Broncos Surpass Expectations; Elam's Improvement & More

Broncos owner Pat Bowlen understands the fluidity of expectations.
Before this season, the lines in Las Vegas and nearly every preseason publication expected Bowlen's Broncos to finish somewhere from 7-9 to 9-7.
Now that the Broncos are 9-3, expectations have been raised. Given their remaining schedule, anything less than a 12-4 record, an AFC West division title and a No. 2 seed in the conference playoffs would be considered a disappointment.
"That doesn't surprise me one bit," Bowlen said.
And what are Bowlen's feelings about his team's season?
"I'm unhappy we lost to Kansas City," he said. "It's a game we could have and should have won. But at the three-quarter mark, I'll take 9-3. I don't think anybody would have expected that before we got started. What I like is all those things you talked about that are in front of us are in our hands. We have a talented team, but maybe more than that, we have a very mature team."
The Elam one-step
This is a rare case when injury has boosted performance. The once-troublesome calf muscle in the left (non-kicking) leg of the Broncos' Jason Elam is 100 percent healthy. But because he has made 100 percent of his field goals since tweaking the calf, Elam will continue to kick as though he's gimpy.
It's the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory of kicking. Before the Broncos' game last month against the New York Jets, Elam hurt his calf enough to shorten the 2 1/2-step approach he used throughout his 13-year career to a step-and-kick maneuver.
After an early-season slump when he made 11-of-17 field-goal attempts, Elam has gone 8-for-8 since a late-game miss against the New York Giants, including 5-for-5 with the one step.
"I'm not changing until I miss," Elam said, "and even then I may stay with it."
A challenge the one step has yet to meet is the 50-yard attempt. His two longest one-step strikes were from 47 and 40.
Lynch decision coming
The NFL is reviewing the penalties Broncos safety John Lynch received first for a helmet-to-helmet hit against Kansas City receiver Eddie Kennison and later for unsportsmanlike conduct. Back judge Kirk Dornan called both penalties.
Ordinarily, the NFL announces its disciplinary findings on Friday, but given the publicity with this case, a decision could come earlier.
The video presentation presented Monday by Broncos coach Mike Shanahan and CBS replays viewers saw in-game Sunday appeared to show Lynch struck Kennison with his shoulder.
The Broncos hope the punishment levied against Lynch is nothing more than the 20 yards assessed for the two penalties.
Footnotes
With an average of 7.27 yards to go on second down, the Broncos rank second in the NFL. The Indianapolis Colts are first, averaging 6.78 yards to go on second down. ... Then there's third down, where the Broncos rank 29th by converting a mere 33.1 percent. Only Pittsburgh (31.9 percent), Chicago (28.5) and San Francisco (24.3 percent) are worse. Don't bother asking who's No. 1 in third-down conversions. It's Indy at a whopping 52.6 percent. ... So much for the benefits of having three extra days to rest and prepare. The four Thanksgiving Day participants - Denver, Atlanta, Dallas and Detroit - went 0-4 last weekend.