From the Rocky Mountain News....Krieger: Bell taking another run at starting jobOctober 10, 2005If ever there was a moment for Tatum Bell to make public his private determination to be the Broncos' starting tailback, this was it. After all, his 34-yard touchdown scamper on fourth down in the first quarter was the longest of his NFL career, a record he broke two quarters later with a 55-yard breakaway that provided the narrow margin of victory. So when I asked him afterward if he wanted Mike Anderson's job, he didn't flinch. "Yeah, that's my goal," he said. "I want to be the starter and I want to hold on to it. I don't want to be just a one-game wonder." This will have to pass for controversy on a team where, let's face it, all you had to do was look across the field at the other No. 26 to see where talking too much can get you. Let's just say the trade of Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey and the second-round draft pick that became Bell looks pretty good when the second-round pick outplays Portis all by himself on a day Bailey sits out. But Bell, clearly, wants the sort of screen time Portis used to get here. When I mentioned this to Anderson, the veteran smiled. "I know he do," Anderson said. "Because the more he push, the more I'm going to push. So it's friendly competition, but I'm not looking over my shoulder. I can't be looking over my shoulder." After Sunday, I suggested, he might have to push a little harder to hold onto the starting job. "Hey, it's no problem with that," Anderson said, smiling again. "I'm very happy for him. Seriously. Very happy for him. I mean, couldn't have been a better time for him to step up and come through than (Sunday)." At 32, Anderson sees the competition somewhat differently. "It's not about who's out there," he said. "It's about getting it done. That's how we've been approaching this thing since training camp. Just whoever's out there, at fullback or tailback, get it done, and the rest of the guys on the side cheering for him. That's all that matters to us." Still, steady and reliable as Anderson is, he does not have the moves of Bell, eight years his junior. Ever since Quentin Griffin lost the starting job early last season, the door has been open for Bell. You can almost see Mike Shanahan urging him to walk through. "We knew he had that type of ability, but he's been kind of hampered by injuries," Shanahan said. "He hasn't been able to step up in a full-time role. But when he did get his opportunities (Sunday), he took advantage of it." Despite the Broncos' rosy record so far, this is more than an academic discussion. On a day when the passing game was nearly nonexistent, playmaking was at a premium. Bell was the Broncos' lone playmaker on offense. Given their current offensive limitations, can the Broncos afford to leave him an understudy? "Right from the beginning of training camp and all throughout the off-season Mike was going with the No. 1s from the get-go," Bell said. "So I kind of put that in my head that I need to work harder and harder to keep pushing him. "But he's been working even harder. And obviously, he was doing something that I wasn't doing. And still to (Sunday) he's doing something I'm not doing because he's still the starter. So I've just got to keep waiting my time. When I get the chance to start, I've just got to keep on pushing forward and not looking backwards." Including Ron Dayne, the Broncos have used three tailbacks this season, but it looked like it narrowed to a two-man battle Sunday. Here's the tote board: Through five games, Anderson has 301 yards on 73 carries, a perfectly respectable 4.1-yards-per-carry average. Bell has 281 yards on 45 carries, a 6.2-yard average that dwarfs even the remarkable averages Portis managed in his two seasons as the Broncos' No. 26. This makes the battle seem like no contest, except that playing tailback for the Broncos entails more than just running the ball. "From my end, I think I've just got to work on being more consistent in practice," Bell said. "I've been catching the ball better, I've been making the right reads and cuts in practice and picking up the blitz. I just need to work on doing it more consistently every day." There's little doubt that Shanahan would like Bell to win the job. Ever since Portis was traded, the Broncos have been looking for a playmaker. The new No. 26 just might be it. Sunday, he launched his campaign.