The Nfl

A QUICK FIX

With their 3-0 start after Sunday's 31-21 defeat of the Raiders, the Broncos have to be considered the early-season surprise of the league. The last time Denver attracted attention it was on the mat in San Diego, KO'd 42-10 by Washington in Super Bowl XXII. The Broncos had just lost their second straight Super Bowl, having yielded 1,001 yards and 81 points in the two games. The hangover carried through last season, when Denver finished 8-8 and defensive coordinator Joe Collier's sophisticated schemes confounded his players and didn't stop anyone's offense. Says Denver quarterback John Elway, "When you work so hard to get to the Super Bowl and you get blown out, and it happens twice, I don't care what anybody says, that has a big effect on a team."

Nine months ago coach Dan Reeves fired Collier and the rest of the defensive staff. The new coordinator, Wade Phillips, has taken the talent he inherited, deployed it more simply and focused it on stopping the run. So far, his strategy has worked. Denver allowed 22.0 points a game and a league-high 4.6 yards per rush in 1988. Through three games this year, those numbers are 18.3 and 3.3, and the Broncos rank first in the league against the rush. Says strong safety Dennis Smith, "With Joe, we had so many defenses, so many schemes. We've cut down on the complications. Now you can be a football player, you don't have to be a brain surgeon. I think what hurt us in the past was that when young players came in here, the best players didn't win out all the time. It was the players who learned the system the fastest."

"We'd stagnated a bit," says Denver linebacker Karl Mecklenburg. "We had to make some changes, and we did. Right now it looks like Dan Reeves is a genius."

The defense features six new starters, all of whom are 27 or younger, including outside linebacker Michael Brooks, 25, who shows signs of becoming a dominating player, and rookie free safety Steve Atwater, 22. Reeves loves Atwater's aggressiveness, especially against the run. Brooks might be the best example of how Denver has benefited from the change in defensive coordinators. Under Collier, Brooks was tentative and mistake-prone, confused by the mass of schemes. Under Phillips, says Smith, "Michael's football instincts have taken over."

"My background is to play the best athletes and get them to play to the best of their ability without mistakes," says Phillips, a friendly, unassuming guy like his dad. Bum, the former coach of the Saints and the Oilers. Before joining the Broncos, Phillips, 42, had been with the Eagles. He had the title of defensive coordinator, but coach Buddy Ryan was really the leader of the unit. Phillips holds Ryan in high regard, and he brought some elements of Ryan's 46 defense with him—especially the eight-man front Denver frequently uses to stop the run.

Says Smith, 30, "Having all these young guys makes me feel young again. I feel just as young as them."

NEGOTIATION OF THE YEAR
Two hours and 45 minutes before Philadelphia took the field against Washington at RFK Stadium in Week 2, Eagle quarterback Randall Cunningham was in the Arlington, Va., hotel suite of Philly general manager Harry Gamble. Cunningham was on the phone with his agent, Jim Steiner, who was explaining Cunningham's new contract, point by point. "Jim, I've got a game today, you know," Cunningham said. "I've got to catch the bus." Steiner hurried. When Steiner had finished, Cunningham signed in Gamble's room. The deal: seven years, including the two remaining years of his current contract; $20,245 million, most of which is guaranteed. The average: $2.89 million a year. The contract is the richest ever in football, baseball or hockey, though it's exceeded by half a dozen contracts in basketball. Steiner negotiated most of the deal face-to-face with Gamble before leaving for vacation in Bermuda on Sept. 13. He completed it from the veranda of his hotel room overlooking the Atlantic. "You've just secured your future. You're a rich man," Steiner told the quarterback later. "Rich in wisdom," replied Cunningham.

THE DREAD VELCRO PENALTY

San Diego's new punter, 30-year-old Hank Ilesic, late of Toronto in the CFL, needed a work permit from the Immigration and Naturalization Service last week before he could play against Kansas City. The Chargers were able to arrange it. Then he needed to remake his shoes. A minute before kickoff, officials told Ilesic his shoes were illegal because they had Velcro straps over the laces. So, much to his chagrin, he had to cut away the Velcro of his Cana Sport shoes. The Chargers rallied behind Ilesic. "Our motto was, 'Win one for the shoe,' " said linebacker Billy Ray Smith. Ilesic averaged 44.8 yards on five punts. San Diego won 21-6.