ENGLEWOOD • When Matt Prater was hitting more than 90 percent of his field-goal attempts and making people forget the Denver Broncos didn’t have Jason Elam anymore, he offered a warning.

He said that with a couple of misses, the positive attention would change. He wasn’t happy to be proven right, but that’s what has happened in the past month.

Prater was 13 of 14 on field-goal attempts through seven weeks but is 5 of 10 since. He missed a pair in the first half Sunday against Oakland and has missed at least one in each of the past four games.

“I need to get the confidence in the team and the coaches back and go out this week and hopefully change it around and make the kicks,” he said.

After Prater’s second miss against the Raiders, quarterback Jay Cutler went to him as he walked off the field, said something to him and slapped his helmet. Prater said Cutler was telling him to stay in it and the team needed him, although the message wasn’t completely positive.

“Kind of in between, a little bit of both,” Prater said. “But I’m the most upset. That’s my job to make kicks. When I don’t do it, I’m going to be the most upset about it.”

Coach Mike Shanahan said he wasn’t planning to bring in any kickers for tryouts but offered some gallows humor when asked how to help a player get through mental issues during a slump.

“Bring in another kicker,” Shanahan said. “That’s what you call tough love. If it’s mental, it gets better. If it doesn’t, you get somebody else in here.”

The Broncos don’t believe there is anything wrong with Prater’s mechanics. Shanahan said Prater was perfect in practice last week.

“We have seen what he is able to do, but all of a sudden he missed one or two and then he started to think about it,” Shanahan said. “All he needs to do is to relax. We know he’s a good field goal kicker. It’s one of those slumps that you hope that will not occur, but it has.”

Prater understands he has to make more kicks. He said on his first miss Sunday, he overcompensated for the wind and pushed it right. On his second, he caught the ground as he swung for the ball, which caused him to hit the ball higher than he wanted. The kick hooked left.

Prater said he won’t make any major changes to his approach.

“It’s tough, to have success and start struggling a little bit,” he said. “I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. It worked in the beginning and it shouldn’t be any different now.”

Prater said he tries to block out his past struggles when he lines up for a kick, although that is difficult.

“I’m still pretty confident,” he said. “When I go out, I expect to make all the kicks.”

Safety waived

The Broncos waived safety Roderick Rogers, Shanahan said. Rogers, a second-year player from the University of Wisconsin, saw time in Denver’s past three games (one start) and posted six tackles (four solo) on defense along with two special-teams stops. He spent the first nine weeks on the practice squad before he was signed to the active roster Nov. 4.