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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- **Much of the attention surrounding this Sunday's Broncos-Eagles tilt has focused on the battle of two up-tempo, high-powered offenses.

For cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, there's another level of intrigue.

He's matching up against his former team.

"It is a game I circled on the calendar," he told DenverBroncos.com.

"Oh, it's going to be very competitive."

One of the most anticipated matchups of the game looks to be Rodgers-Cromartie against his former teammate, wide receiver DeSean Jackson.

"Just from being over there, he hit me up on the phone and was just like, 'You know it's me and you this weekend. We're going to go at it,'" Rodgers-Cromartie said. "But that's just a challenge I'm looking forward to."

Jackson is currently second in the league with 359 receiving yards along with two touchdowns.

Rodgers-Cromartie has an interception and four passes defensed to his name in 2013.

Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio said part of what makes Rodgers-Cromartie "super talented" is his great feet and his length at 6-foot-2.

"I would just say we're happy that we have him," he said. "I think he's a really good football player."

This week, he'll be up against the challenge of containing Jackson, whose speed makes him a threat to go the distance on virtually every route.

Cornerback Champ Bailey said the key to defending Jackson is to "not let him run past you." Sounds simple enough.

"He's going a certain speed just by itself. When that ball is in the air, he hits a whole other gear," Rodgers-Cromartie explained. "It's hard as a corner to try to stay with him, stay with him, and then he just takes off. Most people don't have that extra gear that he has. So that makes it very tough."

But Head Coach John Fox said the team has confidence in Rodgers-Cromartie's abilities.

"We feel good about his cover skills and we've matched him up on good receivers to this point," Fox said.

Ultimately, Rodgers-Cromartie said, it's not just up to him. It's up to the whole defense to make sure the league's No. 2 offense doesn't get rolling.

"They've got some guys that are very shifty and if you look at film, it takes a team to tackle these guys," he said. "They always tend to make the first guy miss, so just leveraging and tackling is going to be really important."