They know the Buffalo Bills are among the league's top three in almost every major special-teams category.

They know Terrence McGee is one of only 10 players in NFL history with five kickoff returns for touchdowns in a career. They know he had three of those in one season (2004) for Buffalo.

And they know the Bills are so deep in the return game, so explosive and so proficient, that McGee isn't even the guy with the ball in his hands these days.

"What can you say about that?" Broncos special-teams coach Scott O'Brien asked. "McGee doesn't even play right now. That means you're pretty . . . good."

Buffalo is all that. Good enough that McGee has returned only three kickoffs this season because rookie cornerback Leodis Mc- Kelvin is second in the league with a 29.3-yard kickoff-return average, including a 98-yard touchdown.

Good enough that Roscoe Parrish leads the league in punt returns, averaging 15.3 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown. Parrish will be a familiar sight to the Broncos. He's the guy who blasted past four players waiting to make the tackle in the 2007 opener on the way to a 74-yard touchdown jaunt.

"There's no magic to it. They play hard, real hard, not to mention the returners they have back there," said Broncos linebacker Louis Green, a regular on the team's coverage units. "Anytime the ball touches their hands, they can take it all the way. But they play their assignment, play them hard and we have to match that. We've got a lot riding on this game."

And in a game the Broncos need to assure themselves a playoff spot before hitting the road for the season finale in San Diego, they have to avoid the bobbles that have happened thus far.

Since allowing a 58-yard kickoff return by Oakland's Johnnie Lee Higgins in the opener, the Broncos have surrendered nine other kickoff returns of at least 33 yards. They have surrendered seven kickoff returns of at least 40 yards, including a 103-yard touchdown return by the Chargers' Darren Sproles in Week 2.

On punt returns, the Broncos, including Higgins' 89-yarder for a score last month, have given up four of at least 17 yards and three of at least 32 yards.

That is plenty of field position and momentum riding on a handful of plays in a game. And with players such as McKelvin and Parrish, a coverage unit only has to make a small mistake before it turns into a big problem.

They both are decisive with the ball, as is McGee, and when they see someone stray from their coverage lane, they attack the open space.

"See a crack and go" is how McGee described it. "You don't wait for something better. See it and hit it."

"The returner, you can say, he makes the blockers look good, in my opinion," O'Brien said. "Blockers don't make him look good. Sure, blockers help returners, but have a great returner back there, it makes everybody look good. I mean, they don't need blocks half the time - but when you have that kind of returner back there, it does something to the whole group. The guys in front of them, they raise themselves, too."

Bills coach Dick Jauron gave credit to longtime special-teams coach Bobby April, who has been in Buffalo since the start of the 2004 season, for production that has kept the team near the top of the league's ranking during that period.

"The No. 1 tip of the hat goes to the players. . . . They're good players and they've applied themselves," Jauron said. "Bobby is a high-energy guy, very smart guy, does a great job in preparation, and our guys work awfully hard at it. They buy into it.

"He makes it fun, he makes it exciting and every week he's right on."

Like many teams that flourish on special teams, April is allocated several roster spots each season for players who might not have nearly as big a role on offense or defense as they do on special teams.

Parrish, at 5-foot-9, 168 pounds, was the smallest receiver in the 2005 draft, but he also set a record at Miami with a 92-yard punt return for a touchdown against Boston College.

Former Hurricanes coach Larry Coker once called him "the most exciting player I ever coached."

For his part, McKelvin, who was the Bills' first-round pick in April, was a rare draft-day combination - an elite cornerback prospect who also happened to be the best returner on the board. Mc- Kelvin returned seven punts and one kickoff for touchdowns in his career at Troy.

"Any team that's great on special teams, all of them have great returners," Green said. "And you have guys out there in front of them busting their butts, and when you have a returner, that can make any block a good one. They have all that, they are very up-tempo and they know what they're doing."

"They have specialists," O'Brien said. "Specialists who are very, very good at what they do."

INFOBOX

Extra helping of trouble

The Buffalo Bills' special teams are among the leaders in most special- teams categories this season.

Avg. NFL Category No. rank

Avg. drive start (yard line) 32.2 1

Punt return average-team 15.0 1

Kick return average-team 25.0 3

Punt returns-Roscoe Parrish 15.3 1

Kick returns-Leodis McKelvin 29.3 2

Opponent kick returns 20.0 2