By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

Reuben Droughns had 40 attempts and 97 yards rushing coming into the season.

Then starter Quentin Griffin twisted an ankle, and Droughns became the latest running back to rush for the NFL's best running game over the past decade.

Droughns, though he didn't have a carry in the first two games, has 399 yards and is on pace to become the fifth individual back to rush for 1,000 yards since Mike Shanahan became Denver's coach in 1995.

The Denver running back factory keeps churning out productive players, and the rush game is a big reason the Broncos have won 103 games and two Super Bowls since Shanahan took over.

Denver again is ranked first in rushing at 151.7 yards a game heading to Cincinnati for the game Monday night. The Bengals are last in in the league in rush defense at 160.4 yards a game.

The Broncos' 21,060 rushing yards in the past nine-plus seasons are the most in the NFL, and they never had won a Super Bowl with Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway until Shanahan brought the run game to town.

"We've been very blessed. We've had a number of great running backs who have been successful in the system," Shanahan said Wednesday. "I feel fortunate to have an offensive line that has worked together very well."

The Broncos employ a fast, light offensive line - four of their five starters weigh 290 pounds or less.

Their zone-blocking scheme, developed by former line coach Alex Gibbs, now Atlanta's line coach, stretches the field horizontally and opens cutback lanes.

But the tailbacks don't waste time dancing. Running backs coach Bobby Turner, who came in with Shanahan, allows backs one cut before turning up field.

They do it Turner's way or sit.

Terrell Davis was the first back in Shanahan's system. The Broncos drafted him in the sixth round in 1995 - Shanahan's first draft - and Davis rushed for 1,117 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie.

He ran for 1,000 yards in each of his first four seasons, eclipsing 2,000 in 1998. But he suffered a serious knee injury in Game 4 of 1999, and rookie Olandis Gary - a fourth-round pick - stepped in to start 12 games and rush for 1,159 yards.

But Gary also suffered a serious injury in the 2000 opener, and Shanahan went to sixth-round pick Mike Anderson, who rushed for 1,487 yards - including 92 against the Bengals - as a rookie.

Asked how the Broncos find quality backs, Shanahan said: "A combination of our scouting department (and) our coaches. We've had some people go down, and one of the reasons these guys have had opportunities is because we've have some injuries."

Davis, Anderson and Gary combined for 1,607 yards in 2001, the only year of nine that Shanahan has not had an individual 1,000-yard runner. The Broncos still finished 10th in the NFL as a team.

In 2002, the Broncos drafted Clinton Portis in the second round, and he became just the fourth back in NFL history to rush for 3,000 yards in his first two seasons. Many Denver fans gasped when Shanahan dealt Portis to Washington on March 4 in exchange for cornerback Champ Bailey and the Redskins' second-round pick.

Bailey, considered the league's top shutdown cornerback, was needed to upgrade the Broncos defense. And Shanahan was confident he had more stallions in the stable. He trotted out second-year back Griffin, another fourth-round draft pick, who rushed for 311 yards in four starts before injuring his left ankle.

Enter Droughns, who has rushed 68 times for 369 yards in the past two games, both starts and both Denver victories.

The Broncos are now 32-6 in their last 38 games when a back runs for 100 yards.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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