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Broncos clinging to playoff hopes

Dec 13, 2007 - 12:24 PM Denver (6-7) at Houston (6-7) Thursday 8:15 pm EST

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- With their playoff hopes teetering on elimination, the Denver Broncos produced their finest performance of the season.

The Broncos must keep the momentum going when they visit the Houston Texans on Thursday night.

Last week, Denver pummeled the Kansas City Chiefs, 41-7, behind four touchdown passes from Jay Cutler, who finished 20-of-27 for 244 yards with no interceptions.

"I thought he played very well," said coach Mike Shanahan of Cutler. "He made some plays when he was kind of getting out of the pocket looking down field. ... That comes with experience. (He made) a couple big-time plays in that game that a lot of young quarterbacks don't make because they want to stare at the area they know they want to throw to. Pretty impressive."

Emerging star Brandon Marshall hauled in 10 catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns and rookie Selvin Young provided a perfect balance by rushing for 156 yards on 17 carries as Denver snapped a two-game losing streak.

That victory may have just delayed the inevitable for the Broncos, who trail the San Diego Chargers by two games in the AFC West title chase and the Cleveland Browns by two games for the final wild card slot.

Not to mention Denver also is looking up at the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills, who both hold a one-game lead over the Broncos, so the best chance to reach the postseason may come via a division title.

The Texans will provide a bit of familiarity for Denver. Houston coach Gary Kubiak spent 11 seasons as the Broncos' offensive coordinator and Shanahan's son, Kyle, is the Texans' quarterback coach.

"I'm always rooting for Houston because our relationship with Gary when we're not playing them, and obviously you want to see your son do well," Mike Shanahan said. "You're always rooting people that you're familiar with and that you respect."

While the Texans have the same record as Denver, they trail in every tiebreaker category and have almost no shot to make it to the postseason.

Houston also is coming off one of its better effort of the season. Sage Rosenfels threw three touchdown passes to lead the Texans to a 28-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rosenfels is expected to start again in place of Matt Schaub, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in a 28-20 loss at Tennessee on December 2 and sat out Sunday's victory.

Houston's offense played well despite meager production from running back Ron Dayne, who is battling a nagging ankle injury and could sit out Thursday's game.

Dayne rushed for 17 yards on seven carries Sunday before he was replaced by undrafted rookie Darius Walker, who gained 46 yards on 16 carries.