Englewood, Colo. • The Denver Broncos might have to face former quarterback Kyle Orton with two backup safeties if Brian Dawkins and Quinton Carter can’t play in Sunday’s showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs, who are trying to deny Tim Tebow a trip to the playoffs.

Although Carter (hip) participated in the entire two-hour workout Wednesday, Dawkins was held out of the team’s final full-padded practice of the regular season because of a neck injury that has bothered him for much of the month.

Dawkins didn’t address his availability for Sunday but did dismiss speculation that the injury threatens his stellar 16-year career that includes eight Pro Bowls.

Carter wasn’t available during the locker room access period.

Dawkins, Carter and nickel cornerback Chris Harris (neck), who leads all rookie defensive backs with 62 tackles, all were knocked out of last week’s loss at Buffalo.

“I’ll definitely be ready to play this week,” said Harris, who was limited at Wednesday’s workout. “The body feels like everybody else’s does in the NFL at this time of the season but you’ve just got to fight through it and play your game.”

If Dawkins can’t play Sunday, David Bruton would start at strong safety even though he was limited at practice because of a nagging Achilles injury.

If Carter is out, fellow rookie Raheem Moore, who began the season as the starter but was demoted for his poor tackling technique, would get the nod at free safety.

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Facing backups in the secondary would seemingly be a big break for Orton, whom the Chiefs claimed off waivers last month when the Broncos jettisoned their former starter.

“Well, what we look at and what we talk about during the week is we assume everybody is playing,” Chiefs interim coach Romeo Crennel said, “and if somebody doesn’t play, I don’t think that we can ever say, ‘OK, that’s great,’ or anything like that because I know that in the NFL, the guy who steps in is a good player. So, you never underestimate your opponent.”

Still, there’s no denying the drop-off.

Aside from his unparalleled leadership and his knack for deciphering offenses, Dawkins has 51 stops and three sacks and Carter has 46 tackles and a sack.

Bruton has just eight tackles, five of which came last week after Dawkins went down, and Moore has recorded 13 tackles in the last three games after being a healthy scratch against Minnesota on Dec. 4., which followed a month without a single tackle.

“You know what, everybody has to believe and everybody has to stay ready. That’s all you can do,” Moore said. “Get healthy, stay ready. It’s not going to be easy. It’s been a tough season. And that’s why you have to stay ready and believe and when it’s all said and done, whoever’s out there has to make some plays and do what he can to help this team conquer.”

Publicly at least, the Broncos are de-emphasizing Orton’s return to Denver, saying that clinching the AFC West and making the playoffs for the first time in six seasons is their chief mission.

“Even if Orton wasn’t playing on that team, it would still be a big game,” Harris said. “We all know this is a big opportunity for us to go to the playoffs. We’ve got a chance to do something that we haven’t been done here in a long time.”

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Read More: Dontari Poe (DL – Memphis), Denver Broncos, Memphis Tigers

With just three weeks left in the NFL regular season, the 2012 NFL Draft order is close to being set for the non-postseason teams. At the moment, that means the Denver Broncos and 11 other teams are waiting to make their quest for the Super Bowl a reality. But for purposes of mock draft, the Broncos are picking in the early to mid-20s at this point since they are 8-5 and still in a tight race to win the AFC West.

Over at Mocking the Draft, a pre-bowl game mock draft has the Broncos selecting Memphis Tigers defensive tackle Dontari Poe with the No. 24 overall pick. The defensive tackle position is certainly a position where the Broncos could use an upgrade at, but it is wrong to characterize the current state of the team’s tackles as thus:

The stop gap DT’s in Denver, Bunkley and Thomas, have held up surprisingly well.

Marcus Thomas and Brodrick Bunkley have turned into more than stopgap players, and the team will likely try to re-sign both of them. The team is also expected to have back Kevin Vickerson and Ty Warren, both of who were lost to injury for the seasons.

Poe is 6 foot 5 and 350 pounds, a real run stuffer. He has 87 career tackles and five sacks.

Adding a rookie first-rounder at the position certainly helps depth and will push the others to perform at their peak, one would hope. As always, four months.

For in-depth coverage of the Broncos, visit Mile High Report. For more on the NFL, be sure to check out SB Nation NFL.

Read More: Ty Warren (DE – DEN), Kevin Vickerson (DT – DEN), Denver Broncos

If there’s one thing the Denver Broncos have learned over these past two years, it is that a team can never have too much depth on the defensive line. It hurt the Broncos in 2010 and it could have hurt them in 2011. Ty Warren was lost before he even took a regular season snap for the Broncos and Kevin Vickerson was lost as well. However, the team also brought back Marcus Thomas as a free agent and traded for Broderick Bunkley, both a huge part of a resurgent Broncos defense this season.

However, the Broncos are far from settled at the position. In Chad Reuters’ latest mock draft for CBS Sports, the Broncos select Michigan St. Spartans defensive tackle Jerel Worthy with the No. 23 overall pick. Reuter’s writeup is mostly about John Elway trading down or waiting until some time in the second round to select a quarterback, which really doesn’t mesh so well right now.

However, Reuter is correct that the Broncos need an upgrade at the position. Worthy has 12 sacks in his career as a Spartan and the team could certainly use a push up front. Still, we’ve got four more months to figure this all out.

For in-depth coverage of the Broncos, visit Mile High Report. For more on the NFL, be sure to check out SB Nation NFL.

Read More: Brian Dawkins (S – DEN), Andre Goodman (CB – DEN), Tony Carter (DB – MIN), Kyle McCarthy (S – DEN), Derek Domino (LB – DEN), Denver Broncos

Three Denver defensive backs had to leave Sunday’s game against Chicago, including cornerback Andre Goodman and safety Brian Dawkins. Goodman suffered a concussion and may not have to sit for long, but the Broncos made a couple of transactions on Tuesday to prepare for his potential absence:

With cornerback Andre’ Goodman’s availability in question for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, the Broncos signed cornerback Tony Carter from their practice squad today.

To make room for Carter on the 53-man roster, the team waived safety Kyle McCarthy.

Carter appeared in two games for the Broncos in 2009 and two games for the New England Patriots in 2010. He has four tackles in his career.

Additionally, the team waived rookie linebacker Derek Domino.

For more updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more on this game, visit Mile High Report, SB Nation’s Denver Broncos blog. For news from around the NFL, visit SB Nation’s NFL news hub.

Denver Broncos star Tim Tebow will face the New England Patriots’ future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady in an epic bout between two MVP contenders in Mile High Stadium this Sunday. Thanks to an unlikely six-game win streak, Tebow has helped his team improve from worst to first in the AFC West, while Brady’s 10-3 Patriots hold a commanding lead in the AFC East.

Brady’s greatness is always expected each and every season he plays, but Tebow’s uncanny ability to win games when all hope seems lost has critics calling him “God’s quarterback.” Five of his last six wins have come in the fourth quarter or overtime, but his win Sunday over the Chicago Bears was probably the most convincing display of Tebow’s comeback candor.

For most of the game, Tebow and the Denver offense looked hopeless against Brian Urlacher and the defensive-minded Bears. With five minutes left in the game, Chicago was ready to blank Denver 10-0. With 2:08 left, Tebow managed to score a touchdown to bring the Broncos to within three points of Chicago, but the Bears had the ball with about two minutes to play, and all they needed to do was run out the ball to win. But then, an unforced, mental error by running back Marion Barber forced the clock to stop, which subsequently gave Tebow and the Broncos ample time — 72 seconds, which is forever in Tebow Time — to get within field goal range to tie the game. After Matt Prater nailed a 59-yard field goal to send the game into overtime, the Broncos took advantage of another Barber error – this time, a fumble – to give Prater a 51-yard kick to seal the game. The ball went straight through the uprights, and the Broncos clinched their comeback win over the Bears.

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Brady said he and the Patriots watched the Broncos-Bears game on the airplane after their team’s 34-27 victory over the Redskins.

“It was an exciting game,” Brady said. “They obviously have a very good team. They play for 60 minutes. They’ve obviously closed a lot of games and finished very well. We have a huge test. We’ll all be excited, and hopefully have a good week of preparation and be ready to go on Sunday.”

Brady even backed up Tebow, when asked how he rates the former Florida quarterback’s arm mechanics.

“Everyone says he struggles throwing the ball,” Brady said. “What I saw last night, he had no problems throwing the ball. He threw the ball extremely well when I was watching.”

Tebow, who is the Broncos’ second-leading rusher, has been criticized for not throwing the ball enough. But on Sunday against the Bears, Tebow completed 21 of 40 passes for a season-high 236 yards, including one touchdown and one pick, and a number of Tebow’s passes, particularly to wideout Demaryius Thomas, were dropped during the game. In Denver’s previous game against the Vikings, Tebow posted a season-high 202 passing yards with two touchdowns.

Tebow’s Broncos may not be a great aerial attack, ranking second-to-last in the league in passing this season with 160.8 yards per game, but Denver is first in the league in rushing with about 156.2 yards per game.

Brady said he will mostly focus on deciphering the Denver defense, which has limited its opponents to only 15.9 points per game under Tebow’s leadership, among the best in the league in opposing both rushing and passing attacks. Elvis Dumervil and rookie Von Miller have been standouts this season, racking up 73 tackles and 17 sacks between the two linemen. The team has also managed nine interceptions and has forced and recovered 11 fumbles.

But if there’s anyone who can tear up the Denver Broncos defense, it’s Tom Brady. Brady, as well as Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and Saints QB Drew Brees, is well on his way to breaking Dan Marino’s all-time NFL record of 5,084 passing yards in a single season with 4,273 through 13 games. Brady has completed more than 66 percent of his passes, notching 33 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season.

Despite Brady’s brilliance, it may surprise you to learn that Tebow actually ranks on an equal plane with Brady when it comes to total efficiency. Tebow gains an average of 2.6 yards each time he touches the ball, but only four quarterbacks in the league average more yards than the Broncos QB, including (in order) Rodgers, Brees, Brady, and the Texans injured QB Matt Schaub.

Tebow has won many of his games thanks to his team’s strong running game and its formidable defense, but there’s no denying that Tebow is the key to Denver’s success. Since taking over the team after Kyle Orton’s abysmal 1-4 start, Tebow has been the spark for both his offense and defense, particularly late in the game, leading them to six straight victories, which hasn’t been accomplished since John Elway ran the show in Denver.

Sunday’s match-up in Mile High Stadium against the New England Patriots will be the toughest test yet for Tebow and the surging Broncos, who claim a one-game lead over the faltering Oakland Raiders in the AFC West. If the Broncos can find a way to stop Brady’s high-octane passing attack, Tebow’s MVP campaign will be officially legitimate, and Brady’s might as well be over. The two quarterbacks will be ready for each other, but Brady better not be distracted by Marino’s record if he hopes to beat Denver’s inspired team.

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The Denver Broncos beat the Chicago Bears 13-10, in overtime Sunday in one of the most improbable victories of the season. Beating Chicago (and Oakland being massacred by Green Bay) has put the Broncos in a spot that last season seemed to be only a pipe dream – the top spot of the AFC West with an 8-5 record. The playoffs are near and not impossible.

Anywhere in Broncos Country (or any country it seems, as when I was in Ireland last October people knew who he was -this about a player who wasn’t even the starting QB at the time), Tim Tebow is a polarizing figure. You love him or you hate him. Critics have said it all.

“Tebow doesn’t have what it takes to play at a pro level.”

(Really?)

“We’ll see how the Broncos do when they play a real team”

(New York, Chicago, San Diego, Miami, Minnesota and Oakland would probably all contend that they are in fact “real teams.”)

“This can’t keep happening”

(Yet, here we are with seven wins, most of which are happening in the last five minutes of the game.)

They Just Keep Winning

There is no logical reason for the Broncos’ continues winning streak, when the fact is they generally spend the first three quarters losing. But something happens in the fourth quarter, whether it is a sense of urgency or divine intervention, can be left to the skeptics; football hasn’t been this exciting in Denver since Elway led the team to back to back Super Bowl wins.

Broncos Time

Something is happening with the Broncos, at least in the last quarter of every game, something Tebow is aware probably ought to be spread out through the other three quarters. Tebow told the Denver Post, “When it is clutch and you need competitive greatness, you have to step up and you have to make those plays. If you’re able to do it when it really matters, usually you can find a way. We’ve just got to get better at doing it for four quarters.”

Tebow obviously isn’t winning these games by himself, but it has made him fodder for criticism that it is a team sport and not a one-man show. Even Tebow agrees it is a team effort and the attention on him alone is unwarranted, as he told the Post, “I think my teammates make me look a lot better than I am. They really stepped up and came up with some huge plays, and I’m so proud of them…I don’t think it’s Tebow Time, I just think it’s Bronco Time, and the team steps up.”

Defense and Special Teams

Matt Prater proved once again how clutch he is when he kicked the 59-yard game-tying field goal and in overtime, the winning 51-yard winning goal.

The Broncos defense has been unstoppable, Wesley Woodyard, Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil made Pro-Bowl level plays yesterday and the Chicago offense is likely feeling the pain this morning.

Da Bears have Da Blues

Marion Barber is probably having a rough day watching reels today. His fumble in overtime was crucial for the Broncos to win. But even more vital was his running out of bounds after the two-minute warning in the fourth, stopping the clock and giving the Broncos a chance to do what they do best-win when there’s no other option.

Even Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher had a snarky remark about Tebow when he told the Post, “He’s a good running back, man. He runs the ball well.” Ironically, the Bears’ defense held the Broncos’ running game to a near halt and it was Tebow’s passing yardage in the fourth quarter that landed a Broncos’ touchdown and made room for Prater’s field goals. Urlacher’s choice of words may taste like crow this morning when he had suggested Tebow isn’t a solid quarterback. While he may not be a traditional or even conventional QB, Tebow does run well.

He also wins well.

Clutch

To suggest that the players are working harder, with Tebow at the helm than they did with Orton is insulting to their professionalism. Yet it is impossible to ignore the level of energy and enthusiasm amongst the players and fans felt every Sunday now that he is starting and winning. Tebow has won six games in a row now with five of those being fourth-quarter comeback victories.

Broncos linebacker Von Miller said it best when he told the Post, “There’s no one else I’d rather have the ball in his hands when it counts.”

Yesterday’s game against Chicago was all but lost until the last two minutes of the game. During the first three quarters, Tebow only threw 3-16 with crucial drops made by Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas. Until the fourth quarter fans had seemingly accepted this might be where the winning streak ends.

Yet, the Broncos beat the Bears anyway, 13-10, in overtime. Tebow has always been subject to criticism because he isn’t as accurate of a passer as, say, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers. The first three quarters were essentially the same: aggravating throws, sloppy plays and if it wasn’t for the Broncos’ defense, the chance of these type Hail-Tebow wins wouldn’t be happening.

Tebow’s Passing Game

Even Tebow knows his passing is a potential problem, as his body can’t take the hits like he has been and expect to have a long career in the NFL. Tebow told the Post, “I’ve just got to do a better job and just improve with accuracy and put it on my receivers more.”

Tebow continues to rush well, but his passing has improved exponentially every game, even if it is for the most part, in the fourth quarter of the game. His stats are better than Elway’s when he was first starting. It is funny how short memories can be in Denver when fans forget how Elway was often the subject of harsh criticism before bringing us home two back-to-back Super Bowl championships, thereby ensuring his place as THE Denver Bronco. Before signing on to be a Broncos executive, fans would practically genuflect to the man if he were seen at games. And now he is mentoring a QB that everyone was quick to dismiss as simply a great college player.

‘What the frickin’ is happening here?’

Broncos Country is probably the highest Nail-Biters-Per-Capita at this point, and even Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey finds these shocking wins, well, shocking. Bailey told the Post: “I don’t want to give him all the credit. But at the same time, he comes through at crunch time every week. Every single week it’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ It gets to the point where you say, ‘what the frickin’ is happening here?’ “

Is it divine intervention? Nobody can answer that for sure but Tebow isn’t quick to take the credit for what is, after all, a team effort.

Tebow said it best: “Great things are only possible if you’re under very tough circumstances. That was a great comeback for this team, and it was led by our defense and coaches and a team that constantly believes.”

True Broncos fans always have.

http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_19526117

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Read More: Willis McGahee (RB – DEN), Ryan Clady (OT – DEN), Eddie Royal (WR – DEN), David Bruton (S – DEN), Mitch Unrein (DT – DEN), Von Miller (LB – DEN), Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos have released their Friday injury report in anticipation of their matchup against the Chicago Bears on Sunday:

Probable

LB Von Miller
LT Ryan Clady
FS David Bruton
DT Mitch Unrein
RB Jeremiah Johnson

Questionable

RB Willis McGahee
WR Eddie Royal

The good news for Broncos fans is that running back Willis McGahee — the veritable keystone to their rushing attack — practiced today. McGahee, who has struggled with injuries all year, but missed only one game, leads the team in rushing yards, sporting 886 yards on the ground while averaging 4.9 per carry.

Rookie sensation Von Miller, who has also appeared on a number of injury reports over the last two months, missed the Bronco’s Week 13 win against the Minnesota Vikings while dealing with his thumb injury. Miller leads the team with 10.5 sacks.

Other notable injuries include WR Eddie Royal (153 receiving yards, 1 TD through 7 starts) and starting left tackle Ryan Clady, who has not missed a start in the 2011 season despite struggling with a knee issue.

For updates on this Week 14 matchup, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more on this week’s game, visit Bears blog Windy City Gridiron and Broncos blog Mile High Report. Head over to SB Nation NFL for more from around the league.

From Denver — The division-leading Denver Broncos passed a significant milestone this week, although it probably escaped the notice of most everyone at team headquarters. It was a year ago Tuesday that the Broncos fired Josh McDaniels as coach, setting the stage for the hiring of John Elway and John Fox.

So far, that move has worked out well, as the Broncos and Oakland are atop the AFC West with four games left in the regular season, and Denver has the tiebreaker against the Raiders.

“If you look at where we were a year ago, that’s probably the lowest point since Pat Bowlen owned the team,” said Elway, the Hall of Fame quarterback who now runs the front office. “Having lived in this community before I got the job, because I was out there and saw it, everybody kind of lost interest in what the Broncos were all about. That had never happened here before, because there’s such a great following with this team, not only in Denver but in the whole Rocky Mountain region.”

That’s hard to imagine now, considering how the interest level in the team locally and nationally has once again reached dizzying heights.

A lot of that interest is driven by quarterback Tim Tebow, of course, and his string of spectacular finishes. But Denver’s refashioned defense deserves as much of the credit, with No. 2 pick Von Miller making a compelling case for defensive rookie of the year.

The Broncos (7-5), who play host to Chicago on Sunday, could become the seventh team in NFL history to make the postseason despite a 1-4 start. This was a franchise that had utterly collapsed after winning its first six games under McDaniels, going 6-22 in the 1 1/2 seasons that followed.

Now, the team has five consecutive road victories, something the Broncos hadn’t done since 1998, when Elway was quarterback.

“There were some growing pains,” said Fox, who transformed the defense from a 3-4 to a 4-3. “Then, we started to click. When you know what you’re doing, you play a lot faster.”

Elway pinpoints Week 7, that dramatic victory at Miami when Tebow made his first start of the season, as the day the defense began playing as a cohesive unit. It might have come together sooner, he reasons, but the lockout and compressed off-season had everyone running behind.

“It was such an odd off-season because John didn’t even get a chance to meet the players until they got to camp,” said Elway, sitting in his second-story office at team headquarters. “That’s one of his great traits. He has the ability to get the most out of each guy because he has a personal relationship with each one of them.”

One of the amazing things about the up-from-the-ashes rise of the Broncos is that they defied the widely held belief that teams with an established coach and quarterback would have a huge advantage this season. In some cases — such as Green Bay and New Orleans — that’s true. But the New York Jets couldn’t argue that, nor could Philadelphia or San Diego.

Then consider San Francisco, Oakland and Denver, teams with new coaches and uncertainty or change at quarterback. The 49ers have already won the NFC West. The Raiders have a new coach and quarterback, in Hue Jackson and Carson Palmer, as do the Broncos, who began the season with Tebow as the third-stringer.

This season’s coach-of-the-year award probably will go to newcomer Jim Harbaugh, who resurrected the 49ers with essentially the same cast of players, directing them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2002; or to Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy, who has not only dodged the Super Bowl hangover but is four wins away from the second 16-0 regular season in NFL history.

Fox is among the coaches who should be in that discussion too, even if what he has accomplished so far falls short of what’s happening in San Francisco and Green Bay. He has done an outstanding job of making the Broncos relevant again, and he and his staff have adapted the offense to best suit an unconventional quarterback.

The Broncos aren’t the first franchise to do a U-turn under Fox. Carolina was 1-15 the season before he got there, 7-9 in his first year, and in the Super Bowl at the end of his second. His nine-season career in Carolina ended with a fizzle, though, with the Panthers going 2-14 in 2010.

Said Elway: “He had something to prove when he came here.”

So far, with the season heading into the stretch run, he’s proving it.

sam.farmer@latimes.com

6-1. Right now, no other numbers matter to Tim Tebow(notes). The Denver Broncos are now at the top of the AFC West (because of their better record within the division, they hold the tie-breaker over the Oakland Raiders). They basically control their own destiny, and if the playoffs started today, they’d be in.

The Broncos were 1-4 when Tebow officially took over the reigns, and now at 7-5, they are 6-1 in their last seven games. By coincidence, Tim Tebow has also been the starter during the last seven games. While his offensive numbers have not been stellar, they have been good enough to win; he takes care of the football with few turnovers, and has led several game-winning drives in the fourth quarter and overtime.

When Tim Tebow won his first game as starter, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. Miami was 0-5, and anytime a new quarterback starts his first game, his team is likely to see a bounce in their spirits and in their performance. The next week, Denver was absolutely demolished by Detroit, lessening my belief that Tim Tebow was going to be Denver’s quarterback of the future.

But now, after watching him once again pull his team from the brink of defeat for a dramatic last-second victory, I am a Tim Tebow believer. Sure, I have written articles about how Tebow is a winner and how he has always found a way to go above and beyond. But this is the NFL; nearly every single player on every roster has had success in football somewhere along the road, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. This quarterback is for real. His physical abilities are nowhere near those of Tom Brady(notes) or Peyton Manning(notes), but his leadership abilities rival theirs already. The entire Broncos organization has bought into the “do all you can with what you have” mentality that Tebow brings to every game, and it shows.

The next several games are tough ones for the Denver Broncos. Chicago, New England, and Buffalo are all still fighting for playoff spots and positioning, and Kansas City is a rivalry. If Denver can go 3-1 or even 2-2 during that stretch, chances are they’ll sneak into the playoffs on the arm and legs of the quarterback that many said simply could not cut it in the NFL. That should silence the Tebow critics, although it will not.

I keep going back to this: 6-1. There is some luck with winning games like this, but it helps to be good. And Tim Tebow is good, regardless of what you’re hearing in the media. He’s winning ball games, albeit closely, and in the NFL, that says something.

Jack Grunpe is an avid NFL fan.

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It is becoming almost expected that
Tim Tebow
will engineer a fourth-quarter comeback in a
Denver Broncos
victory.

A late rally against the struggling
Minnesota Vikings
, however, might not be necessary.

Tebow looks to lead the Broncos to a fifth consecutive win Sunday when they visit a Vikings team that will be without
Adrian Peterson
for a second straight game.

Since becoming Denver’s starting quarterback, Tebow has directed three fourth-quarter comebacks, two of which set up overtime
wins. He also rallied the Broncos (6-5) from a halftime deficit in a 38-24 victory over Oakland on Nov. 6.

In the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s game at San Diego, Tebow led Denver on a 68-yard drive, setting up
Matt Prater
‘s 24-yard, game-tying field goal with 1:34 remaining. Denver went on for a 16-13 victory in overtime, its fourth straight
win.

“I’d say our mentality changed to where it’s not, ‘Oh-oh, here we go again,’ it’s, ‘OK, give us the ball, we’re going to go
and score,” ‘ said
Eric Decker
, who has caught four of Tebow’s eight TD passes.

The Broncos are 5-1 since Tebow became the starter and have won all four road games. They’re one game back of Oakland in the
AFC West race and are seeking their first five-game streak away from Denver since winning six in a row in 1998.

“This is a special team, a special team when you have a bunch of guys that when things aren’t going good we get closer instead
of pulling apart,” said Tebow, who passed for 143 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers. “The No. 1 reason we are like
that is because we believe in each other.”

Tebow is making a believer out of some of his critics.

With the former Heisman Trophy winner running the offense, the Broncos have scored 11 times in the fourth quarter or overtime
compared to 10 scoring drives in the first three quarters combined. Tebow’s first-half passer rating of 64.9 is fourth-worst
among the 37 quarterbacks with at least 50 first-half attempts, but his fourth-quarter QB rating of 107.8 trails only
Eli Manning
,
Aaron Rodgers
and
Tom Brady
.

Minnesota’s opponents have a 97.2 QB rating in the fourth-quarter, fifth-worst in the NFL.

But the Vikings have also been quite vulnerable early. During a three-game losing streak, Minnesota has been outscored 58-7
in the first half.

The Vikings (2-9) were down 17-0 at halftime last Sunday to Atlanta, and despite pulling within three early in the fourth
quarter, lost 24-14.

“It doesn’t feel good,” said quarterback
Christian Ponder
, who is now backed up by
Joe Webb
after Minnesota released benched veteran
Donovan McNabb
on Thursday. “It’s getting repetitive, but I have to say that I am proud of the team. They played for four quarters. … We
are going to improve. We’ve got guys doing everything possible to win games.”

The Vikings placed four players on injured reserve Tuesday – receiver
Michael Jenkins
, long snapper
Cullen Loeffler
and safeties
Husain Abdullah
and
Tyrell Johnson
– but Peterson’s injury is the most significant.

The four-time All-Pro, who is seventh in the NFL with 872 rushing yards and enters Week 13 tied for the league lead with 11
rushing touchdowns, will miss a second straight game due to a sprained left ankle.

Peterson said Thursday he was feeling better and that the soreness was “winding down,” but he was unable to practice Friday
and the team announced he will be inactive Sunday.

Toby Gerhart
took Peterson’s place against the Falcons and rushed for 44 yards with a touchdown on 17 carries.

Percy Harvin
also missed practice Friday due to an illness, but coach Leslie Frazier said it’s not related to the migraine issues that
have plagued his career and listed the team’s leading receiver as questionable.

While Tebow is receiving most of the attention for Denver’s surge, a strong running game and stingy defense have perhaps even
more to do with the Broncos’ surprising playoff push.

Denver rushed for 208 yards last week, the third time during the winning streak it eclipsed the 200-yard mark. Running the
option, Tebow gained 67 yards on 22 attempts – the most carries by a quarterback since at least 1950 – and
Willis McGahee
finished with 117 yards on 23 carries.

The Broncos will be facing a Minnesota defense that is ninth against the run, allowing an average of 99.6 yards.

Denver’s defense has been at its best lately, keeping the score close to give Tebow a chance to orchestrate a comeback. The
Broncos haven’t allowed more than 13 points in their last three games.

“We would love to go and blow a team out, but if not, we’re going to fight and scratch and claw to pull (out) these so-called
ugly victories,” safety
Brian Dawkins
said. “I’ll tell you what, though … we’ll take ugly victories any day.”

Rookie linebacker
Von Miller
underwent a surgical procedure to repair a strained ligament in his left thumb on Wednesday, and returned to practice Friday.
He’s listed as questionable, but even if he does play, it’ll likely be with a cumbersome cast.

Miller is a key piece of Denver’s defense and, with 10 1/2 sacks and 58 tackles, is a favorite for the Defensive Rookie of
the Year award.

By Russ Oates

– Senior Editor

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Nov 29, 2011 – The Denver Broncos already had their Week 13 game against the Minnesota Vikings moved up by several hours to an early game start and a wider audience on FOX. Now it appears that the team’s Week 15 contest against the New England Patriots could be flexed from a late afternoon game on Dec. 18 to Sunday Night Football that day, speculates Mike Klis of the Denver Post.

Fellow AFC West member San Diego is currently in that slot to face the Baltimore Ravens. The Chargers moved to 4-7 this week after the Broncos defeated them, 16-13, in overtime on Sunday. That was the Chargers’ sixth straight loss, but they do face the Jacksonville Jaguars this week, a potential victory.

The Broncos also have an easy game lined up this week when they face the Minnesota Vikings, which, if it results in victory, would have the Broncos at 7-5. They then play the Chicago Bears in Denver the next week.

And don’t count out the Tim Tebow factor. He would certainly help draw in viewers since he would be playing on a national stage. Oh, and the potential for a Bob Costas halftime monologue about Tebow would probably turn out to be self-righteous.

For more updates on the Broncos, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more in-depth coverage of the team, head over to Mile High Report. For news from around the NFL, visit SB Nation’s NFL news hub.

Read More: New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots at Denver Broncos, Dec 18, 2011 2:15 PM MST

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