Atlas
06-04-2005, 12:44 AM
Alexander left wanting
Broncos defender learns from errors
By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
June 4, 2005
When most of the football world last saw Roc Alexander, he was slumped in a chair inside the RCA Dome, blood on his left knee where a patch of skin used to be, bruised both in body and spirit.
For the better part of a playoff afternoon this past January, he found himself in the front row, taking his lumps in the league's classroom of experience.
"Oh, yeah, I remember sitting in that chair," Alexander said. "Anytime you get beat like that, I took it all upon me. That's what you've got to do, take it upon yourself. I'm not going to say I was a rookie or that's the position I play or anything like that. That's what I feel I have to do, take it upon myself to make me better and stronger.
"You can't hide. I'm not gonna hide."
Alexander was a Broncos rookie cornerback last year. He was the one tossed into the deep end in Denver's 49-24 playoff loss to the Colts, a game in which Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 457 yards and four touchdowns.
In the Broncos' defensive plan, Denver's coaches had tried to divvy up their defensive backs on the Colts' three 1,000-yard receivers. Champ Bailey ended up on Marvin Harrison much of the time, Kelly Herndon was on Brandon Stokley, and that left Alexander on Reggie Wayne for most of the game.
Wayne finished with 10 receptions for 221 yards - it was the third-best postseason total for a receiver in history - and Alexander was penalized three times in the game, twice for pass interference and once for holding.
"I watched the Indy game over and over," Alexander said. "Just watched it at home. You have to watch yourself to see what you can do better the next time. How else are you going to learn what you did wrong?
"I had to see my mistakes. I'm still living, you know. But I know I'm better than that. Everybody's good in this league and (Reggie Wayne) is really good, but I know I'm better than that."
So that is how Alexander has approached this off-season, wanting - on a team that used three of its six draft picks on cornerbacks in April - to show he is better than that.
Wanting to play, wanting to contribute. Wanting, as he puts it, to "go out there every day and compete, do my job and keep fighting every day."
Bailey was asked this week, as the Broncos continue their June mini-camp, how Alexander was coming along.
"Good," Bailey said. "Just technique, he's young, he's still learning, too. He's probably the fastest guy on the team. That boy can run. . . . He's still raw, but he's good, he's going to get so much better."
Alexander was one of the Broncos' undrafted rookies last season, a player who caught coach Mike Shanahan's eye in training camp. Shanahan said for much of last season that he liked Alexander's competitiveness, that he had "speed and toughness."
The former University of Washington cornerback was one of the fastest players at the 2004 scouting combine, with a 4.31-second 40-yard dash. He almost certainly would have been drafted had it not been for an extensive injury history as well as a lawsuit against him.
But he missed no games because of injuries this past season, playing all 17 games for the Broncos and starting one - Christmas night against the Tennessee Titans.
"It was amazing; for me just to stay healthy, the whole year was unbelievable," Alexander said.
And in a year when the Broncos lost safety Kenoy Kennedy and cornerback Kelly Herndon in free agency, Alexander is in a mix of eight cornerbacks on the team's current roster who have less than two seasons of experience and are all looking for playing time.
There also is the matter of the Broncos planning for the future as well. Lenny Walls, who played in only seven games this past season and will enter training camp as the starter at the right cornerback spot, will be a free agent at season's end.
Walls entered training camp last year as a starter as well but lost the job to Herndon after injuring his ankle in training camp.
"I don't know what the coaches think right now, but I want to compete for a spot," Alexander said. "I talk to Champ (Bailey) every day. I feel like I'm more into the group this year because it's my second year. When you're a rookie, you're just trying to kind of fit in, but this year I'm more part of the group. It's easier for me to talk to them, get some help.
"Experience helps. It wasn't fun, but it helped. I learned it's a different level out there, just a different level than where you were at before, and you have to see it first, maybe. I just go from there."
Broncos defender learns from errors
By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News
June 4, 2005
When most of the football world last saw Roc Alexander, he was slumped in a chair inside the RCA Dome, blood on his left knee where a patch of skin used to be, bruised both in body and spirit.
For the better part of a playoff afternoon this past January, he found himself in the front row, taking his lumps in the league's classroom of experience.
"Oh, yeah, I remember sitting in that chair," Alexander said. "Anytime you get beat like that, I took it all upon me. That's what you've got to do, take it upon yourself. I'm not going to say I was a rookie or that's the position I play or anything like that. That's what I feel I have to do, take it upon myself to make me better and stronger.
"You can't hide. I'm not gonna hide."
Alexander was a Broncos rookie cornerback last year. He was the one tossed into the deep end in Denver's 49-24 playoff loss to the Colts, a game in which Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 457 yards and four touchdowns.
In the Broncos' defensive plan, Denver's coaches had tried to divvy up their defensive backs on the Colts' three 1,000-yard receivers. Champ Bailey ended up on Marvin Harrison much of the time, Kelly Herndon was on Brandon Stokley, and that left Alexander on Reggie Wayne for most of the game.
Wayne finished with 10 receptions for 221 yards - it was the third-best postseason total for a receiver in history - and Alexander was penalized three times in the game, twice for pass interference and once for holding.
"I watched the Indy game over and over," Alexander said. "Just watched it at home. You have to watch yourself to see what you can do better the next time. How else are you going to learn what you did wrong?
"I had to see my mistakes. I'm still living, you know. But I know I'm better than that. Everybody's good in this league and (Reggie Wayne) is really good, but I know I'm better than that."
So that is how Alexander has approached this off-season, wanting - on a team that used three of its six draft picks on cornerbacks in April - to show he is better than that.
Wanting to play, wanting to contribute. Wanting, as he puts it, to "go out there every day and compete, do my job and keep fighting every day."
Bailey was asked this week, as the Broncos continue their June mini-camp, how Alexander was coming along.
"Good," Bailey said. "Just technique, he's young, he's still learning, too. He's probably the fastest guy on the team. That boy can run. . . . He's still raw, but he's good, he's going to get so much better."
Alexander was one of the Broncos' undrafted rookies last season, a player who caught coach Mike Shanahan's eye in training camp. Shanahan said for much of last season that he liked Alexander's competitiveness, that he had "speed and toughness."
The former University of Washington cornerback was one of the fastest players at the 2004 scouting combine, with a 4.31-second 40-yard dash. He almost certainly would have been drafted had it not been for an extensive injury history as well as a lawsuit against him.
But he missed no games because of injuries this past season, playing all 17 games for the Broncos and starting one - Christmas night against the Tennessee Titans.
"It was amazing; for me just to stay healthy, the whole year was unbelievable," Alexander said.
And in a year when the Broncos lost safety Kenoy Kennedy and cornerback Kelly Herndon in free agency, Alexander is in a mix of eight cornerbacks on the team's current roster who have less than two seasons of experience and are all looking for playing time.
There also is the matter of the Broncos planning for the future as well. Lenny Walls, who played in only seven games this past season and will enter training camp as the starter at the right cornerback spot, will be a free agent at season's end.
Walls entered training camp last year as a starter as well but lost the job to Herndon after injuring his ankle in training camp.
"I don't know what the coaches think right now, but I want to compete for a spot," Alexander said. "I talk to Champ (Bailey) every day. I feel like I'm more into the group this year because it's my second year. When you're a rookie, you're just trying to kind of fit in, but this year I'm more part of the group. It's easier for me to talk to them, get some help.
"Experience helps. It wasn't fun, but it helped. I learned it's a different level out there, just a different level than where you were at before, and you have to see it first, maybe. I just go from there."