, 100 percent as a lieutenant on this staff. I’m somebody that John Fox, John Elway … and the players can count on. I’m 100 percent invested in helping them be their best.” (© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Reunited With Fox, Del Rio Charges Up Denver ‘D’

Status Report

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Friday injury report for Week 11 (Pro Football Weekly)