When Peyton Hillis suffered a season-ending hamstring injury last week, the Broncos found themselves down to their seventh option at tailback for Sunday's game at Carolina. Five tailbacks are on injured reserve and a sixth, Selvin Young, has only one carry since injuring his groin eight weeks ago.

Still, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan seemed unfazed.

"We'll still be all right," Shanahan said.

Right now the Broncos have four tailbacks on the roster. Tatum Bell has the most experience, was Hillis' primary backup and played the entire second half after Hillis was injured against Kansas City. Bell did have a 1,000-yard season for the Broncos in 2006, but he also spent two months out of football this season.

Bell did have 52 yards against the Chiefs, although 28 came on one fourth-down carry. Shanahan said Bell has done well in his opportunities.

"I'm ready," Bell said. "They've been getting me ready in case this situation happened. When they need me, I'm ready for it."

Bell is very unlikely to take a large majority of the carries, even if he is the starter. The Broncos split up carries between Young, Andre Hall and Michael Pittman early in the season, usually with nobody getting many more than 10 carries, and they could employ a similar approach with their remaining backs.

Young did start the first five games of this season, but has been largely forgotten about during his injury. Shanahan said he was close to playing last week. Young could need some time to get back into football shape after missing more than two months. P.J. Pope and Cory Boyd have four career carries between them, all by Pope. But Hillis had three carries before being pressed into service as a tailback and he was successful before his injury, so nobody can be ruled out.

Pope did have 35 yards on those four carries against Atlanta, but didn't have a carry in the three games that followed. Boyd was added from the practice squad, and Shanahan said the team liked him coming out of college. His biggest challenge is learning the offense. He was signed to the practice squad in early November so he hasn't been with the Broncos long.

Shanahan thinks the remaining backs have talent, which is a credit to the front office.

"For us to feel good about our tailbacks and where we are at with six backs being down and this being our seventh guy, really says a lot about what we have been doing in the personnel department," Shanahan said.

SERIES HISTORY: 3rd regular-season meeting. Broncos lead series, 2-0, with both games coming in Denver. The Broncos have never played at Carolina in the regular season, but played two preseason games there. One was at Clemson, S.C., during the Panthers' 1995 expansion season and the other was in Charlotte in 1997.