A quarterback. A running back. And a wide receiver.

It is a not-so-magic, yet proven, number of postseason success. And with the Broncos now having left themselves with just two chances remaining to win the one game that would put them into the new year, their offensive struggles in Carolina on Sunday are a red flag.

It's clear the Broncos offense is now going to have to do the heavy lifting in the schedule that remains.

* Because cornerback Champ Bailey, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, missed his seventh game Sunday with a groin injury he suffered in October.

* Because linebacker D.J. Williams has just returned after missing five games with a knee injury and because the Broncos started their sixth different player - linebacker Wesley Woodyard - at safety.

* Because the Broncos don't always sack quarterbacks enough, don't always stop the run well enough and, when they try something different, such as three men up front or four linebackers behind them, they have not had success.

So their offense, despite its own problems and injury woes, is simply going to have to pull a little harder.

A sky-is-blue breakdown in some ways, to be sure, but the Broncos need their three-pack and they need it right now.

They have the quarterback in Jay Cutler. He needs only 149 yards to accomplish the third 4,000-yard passing season in franchise history and only four touchdown passes to set the franchise's single-season record. And he has done both with what will be the least-productive rushing attack in Mike Shanahan's tenure.

Which brings us to running back. Five currently are on injured reserve, including the team's top two rushers - Peyton Hillis and Michael Pittman - with three of those backs having started at least one game.

As a result, the Broncos have played mix-and-match all season in the backfield. If Sunday is any indication, it's P.J. Pope, who started the season on the team's practice squad, who may have to rise above.

Selvin Young fumbled deep in the Broncos' own territory just before halftime Sunday and didn't get a carry the rest of the game. Tatum Bell, who had 30 of his 43 rushing yards against the Panthers on his last two carries of the game when the Panthers led by 20, has some personnel executives around the league asking if he can regain the explosiveness that pushed him over 1,000 yards for the Broncos in 2006.

Then there's the third side of the offensive triangle - receiver. Brandon Marshall, who has secured his second 1,000-yard season, continues to wrestle with the increased expectations he covets, as well as the increased attention he's getting from the kind of defenses the Broncos would see in the postseason.

Without a consistent running game to pull defenders closer to the line of scrimmage, the crowd around him isn't going to get any smaller. Also, his 88 catches tie him for fifth in the league, but his 12.3 yards per catch is 49th, as defenses have learned - they say - to wait for the spin and keep him hemmed in once he has the ball.

All of this leaves the Broncos needing one more win and waiting for someone to get it for them.

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GET IT DONE

The Broncos, especially early this season, have seen things go sour when they have bobbled in the return game.

And in the Bills, they get one of the best kick- and punt-return teams in the league.

Buffalo has dominant, explosive players with the ball on punts and kickoffs. Roscoe Parrish, who returned a punt for a touchdown against the Broncos in the 2007 opener, is averaging an eyebrow-raising 15.3 yards per punt return.

When Parrish clears the first defender, and there aren't many better at it right now, he doesn't waste motion and gets into the gap with look-at-my-back speed.

On kickoffs, the Bills have rookie Leodis McKelvin, who had eight kickoff and punt returns combined for scores in his collegiate career at Troy, including three in his senior season. McKelvin is averaging a league-leading 29.3 yards per return and had a 98-yarder for a score this season.

McKelvin, having run 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the combine, also was one of the fastest players available in the draft. He, too, will turn one missed tackle into a score.

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BREAK IT DOWN

The Broncos' dominant formation on offense for much of this season has been the two-tight-end look.

But with so many injuries at running back - Tatum Bell and P.J. Pope, two of the top three on the depth chart, weren't even on the active roster when the season began - the Broncos have tried to create some space for them to work.

"When we have the ball, we just have to run hard and get up the field," Pope said. "When we find a rhythm, hit the hole, we move the ball. We can't turn it over, and when we see some room, we have to get up the field."

The Broncos opened up the formation several times against the Panthers in an attempt to spread out the defenders, then worked the middle of the field more often than when things are clicking in their rushing attack.

The gaps are a little wider and the offense is attacking, in general, a smaller look on a defense that will have five or six defensive backs on the field.

On Sunday, the Broncos ran out of a three- or four-receiver formation 14 times - 12 of those in a three-receiver set and twice in a four-receiver set, with one of those being a Jay Cutler scramble.

Those 14 carries also accounted for 93 of the Broncos' 121 rushing yards, but 58 of the yards came in mop-up on the Broncos' last possession when things long had been decided.

They might have to do it a little more this week if Buffalo pushes its defensive linemen up the field to try to get to Cutler.

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MATCH GAME: Broncos DE Elvis Dumervil vs. Buffalo LT Jason Peters

The Broncos need some of the game-changing plays Dumervil has provided at times during his career.

But , Peters - at 340 pounds - is a different kind of athlete. He played as a 325-pound tight end at Arkansas and ran an almost improbable 4.87 seconds in the 40-yard dash at that weight at the 2004 scouting combine.

He had 21 receptions and four touchdowns in his senior season with the Razorbacks. The Bills signed him as an undrafted rookie in 2004, and though they liked the way he caught the ball in his first minicamp, it didn't take long to make him a left tackle.

Peters moves well and is seeking a new contract after his first Pro Bowl selection last season. Dumervil often can get bigger players off balance by driving into them, and the Broncos certainly need him in the rush.

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HOT SPOT

With Champ Bailey out of the lineup, the Broncos have had some difficulty trying to direct opposing passing attacks where they would like them go.

Carolina's Steve Smith quickly turned Sunday's game into a rout when he easily worked the spaces left behind in a Broncos defensive scheme loaded along the line of scrimmage.

The Bills' Lee Evans is not as powerful as Smith in traffic, but at 16.7 yards a catch, it's clear Evans knows how to make room for himself down the field. A rare player who has maintained his elite speed despite two anterior cruciate ligament surgeries in his knees, Evans still can run by most cornerbacks in the league.

Buffalo also runs the ball well enough - Marshawn Lynch has more than 1,000 yards for the season - for the Broncos to have to commit to the line of scrimmage again.

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Numbers game

The Bills and the Broncos are among the league's bottom five in turnover margin this season.

Turnover Team margin Record Rank

Buffalo -9 6-8 28th

Houston -10 7-7 29th

St. Louis -11 2-12 30th

Broncos -13 8-6 31st

San Francisco -14 5-9 32nd