Okay @SBNation, this one’s for all teams: Add a football legend to your roster. What happens? http://t.co/ZYWdJccARv #GMCPlaybook
— Marshall Faulk (@marshallfaulk) October 29, 2014
Peyton Manning needs help.
John Elway would know. The similarities between Elway's career and Manning's is downright eerie. Disappointing postseason exits. Struggles in the big game. A team that can't overcome its quarterback when he struggles.
Yet, after four three Super Bowl losses as a player, Elway conquered. Super Bowl XXXII and XXXIII were the undoubted pinnacle for Broncos fans. We all lifted that Lombardi trophy in disbelieving, surreal triumph with John.
Now that Broncos fans have another future Hall of Fame QB to cheer for at the end of his career, we want the same treatment that Elway got. We want the same knight on a white horse to come in and save the day.
Or, more accurately, we want another white horse.
We want Terrell Davis.
John Elway can thank Terrell Davis for his Super Bowl success. (Photo by Sporting News/Sporting News via Getty Images)
"He's the best," said former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan of Davis on NFL Network's recent Terrell Davis: A Football Life. "There's no question in my mind. He's a guy that, I guess, you can't say enough about, to let people know what a difference he was to this organization and why we did win the Super Bowls."
"I don't like to speculate. I don't like the get into innuendos or conjecture," said Hall of Fame Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe. "But this is fact: without T.D., we don't win Super Bowls. That's fact."
What truly separated Davis wasn't his yards per carry in the regular season or even his 2,000-yard MVP year in 1998. It was his domination in the postseason.
"His whole career was playing big in big games," said Shanahan. "What separates him is that he loved those playoff games."
Davis rushed for over 100 yards in each of the Broncos' 1997 postseason games, including Super Bowl XXXII, where his three-TD performance awarded him Super Bowl MVP. He rushed for 468 yards in three postseason games in 1998, averaging 6.0 yards per carry in Elway's final postseason.
Terrell Davis delivered John Elway and the Broncos franchise two Super Bowl trophies.
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What would happen if the Broncos added Davis? In my opinion, they would have won Super Bowl XLVIII. That kind of rushing success would have taken a ton of pressure off Peyton Manning. The Broncos' 2013 offense, record-breaking as it might have been, wasn't unstoppable. An offense with Manning and Davis would be.
With Davis, the Broncos would go from Super Bowl contender to Super Bowl champion.
But let's get real: a football-ready Terrell Davis isn't walking through that orange and blue locker room anytime soon. Who on the Broncos can step up and take some of the load off Manning? Is it one of their running backs, like Ronnie Hillman, Montee Ball, Juwan Thompson, or C.J. Anderson? Is it a playmaker on offense, who can take it upon himself to dominate after the catch, like Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, Julius Thomas, or Wes Welker? Is it someone on the defense, like Terrance "Pot Roast" Knighton, Von Miller, or Chris Harris Jr., who can perform in the postseason at such a level that he carries the Broncos to victory?
Who can step up and fill the shoes of a Broncos legend, and in turn, become one himself?
Join the #GMCPlaybook discussion at sbnation.com/sponsored-gmc-playbook and on Twitter by following @thisisgmc & @marshallfaulk.