Denver Broncos Changing Faces: The Elway Years

As I mentioned in the first installment of this three-part series, I became a Broncos fan in 1969 when my parents moved from Iowa to Colorado. I had to suffer through four losing seasons before I got to see the Broncos finish with a winning record. Four more seasons passed before I got to see the Broncos make the playoffs. After a Super Bowl loss, it was three winning seasons, one .500 season and one losing season.

Then in 1983, something miraculous happened. A young graduate from Stanford University forced a trade before ever playing a down for the team that drafted him. John Elway did not want to play for the Baltimore Colts -- considered at that time to be one of the worst teams in the NFL. Nor did he want to play for the Colts then-head coach Frank Kush. About a week after the draft, the Colts traded Elway to the Denver Broncos for quarterback Mark Herrmann, offensive lineman Chris Hinton and Denver's 1984 first-round draft pick.

After the jump, the changes to the starting lineup during "The Elway Years"

Elway's rookie campaign saw significant changes to the offense and minor changes to the defense:

QB	John Elway	LILB	Randy Gradishar (from RILB)
RB	Sammy Winder	RILB	Steve Busick
FB	Nathan Poole	RCB	Mike Harden (from FS)
TE	Ron Egloff	FS	Steve Foley
LT	Dave Studdard (from RG)
LG	Keith Bishop
RG	Paul Howard

The Broncos went 9-7-0 and earned a wild card spot, despite finishing in a tie for second place in the AFC West. They lost to division rival Seattle 31-7 in the wild card round of the playoffs.

Elway's sophomore season saw extremely minimal changes, and much greater success:

WR	Butch Johnson	LILB	Rick Dennison
TE	Clarence Kay
TE	James Wright
		P	Chris Norman

Denver went 13-3-0 that season and won their division. Unfortunately, they lost 24-17 to Pittsburgh in the divisional round. The following season saw even fewer changes -- LILB Karl Mecklenburg and ROLB Ken Woodard -- an 11-5-0, second-place AFC West finish and a lost tiebreaker with both the New York Jets and the New England Patriots.

1986 was a season of minor changes and tremendous success:

FB	Gerald Willhite	LDE	Andre Townsend
WR	Vance Johnson	NT	Greg Kragen
		RILB	Ricky Hunley
		P	Jack Weil

Denver finished 11-5-0 and in first place in the AFC West. The Broncos defeated New England 22-17 in the divisional round of the playoffs. They then defeated the Cleveland Browns 23-20 in the AFC Championship game that featured "The Drive." For those of you who might not know, "The Drive" occurred when Elway took the Broncos ninety-eight yards in five minutes and two seconds to tie the game with thirty-seven seconds left. The game then went into overtime where the Broncos won with a field goal. The Drive is reputed to have started with guard Keith Bishop declaring of the Browns, "We got 'em right where we want 'em!" Though the Broncos showed great heart in winning the AFC Championship game, they did not fare as well in Super Bowl XXI against the New York Giants. Despite jumping out to a 10-9 halftime lead, the Broncos were outscored 17-0 in the third quarter and 30-10 in the second half as the Giants went on to a 39-20 win.

The Broncos returned to the Super Bowl the following season after making small changes to the starting lineup:

FB	Gene Lang	LOLB	Simon Fletcher
WR	Mark Jackson	ROLB	Jim Ryan (from LOLB)
C	Mike Freeman	FS	Tony Lilly
RG	Stan Humphries
		P	Mike Horan

Denver won the AFC West with a 10-4-1 record -- the season was shortened to fifteen games due to a 24-day player strike and three weeks (#4, #5 and #6) were played with replacement players. The Broncos routed the Houston Oilers 34-10 in the divisional round of the playoffs. They sneaked by the Cleveland Browns for a second year in a row 38-33 in the AFC Championship game. Despite setting a record for the fastest touchdown scored in a Super Bowl -- Elway threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Nattiel with 1:57 elapsed in the game -- the Broncos were routed 42-10 by the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII.

1988 was an off-year for the Broncos. They changed over about half of the starting offense and made a smaller change to the defense:

RB	Tony Dorsett	LDE	Walt Bowyer
FB	Sammy Winder (from RB)	RDE	Andre Townsend (from LDE)
WR	Ricky Nattiel	RCB	Jeremiah Castille
LT	Jim Juriga	FS	Mike Harden
C	Bill Bryan
RG	Stan Humphries

These changes were ineffective as the team went 8-8-0 and finished in second place in the AFC West. They finished two games behind the two wild card teams.

More changes followed in 1989 and brought impressive results:

RB	Bobby Humphrey	LDE	Alphonso Carreker
FB	Jeff Alexander	ROLB	Michael Brooks
WR	Mark Jackson	LCB	Tyrone Braxton
LT	Gerald Perry	RCB	Wymon Henderson
LG	Doug Widell	FS	Steve Atwater
C	Keith Kartz
RG	Jim Juriga (from LT)
K	David Treadwell

This time, the changes in the starters had a better effect as the Broncos went 11-5-0 and won their division. Denver defeated Pittsburgh 24-23 in the divisional round of the playoffs. They continued their dominance of the Cleveland Browns in AFC Championship games by winning 37-21. The Broncos entered Super Bowl XXIV with high hopes, but were quickly routed by the San Francisco 49ers, falling behind 27-3 at the half and trailing 41-10 by the end of the first three quarters. The depressing final was 55-10.

The depressing result of Super Bowl XXIV did not deter Denver from making minimal changes in 1990:

TE	Orson Mobley	LDE	Warren Powers
		RDE	Ron Holmes
		RILB	Marc Munford
		LCB	Randy Robbins

Unfortunately, these changes did not improve on the success of the 1989 season. In fact, the team took a major step backwards by finishing 5-11-0, in last place in the AFC West.

The following season, Denver made more changes to the offensive side of the ball than the defensive:

RB	Gaston Green	RILB	Mike Croel
WR	Mike Young	LCB	Tyrone Braxton
TE	Shannon Sharpe
LT	Jeff Davidson
RG	Crawford Ker

This approach paid off as the Broncos went 12-4-0 and won their division. Denver squeaked by Houston 26-24 in the divisional round of the playoffs before losing to the Buffalo Bills 10-7 in AFC Championship game.

1992 saw moderate changes in the starting lineup and the Broncos take a step backwards:

WR	Vance Johnson	LDE	Brian Sochia
LT	Russ Freeman	RDE	Kenny Walker
LG	Jeff Davidson (from LT)	LOLB	Mike Croel (from RILB)
RG	Dave Widell (from LG)	RILB	Michael Brooks (from ROLB)
		ROLB	Simon Fletcher (from LOLB)

Denver finished at 8-8-0 and in third place in the AFC West.

The following season, the Broncos made significant changes on the offensive side of the ball and minor ones on the defensive:

RB	Rod Bernstine	LDE	Dan Williams
WR	Derek Russell	RDE	Shane Dronett
WR	Arthur Marshall	RILB	Dave Wyman
TE	Reggie Johnson	RCB	Charles Dimry
LT	Gary Zimmerman
LG	Dave Widell (from RG)
RG	Brian Habib
RT	Russ Freeman (from LT)
K	Jason Elam	P	Tom Rouen

The team raised their record by a game from the season before and finished at 9-7-0. Although the Broncos finished in third place in the AFC West, they were able to secure a wild card playoff spot. Unfortunately, they were hammered 42-24 by the Los Angeles Raiders in that game.

As 1993 saw major changes to the offense, 1994 brought major changes to the defense:

RB	Leonard Russell	LDE	Shane Dronett (from RDE)
WR	Anthony Miller	LDT	Ted Washington
TE	Jerry Evans	RDT	Harald Hasselbach
LG	Jon Melander	RDE	Simon Fletcher (from ROLB)
C	Dave Widell (from LG)	MLB	Karl Mecklenburg (from LILB)
RT	Kirk Scrafford	RLB	Elijah Alexander
		LCB	Ben Smith
		RCB	Ray Crockett
		SS	Steve Atwater (from FS)
		FS	Dennis Smith (from SS)

Unfortunately, these changes did not bring a better record to Denver. The Broncos finished 7-9-0 and in fourth place in the AFC West. Only the Seattle Seahawks at 6-10-0 finished in the division with a worse record.

The next four years saw the Broncos climb back into relevance in the NFL. This started with major changes on both sides of the ball in 1995:

RB	Terrell Davis	LDE	Harald Hasselbach (from RDT)
FB	Aaron Carver	LDT	James Jones
WR	Mike Pritchard	RDT	Michael Dean Perry
LG	Mark Schlereth	LLB	Elijah Alexander (from RLB)
C	Tom Nalen	MLB	David Wyman
RT	Broderick Thompson	RLB	Allen Aldridge
		LCB	Ray Crockett (from RCB)
		RCB	Lionel Washington
		SS	Tyrone Braxton
		FS	Steve Atwater (from SS)

The Broncos finished at 8-8-0 in that season and in a three-way tie for third in the AFC West with Oakland and Seattle. The following season saw minimal changes and a giant step forward:

WR	Ed McCaffrey	LDE	Dan Williams
		LDT	Mike Lodish
		RDE	Alfred Williams
		LLB	Bill Romanowski
		MLB	Allen Aldridge (from RLB)
		RLB	John Mobley

Denver won the division with a 13-3-0 record. Expectations were high as they entered their divisional round playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Unfortunately, it was not to be. After jumping out to a 12-0 lead after one quarter, the Broncos fell behind 13-12 at the half. They trailed 23-12 in the fourth quarter and were able to close the gap to 23-20. The Jaguars scored again to make it 30-20 and although the Broncos gained one more score, the Jaguars were able to hold on for a 30-27 win.

The success, and the disappointment of the 1996 campaign strengthened Denver's determination to do well. In 1997, only minor changes were made:

FB	Howard Griffith	LDE	Neil Smith
WR	Rod Smith	LDT	Keith Traylor
RT	Tony Jones	RCB	Darrien Gordon

This strategy paid off. The Broncos finished the season with a 12-4-0 mark. though they finished in second place in the AFC West behind the 13-3-0 Kansas City Chiefs. Relegated to a wild card spot, and facing a rematch with Jacksonville, the Broncos came out on fire. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back on their way to trouncing the Jaguars 42-17. Their next game was a match up with division rivals Kansas City. Denver won a close divisional game 14-10 to earn a spot in the AFC Championship game. They took on the Pittsburgh Steelers for the right to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XXXII. The Broncos jumped out to a 24-14 halftime lead and held on for a 24-21 victory. Their opponent in the Super Bowl was the NFL's defending champions, the Green Bay Packers. This turned out to be a classic see-saw battle which saw the teams tied 24-24 late in the game. Green Bay opted to allow Denver to score with 1:47 left to give their offense a chance to answer. Green Bay was able to drive to Denver's 35-yard line, but on fourth down, John Mobley batted a Bret Favre pass away from tight end Mark Chmura with thirty-two seconds left to preserve the victory and give Denver its first ever Super Bowl win.

Confident that the 1997 season was no fluke, the Broncos made very minor changes in 1998:

LT	Tony Jones (from RT)	RDT	Trevor Pryce
RT	Harry Swayne	RDE	Maa Tanuvasa
		MLB	Glenn Cadrez
		SS	Eric Brown

The Broncos rolled to a 14-2-0 record, easily winning the AFC West. Denver destroyed the Miami Dolphins 38-3 in the divisional round and defeated the New York Jets 23-10 to win the AFC Championship game. They faced off against the 14-2-0 Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII and won easily 34-19.

Sadly, the back-to-back Super Bowl wins brought the John Elway years in Denver to a close. Many questions arose as the Broncos prepared to face life after Elway.

Next time: Denver Broncos Changing Faces: Life After Elway