Broncos defense, Williams shake off poor performance against Indy

DENVER (AP) Darrent Williams' sense of humor was already back Monday, along with his smile. <br/><br/>The second-year cornerback stormed out of the locker room Sunday following Denver's 34-31

Monday, October 30th 2006, 8:11 pm

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) Darrent Williams' sense of humor was already back Monday, along with his smile.

The second-year cornerback stormed out of the locker room Sunday following Denver's 34-31 loss to Indianapolis in which he was picked on repeatedly.

On Monday, Williams watched himself on film surrendering 3 touchdowns to receiver Reggie Wayne, who caught 10 passes for 138 yards, and came to a surprising conclusion.

``It looked like I had a terrible game,'' Williams said. ``When I watched film, I really didn't have a bad game.''

Well, at least not when compared to what Wayne did to his predecessor, Roc Alexander, who gave up 221 yards and 2 scores to him in the 2004 playoffs.

``I cut it in half,'' Williams said. ``Next time I'm going to cut the (138) in half. I won't back down from nobody.''

There were questions about Williams' confidence level after getting picked on and bullied around by Peyton Manning but his bruised ego had already healed a day after facing the Colts' high-octane offense.

Denver's defense is another matter.

The Broncos couldn't put any pressure on Manning, who completed 32 of 39 passes for 345 yards against a defense that was built with him in mind.

``It's the great Peyton Manning. That's what I call him now,'' Williams said. ``If you let him sit back there, I don't care who you have back there, you can get all the Hall of Famers, bring them back in their prime, and he'll pick them apart. You've got to get pressure on him.''

Yet, even though the front four, which was without defensive tackle Gerard Warren (toe), was unable to pressure Manning, the Broncos hardly blitzed Sunday. Coach Mike Shanahan said he stuck with the base defense because it had performed so well for the first six weeks and again in the first half when the Colts managed just 2 field goals.

``You've got to get (pressure) out of your base defense if you're going to be a great defense,'' Shanahan said. ``We didn't have the push up front that we normally have. Until we played Peyton, we were doing all right. Some people are going to get exposed (against) a guy like Peyton.''

Champ Bailey wasn't so much surprised at the lack of pressure but by all the Broncos' mistakes and miscommunications.

On Wayne's second touchdown, a 12-yarder in the 3rd quarter, Williams thought the Broncos were in zone coverage and safety John Lynch played it like man coverage.

Blown assignments like that have been rare this season.

``We've been so sound in every part of the game,'' Bailey said. ``We've been a solid defense up to this point. It's a letdown to give up 34 points like that.''

Before Williams stomped out of the locker room Sunday, linebacker Al Wilson called him over for a little 1-on-1 chat.

``He said, 'Man, you played a good game. It wasn't your fault,''' Williams recounted.

Williams also received calls of support from his coaches at Oklahoma State and fellow cornerback Domonique Foxworth, who knew what Williams was going through. Foxworth was picked on by Ben Roethlisberger during the Pittsburgh Steelers' 34-17 win in last season's AFC championship game.

``They cheered me up,'' Williams said.

On Monday, though, all he heard and read was what a bad game he'd had.

``That's the nature of this league,'' Williams said. ``It's like, 'Start another corner, get rid of Darrent.' I don't get down. I know I actually didn't play a bad game.''