HIGH, MIGHTY : But Broncos Are Obscured in the Rockies

Maybe not on a physical or mental or emotional basis alone, linebacker Tom Jackson was saying, but on a combined basis “we’re comparable to any team in the National Football League.”

But who knows it? Who knows the Denver Broncos are anything more than John Elway and . . .

“You’re right,” Jackson said, sitting in the players’ lounge at the Broncos training complex. “Most people still don’t even know we’re here. Most people think of us as that funny little orange team that lives in the mountains, plays its games in snowstorms and still has that stubborn defense.”

That’s it. John Elway and a stubborn defense that remains the team’s backbone, its calling card, its proud link to the Orange Crush, which was the Denver defense of 1977. That year, the unheralded Broncos reached the Super Bowl after allowing 14 or fewer points in 13 of 14 regular-season games.

It was the year of Broncomania, when fans here painted their houses orange, rode orange busses, sent Coach Red Miller orange toilet seats and converted Mile High Stadium into a second Orange Bowl.

The rampant employment of the Orange Crush theme caught the attention of the soft drink manufacturer, just as the defense known as Star Wars has caught the attention of George Lucas, who produced the movie of the same name.

In fact, it wasn’t until this year that the Broncos worked out a contract with the Orange Crush folks, allowing promotional use of the wording, such as on T-shirts and in releases to the media. The event was commemorated Wednesday by installation of an Orange Crush drink dispenser in the Bronco locker room.

The players were excited until learning that they still needed 50 cents. Business is business, even amid the newest outbreak of mountain mania, which can be measured by the fact that the Denver Post, in a circulation war with the Rocky Mountain News, ran five Bronco stories Tuesday, two days after the latest victory over San Diego.

The Post also runs a column by linebacker Jackson--TJ’s Corner--on Tuesdays and a scouting report by Elway on Fridays. Coach Dan Reeves has a TV show on the NBC affiliate, and wide receiver Butch Johnson is the host of “Bronco Huddle” on ABC.

The ratings are up and crime down--at least according to surveys taken here between 1 and 5 p.m. on Sundays. The crime decline is a surprise, there being a lot of empty homes. Every game at Mile High Stadium is sold out, a legacy that dates to B.C., before Crush. The Broncos have enjoyed 16 years of sellouts, a season ticket being more coveted than a lift ticket at Aspen.

The questions remain:

Who knows that the Broncos--82-48 since the start of ‘77--are anything more than John Elway and a stubborn defense?

Who even knows the Broncos are that?

Last year, for example, they were 13-3 and put only one player in the Pro Bowl, running back Sammy Winder. Their 8-3 record ties them for the best mark in the AFC and enables them to lead the West by a game, but they are three-point underdogs to the Raiders (7-4), whom they will play at the Coliseum Sunday and against whom they are 4-3 since Reeves became coach.

Tom Jackson, speaker of the house on the basis of his 13 years with the Broncos, smiled, shook his head and said: “We’re the defending Western Division champions, coming off our best record, but if you believe Jimmy the Greek and the preseason predictions, we don’t belong in the game Sunday.

“We were picked as high as third and as low as fifth by most of the experts.”

The residual feeling seems comparable to that experienced by the Kansas City Royals before they established their identity. It’s an emotion shared by the team and the big little city. Plus:

“It’s a silent motivator,” Jackson said of the the lack of recognition. “We don’t talk about it, but it sure lingers in the back of our minds.

“I was taught when I came into the NFL that all the other things--the recognition, the individual acclaim--would come with success, but that hasn’t been the case with the Broncos. I don’t know what we have to do. I don’t know if anyone here really cares that much. We think about it and win in spite of it. We have some awfully good football players, and our record at the end of the year will again show it.”

The most famous--if not the best of the Bronco players--is John Elway, who still may be in the late stages of his professional apprenticeship but who has definitely given a defensive-oriented team the extra dimension.

“There was a feeling for a lot of years that we didn’t have the offensive tools to get it done in the clutch,” Jackson said. “The defense felt it had to do more than play defense. We felt there would come a time in the game when we’d have to put a score on the board.

“Now we don’t feel that way. Now we feel the offense can move the ball against anyone. We understand and appreciate the things John can do. He’s a leader and improviser. No quarterback in the league can do a better job of using his arm once he’s improvised.”

The Broncos have scored 30 or more points in five games, equaling a club record. Elway leads the NFL in passes attempted and is second in completions, passing yardage and total offense.

He threw to nine different receivers in last Sunday’s overtime victory over San Diego, taking advantage of the increasing role of rookie wide receiver Vance Johnson, the former Arizona tailback whose development has limited double coverage on Steve Watson, the seven-year veteran from Temple. Watson has gained 4,690 yards on his receptions in the last four years, more than any other receiver in the AFC.

Elway and Co. can be expected to air it out again Sunday. Winder, the Broncos’ leading rusher, had arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday and will be sidelined for two weeks. Winder ranked 11th in the AFC in rushing yardage.

“I know it’s a cliche but our success is based on a team concept,” Jackson said. “We don’t have the two or three players who can carry a team. We need contributions from each and every individual. Even our defensive statistics aren’t usually among the leaders, because we tend to be more of a big-play defense, looking to break the other team.

“We don’t get discouraged if a team makes three or four first downs in a row because it’s the philosophy here to believe that a team can’t eat up 70 or 80 yards in less than 12 to 15 plays, and it can’t run that many plays without a critical error.”

The philosophy belongs to Joe Collier, who is in his 17th season with the Broncos and is virtually independent of Reeves in his assignment as coach of the Crush. His defense ranks 13th against the rush and 19th against the pass, but has been hampered by injuries. At full strength, Collier said, it is the physical equal of the ’77 defense, which was anchored by linebacker Randy Gradishar and a defensive end named Lyle Alzado.

The ’85 defense is an amalgam of the old and the semi-new. There has been a continuity in personnel and philosophy under Collier.

Jackson, defensive end Barney Chavous, nose tackle Ruben Carter and free safety Steve Foley, all members of the ’77 team, are still starting. Defensive end Rulon Jones is in his sixth season, and outside linebacker Jim Ryan is in his seventh. Cornerbacks Louis Wright and Mike Harden are in their eighth and sixth, respectively.

Karl Mecklenburg, drafted fromMinnesota three years ago, recently replaced Rick Dennison as a starter at inside linebacker. The other inside linebacker, former USC star Steve Busick, is in his fifth season, as is the starter at strong safety, former Trojan Dennis Smith, who was Denver’s No. 1 choice in the 1981 draft; Busick was No. 7.

The practice field at the Broncos’ training complex was ringed by snow. Wednesday’s late afternoon temperature was in the low 30s. Dennis Smith, prep All-American at Santa Monica High, college All-American at USC and now an All-Pro candidate with the Broncos, sat in the warmth of the players’ lounge and said he was one Southern California product who would never get used to the cold.

A full-time resident of suburban Aurora, Smith also suggested that he would have it no other way.

“I would have loved to stay in Southern California but I was just happy to be drafted on the first round,” he said. “I was familiar with many of the Bronco players and knew about the emphasis they placed on defense here.

“Coming from SC, where we had one of the best defensive teams in the nation my senior year, I liked the idea of joining a team where there was an equal commitment to defense, where there was a defensive tradition that all the new players could take pride in.

“What I didn’t realize was that the tradition of fan support was so strong. They can boo you as well as cheer you, but they’re always there, and that’s what I like. You can’t beat playing here. I don’t think I’d want to play anywhere else.”

The little orange team will come down from the mountain to play the silver and black Sunday. A victory will put the Broncos in the division driver’s seat. Four tough games left, but the rematch with the Raiders is at home, and the finale at Seattle may not mean anything if the Broncos maintain a streak that began with wins over San Francisco and San Diego.

The Raiders used to intimidate people, including the Broncos. Not anymore. The Broncos won both games against the Raiders last year.

“The intimidation has become less and less of a factor,” linebacker Jackson said. “We’ve held our own and gained their respect. It’s now strictly a matter of execution, of getting down in the dirt.”

Smith put it another way. The former Trojan said he is always excited to return to the Coliseum, more so when it’s to meet the Raiders.

“This is the week we play the bullies,” he said. “I love it. I always evaluate myself on how well I play against them. No finesse. No trickery. No preparing for special formations.

“Even if you hate them, you’ve got to admire the way they keep winning, the way they go about it. They remind me of the old SC teams. They slug it out, grind it out, beat you physically. They’re the most physical team in the league--or were.

“Maybe we are now.”

Maybe. Maybe people in the NFL lowlands are finally going to find out why Denver is mile high over the Broncos.