FOXBORO — It hasn’t been a good year for Laurence Maroney.

In four games, the running back out of Minnesota has carried the ball 27 times for 78 yards. That an average of 2.9 yards per carry, with zero touchdowns. Nine of those 27 carries have gone for either no yardage or have ended up in a negative play. Almost half of his carries (11, to be specific) have gone for one yard or less. The next time he finds the end zone will be the first touchdown since Super Bowl XLII.

But the 24-year-old will get his chance this week — and perhaps, for the foreseeable future — as it appears that Fred Taylor will be out because of surgery on his right ankle injury. While there will be more “backfield-by-committee” as we’ve seen through the first four games — which will mean a healthy dose of Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk and fan favorite BenJarvus Green-Ellis — Maroney will almost certainly be the first option in the running game while Taylor is on the shelf.

In the wake of an interview with the Boston Globe where he intimated that his struggles may be tied to issues on the offensive line, the running back declined an interview request on Thursday. But this weekend will begin a key stretch for Maroney. With an expected increase in playing time, the opportunity is there for him to win back the fans that booed him last Sunday at Gillette, and become the same potent force he was at the end of the 2007 season where he ran for 100-plus yards in four of five games. That chance starts Sunday for him in Denver.

Here are four other things to watch for on Sunday:

STOPPING BRANDON MARSHALL

At 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, the 25-year-old Denver wide receiver is a beast who presents matchup problems for the Patriots. Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who saw him play in person for the first time last season when New England met Denver, compares him to a tight end.

“He’s enormous. He’s big. He’s fast, quick, very hard to tackle, dangerous after the catch. So that play he made last week didn’t surprise me at all,” Belichick said. “He’s a big guy. He’s a mismatch for the defensive backs and his speed and athleticism is a mismatch on the safeties, so he’s a hard guy to match up to, but he has all the tools.”

If he does indeed compare favorably to a tight end, the Patriots could try and use the same bracket-coverage plan they went with in helping shut down Tony (One Catch) Gonzalez, a plan that featured a heavy dose of safety Brandon McGowan. But the fact that he has better speed than Gonzalez will probably necessitate a cornerback on him in coverage. My guess is Leigh Bodden, the most physical corner on the Patriots, will be asked to handle Marshall. Not in one-on-one coverage, mind you, but he’ll be heavily involved in the packages designed to stop Marshall.

CONTINUING TO EXECUTE IN THE RED ZONE

The first three weeks of the season, the Patriots were just 4-for-13 in the red zone. While it gave field goal kicker Stephen Gostkowski an early jump on his Pro Bowl candidacy (he’s made 11 straight field goal attempts), it left plenty of points out on the field. With the exception of the season opener, New England’s offense was a mess in the red zone — bad penalties, miscommunication and poor execution all led to field goals instead of touchdowns. And in the case of the Jets loss, probably cost them the game.

Last week against the Ravens, New England was 3-for-4 in red zone touchdown opportunities, finishing off drives consistently for the first time all season with two touchdown runs (one from Morris and another from Tom Brady) and one touchdown pass (a Brady to Randy Moss floater that left Baltimore cornerback Domonique Foxworth looking foolish).

“We got it in three times and they got it in twice, and that was the difference,” said Brady when asked about red zone scoring chances after the win over the Ravens.

They will need to replicate that effort on Sunday against a Denver defense that’s tied for best in the AFC and second-best in the league in red-zone defense — the Broncos have allowed just two touchdowns on seven opposing trips inside the 20, a touchdown percentage of just 28.6 percent.

NEUTRALIZING THE DENVER PASS RUSH

Elvis Dumervil has as many sacks as the entire New England defense combined. The undersized (5-foot-11, 248 pounds) pass-rusher was compared by Belichick in a roundabout way to Pittsburgh’s James Harrison this week — a smaller guy with a big motor who can really dominate a game.

“He’s a guy who has eight sacks and is playing really well now in that system. He’s a very active guy, one of those relentless pass rushers that just doesn’t quit,” said Patriots left tackle Matt Light of the 25-year-old Dumervil. “He’s not the tallest guy out there, but he’s got good leverage and he plays really strong. He’s got a good power move. I really don’t think size has much to do with it.”

Dumervil, who has an astounding 34 sacks in 49 career games in the NFL, is just one part of an overhauled Denver defense that has done a 180 from last season. In 2008, the Broncos yielded an amazing 28.0 points per game (30th in the NFL) and surrendered at least 30 points nine times, including 41 points in a blowout loss to the Patriots at Gillette. This season, they have allowed an average of 6.5 points per game.

“I don’t have to say much at all this year,” said Denver cornerback Champ Bailey when asked about the difference between this year and last year. “I mean, we have guys that want it. That’s definitely a start.  We’ve got coaches that really want it, but when it rubs off on the players, I mean that’s the key because we have to go out there and perform.”

THE PATRIOTS PASSING GAME

Randy Moss and Wes Welker have battled injury. Four games into his Patriots career, Joey Galloway was a healthy scratch. Julian Edelman and Sam Aiken are still learning some of the nuances of the New England passing game. All while Brady continues his re-acclimation into the Patriots offense. All things being equal, it’s pretty impressive that New England has averaged 274 passing yards per game through the first quarter of the season.

“[With] the receiver, it just takes work, it just takes time,” Brady said. “You’ve got to go do the work. You’ve got to go to the field and you’ve got to throw the routes. You’ve got to make the mistakes.

“You can get a lot of stuff done with your coach in the meeting room, but at the end of the day, when you leave that meeting room, you have to go out on the field and execute,” he added. “That’s how you learn as an offense, as a team. That’s how everyone does get on the same page because those situations come up, and you have to learn to make the right decisions. It takes a lot of time.”

Moss looks to be back to full health — he wasn’t on the injury report all week. Ditto for Welker, who confessed this week he’s “as good as can be expected” heading into this weekend against the Broncos.

“It’s a grind through the season,” Welker told reporters, “but I’m looking forward to this weekend.”

Galloway declined interview requests when he walked through the New England locker room on Thursday — his only appearance in the locker room during media availability all week. If Galloway is out again, expect Aiken and Edelman to have an even greater role in the New England offense.