Broncos have many issues, two game lead in West

In the topsy-turvy world of all things Bronco, there is Marcus Thomas.

A 305-pound defensive tackle who now has an interception this season after his grab of an errant Jeff Garcia throw Sunday, but no sacks.

"I'm a little backward right now, I guess . . . ," Thomas said. "Hopefully, a sack or two will come, but we're winning, and if an interception helps, I'll take that. Whatever we need to win, that's what you want."

The Broncos returned to the winning side of their ledger Sunday with a 16-13 home victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are 4-1, already two games ahead of second-place San Diego in the AFC West and with a 39-38 victory against the Chargers also in hand.

And they have done this with a run defense that has been spotty at times, a pass rush that has been spotty at times, a pass defense that has been spotty at times and special teams that, yes, have been spotty at times.

So while they aren't always much to look at, they do seem to like their personality.

"(The) object is to win," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "That's the bottom line."

"We know what we have here," cornerback Champ Bailey said. "We know what we can do, we know what we need to do. You always want to win, then you can look at it and see what you need to do better. But first win, that's always the first thing."

Seems everybody moved on from the loss last week in Kansas City. After struggling in most phases of the three phases of the game, the Broncos did just enough to beat the Buccaneers to the finish line by a nose.

They got a little power running from Michael Pittman, got enough of a pass rush to have three sacks -- a fourth was negated by a penalty -- and had enough composure to beat the Buccaneers at their own game of forcing passes that turn into interceptions.

They were tied for the league lead with eight interceptions coming into Denver. Jay Cutler's longest pass was a 33-yard catch-and-run by tight end Tony Scheffler, but he stuck to the plan and finished without an interception, though Buccaneers defensive end Kevin Carter did drop one.

"I was very pleased with Jay," Shanahan said. "You cannot go downfield against this team."

"That's not really my thing," Cutler said of the offensive downshift. "We are used to throwing the ball down the field a lot, and we couldn't do it against this defense."

The Buccaneers also had been among the league leaders in sacks, with 11 coming in, but they didn't get to Cutler. Denver is the first team to hold Tampa Bay without a sack this season.

So in the end, the Broncos have walked the high wire for three wins, winging it around to score enough points to hang on. And they have wrestled around in the grass, got a little dirt under their fingernails.

And where they go from here, well, even they might not know.

Most involved in the Broncos defense have promised a pass rush would arrive at some point.

After three sacks in the opener in Oakland, the Broncos had three sacks in their next three games combined as Philip Rivers, Drew Brees and Damon Huard had time to pick and choose what they wanted to do.

"But you could tell all week, you could tell they were tired of not getting pressure, of not getting it done," linebacker Boss Bailey said.

The Broncos -- half their 2007 draft class was out of uniform, with defensive ends Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder game-day inactives -- sacked Brian Griese three times before knocking him out of the game.

They varied defensive fronts, showed a variety of blitzes and had their most consistent game overall. Defensive end Elvis Dumervil, who has led the team in sacks each of the previous two seasons, got his first sack this year as well.

"I always think the hardest sacks to get are the first one and the one that gives you 10 (for the season)," Dumervil said. "I think they'll come in bunches now."

(Jeff Legwold is a sportswriter with the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado.)