ENGLEWOOD - Open wide, Broncos starters. Here come the Brussels sprouts, castor oil and lima beans.

The Broncos regulars will finish their preseason game action tonight with what could be a little more than a half of work for some against the Cleveland Browns. And for most, it is a thankful end of the game action that doesn't count on the season's docket.

"I don't like preseason, to be honest with you, but it's part of what we have to do," Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. "So I try to take advantage of it and try to get a little bit better, I'm always trying to perfect what I do and how I do it.

"But does that mean I like it? No, I don't like it. If the players don't make it change, it won't change. Obviously, every team in this league makes a lot of money with games they don't have to pay us for."

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan routinely has given his front-line players the final preseason game off - Thursday night against the Arizona Cardinals - so work tonight against the Browns will be the final opportunity before the Sept. 9 regular- season opener in Buffalo, N.Y., to smooth some rough edges.

The other side of that coin, away from those in the seats who have paid full-price fare for a preseason game, is the Broncos already have lost defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban for the season because of a torn right Achilles' tendon suffered in Dallas.

"Every time you're out there you've got to take it seriously and work on your stuff," Bailey said. "But the thing about the preseason is injuries. You hate to lose somebody in a game that you won't remember three, four weeks from now.

"I think that's everybody's concern, but we know we have things to work on, too."

That is true on both sides of the ball at the moment for the Broncos.

Offensively, with little game-planning thus far, the starters scored a touchdown on their first possession of the preseason - it was an eight-play drive to begin the game in San Francisco - but that is their only touchdown drive of the preseason.

They kicked two field goals in six first- half possessions against the Cowboys - the seventh drive was one running play to end the half.

"We know we've got some things to do," quarterback Jay Cutler said.

Defensively, the Broncos have surrendered 144 and 190 yards rushing, respectively, against the 49ers and Cowboys. Players have put those numbers on execution, of over-running plays or bad angles on tackling.

The Browns, though, have rushed for only 176 yards in the preseason, with Jamal Lewis carrying the ball 11 times.

"You don't want to show everything you have," Broncos cornerback Dré Bly said. "You're pointing to that first game. Right now, you want to establish a demeanor.

"When we get to the season, you put that demeanor with the scheme we're going to play and you play hard and then you have something."

Coaches long have debated what the preseason can bring beyond the evaluation process of taking a roster approaching 90 players and cutting to 53 by Sept. 1.

The Indianapolis Colts, for example, went 1-3 in the 2006 preseason on the way to a 12-4 record and a Super Bowl win. In 2005, the Colts went 0-5 in the preseason, with coach Tony Dungy taking some criticism along the way after losing the preseason finale that year 38-0.

That team went on to finish 14-2, including a 13-0 start.

"As a younger player, the thing you wanted to try to do was open up eyes," Bly said. "You wanted to excite the coaches, show them what you can do, that you can play in this league.

"But I've been in this league eight years and now I want to be healthy, make sure I'm in shape, just get my body ready for the regular season. You've got guys who are probably not going to make the team, but they're out there trying to open eyes because this is their chance. They are willing to do whatever they need to do to make the squad, and sometimes guys get injured because of that."

For their part, the Broncos also say it's clear from the first meeting of training camp that Shanahan might not always play the regulars but does expect the players that are on the field to win the game.

"People think that because the starters don't play the whole way that we don't care or something, but winning games is winning games," Broncos tight end Stephen Alexander said. "The objective is to win the game. That's all coach Shanahan talks about; he doesn't care who's playing, who's in the game, their objective is to win the game.

"He's not going into these things just wanting to get through it, he wants to win. He's not going to do it at the expense of losing a guy for the season, that's the only difference."

ETC.: Browns coach Romeo Crennel has said Charlie Frye will start at quarterback tonight, with Derek Anderson following in the rotation. Rookie Brady Quinn, who missed 11 days of camp as a holdout, is expected to play in the second half. . . . In Shanahan's tenure, the Broncos are 9-3 in their second-to-last preseason game when the starters traditionally have played the most. . . . The Broncos have faced the Browns only once before in the preseason - a 19-10 win in 1983.

legwoldj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2359

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