John Elway is one of the all time greatest QBs in NFL
history. I have been a Denver Broncos fan since 1982 so I have seen lots of great
Quarterbacks careers. Now it is a bit hard to compare careers of Quarterbacks
of today vs when Elway played. John
Elway came into the NFL controversially when he refused to play for the
Baltimore Colts. It was our gain as Bronco fans. I clearly remember the first
time I really was hooked on Elway was in 1983 vs. the Browns, he threw a missile
50 yards over a Browns QB for a TD. I believe it might have been Steve Watson
that caught the ball. From that point on Elway got better, but he sometimes
forced the ball. Also you have to keep in mind that the NFL pre 2003 and even
pre 1990, the defensive backs and safeties would get away with tons of stuff
that is now illegal. Pass interference would be called a lot more and some of
the best DBs of all time like Ronnie Lott would have multiple suspensions for
hits to the head etc. In the 1980s Elway
only had the 3 amigos of Vance Johnson, Mark Jackson and Ricky Nattiel as his
go to WR. He also had only an average RB in Sammy Winder. Shannon Sharpe did not come until 1991, Ed
McCaffrey and Rod Smith came to Denver in 1995.
Elway won MVP in 1987 and got to 3 Super Bowls with a very
mediocre team. He was clutch with the Drive in 1986 vs. the Browns going 98
yards in the final 5 minutes of the game with a bullet to Mark Jackson and then
won the game in OT 23-20. The Super Bowls started bad vs. the Giants but got
worse vs. the Redskins in 1987 and 49ers in 1989. The Denver defense was average at best. The great Qbs for the most part that have won
Multiple Super Bowls have always had great defenses, even if underrated, see
49ers. The Pats in the early 2000s especially in 2001 were carried by a great
defense, before Tom Brady was a huge part of the 2003 and 2004
Championships. As for Elway, the team
got worse until 1995 when the Broncos hired Mike Shanahan and then drafted the
most important support player to Elway’s career in Terrell Davis. When TD
started on the 95 team he was good and then got better and better. Davis took
the pressure off of Elway by controlling the clock with a balanced offense. But
Elway was still outstanding in 97 and 98. He finally had some big time WR in Ed
McCaffrey and Rod Smith. A HOF TE in Shannon Sharpe.
Elway threw 27 tds and set a career high in 1997 and then in
an injury shorted 1998 threw 22 in 10 games.
The 1996 Broncos suffered their most humiliating loss in the playoffs to
an upstart Jacksonville Jaguars team at home 30-27. Elway was so upset he
thought about retiring and would still be labeled wrongfully so as a
"choker" who could not win the Big game. Elway came back an in 1997 played very well
and led Denver to a 12-4 record and had an improved defense led by Bill
Romanowski, John Mobley and Steve Atwater. The Broncos came back to destroy Jacksonville
in the playoffs 42-17 but because they were only a Wild Card, had to go on the
road to KC to play a very good Chiefs team. Also Arrowhead has always been a
house of horrors for the Broncos for the most part. Elway, Davis and a good defense led the
Broncos to a hard fought 14-10 win. Then in the AFC Championship game, they
Broncos went into a tough building in 3 Rivers Stadium to beat the Steelers
24-21. Davis again was the star rushing for over 100 yards and Elway had a good
game. I clearly remember then running out the clock with Elway telling Shannon
Sharpe to get open for a 1st down to salt the game away. He threw a
bullet and did that. Denver went into
the Super Bowl as a 12 point underdog vs. a tough Green Bay team that had MVP
Brett Favre. The AFC had lost 15
straight Super Bowls up until this point.
The Broncos feel behind early but then Terrell Davis took over and Elway
was more of a game manager. The Broncos defense caused Favre to fumble and then
took control of this excellent game.
Davis ran for 157 yards and 3 TDs and missed the whole 2nd Qtr.
with a migraine headache. He recovered
and was dominant vs. Gilbert Brown who was the clogger in the middle of the d
at the time. This Super Bowl also had Elway’s
signature run when he ran for a TD and got blasted and spun around like a
helicopter. We all know that his team
was pumped by this. Green Bay fought
back to tie the game at 24 when Favre hit Antonio Freeman and then TD took
over. Davis and then a nice screen pass to Howard Griffith set up Davis to
score to make it 31-24. I remember Ed McCaffrey blowing up Seth Joyner on the screen
pass. It showed how unselfish this team was.
The last drive Green Bay showed
some guts but on 3rd down at the Denver 39 Steve Atwater blasted
through and hit his own guy and knocked him out. On 4th down the Broncos blitzed
and Favre had his pass knocked away by John Mobley and all the doubters can
stop calling Elway a choker.
In 1998 the Broncos came back even better and more dominant.
They started 13-0 before losing in NY to the Giants. Davis went on to rush for 2000 yards and
Elway posted his best QBR of 93 with 22 tds in 12 games. The Broncos rolled in the playoffs by beating
Miami 38-3 before playing the Jets. In the Dolphins game Davis rushed for 199
yards and Elway was very efficient. In
the AFC Championship game, Elway struggled at times and the Jets jumped out
10-0 in the 3rd Qtr. This game was turned around when Elway
basically drew up a play in the dirt where he told McCaffrey and Smith who were
lined up wrong to stay where they are. He hit McCaffrey with a bomb of over 50
yards and then Denver scored on a pass to Howard Griffith. It snowballed and
Denver won 23-10. The defense forced 6
turnovers to help their cause.
In the Super Bowl the Broncos had a game plan where the
Atlanta Falcons were not expecting. They came out throwing the ball and Elway
had one of his finest games of his career in a huge spot. He threw for 336
yards 1 td and ran for another td. The
game swung when Denver was up 10-3 and the reliable Morton Anderson missed a
short FG. Elway hit Rod Smith on an 80 yard td pass and when up 17-3. From that
point on Denver rolled. Terrell Davis ran for 102 yards and caught 50 more. The
final game of Elway’s career was a 34-19 victory over his former head coach in
Dan Reeves.
Elway finished his career with a 14-8 playoff record and 2
Super Bowls wins. Not bad for the guy who had the label as can’t winning the
big one. One other split that jumps out at me. For the first 10 years of his
career Elway barley threw more tds than int at that time. As good as he was, he would force the ball
sometimes with his gun of an arm and not the best talent at WR. From 1993-1998 Elway threw 142 td and 62 int.
He matured as a QB and obviously had better talent. To me Elway is a top 5 QB of all time.
John Elway career Stats.
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