Chargers Know Nothing Is Wrong With Elway
John Elway has carried the Denver Broncos on his right shoulder straight into two consecutive Super Bowls. During that time he has thrown for 6,683 yards and 38 touchdowns.
Last year, The Associated Press named him the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. The guys he plays against named him the starting AFC quarterback in the Pro Bowl.
Fine. But what have you done for us lately, Stanford Man?
That’s what callers to radio sports talk shows in Denver wanted to know Monday after Elway threw two interceptions and completed just 21 of 45 passes in the Broncos’ 21-14, season-opening, home-field loss to Seattle.
At least one caller suggested that the offseason tutoring Elway received from former Bronco quarterback Craig Morton had left Elway with a distaste for scrambling.
“It’s absurd to think I would tell him never to leave the pocket,” Morton said.
“Craig didn’t play Sunday,” Elway said tightly. “I did.”
The San Diego Chargers cringed. They’re the guys who were hoping to sneak into Mile High Stadium today and catch the Broncos looking ahead to a more important Sunday.
The Chargers, you see, have lost seven consecutive regular-season games dating back to last year. Only Tampa Bay, with nine, has a longer such streak. The Chargers are a team that has scored just eight offensive touchdowns in its past nine games. No Charger running back has scored a rushing touchdown in 16 quarters.
Unfortunately for the Chargers, Denver has not opened a season with two consecutive losses since 1968. And Bronco Coach Dan Reeves figures his team will “get this thing turned around” against the Chargers.
The reason probably will be Elway. “No one,” Reeves said, “is madder than he is.”
Charger defensive coordinator Ron Lynn knows all about that. He has been trying to figure out ways to stop Elway ever since Elway played for Stanford and Lynn coached the Cal defense in 1980. Lynn, it should be noted in that context, has lost much of his hair.
“I don’t know what you can do with the guy,” Lynn said. Of course if Lynn did, he wouldn’t talk about it outside of meetings with players and coaches. But Lynn will say: One bad game won’t bother Elway.
“His confidence is such that he isn’t going to be shaken by last week,” Lynn said.
The first time these two teams played last year, Elway threw for 347 yards and 3 touchdowns. The highlight for the Chargers was an NFL record 103-yard interception return of an Elway pass by free safety Vencie Glenn.
As a breed, NFL defensive backs can talk trash with the best of their counterparts on offense. But the care with which Glenn chooses his words when asked about Elway is a measure of the Chargers’ deep respect for his arm.
“That was a once-in-a-lifetime play,” Glenn says now of the interception. “I’m not looking for anymore miracles like that. I’ll be lucky if I touch one of his passes.”
Most NFL quarterbacks say the first defensive key they check after the snap is the free safety. Conversely, Lynn and Glenn know they must change their prealignment look on almost every play. At the same time, they must constantly study Elway’s smallest idiosyncrasies, searching for a revealing habit or a pattern.
But, Lynn said, “I don’t know that there’s any one particular thing that you can get on him. There’s nothing that says he’s going to roll to the right or he’s going to roll to the left or that he throws this pass better than that pass. He throws every pass well. When he has time to throw, he’ll kill you. When he doesn’t have time to throw, he’ll kill you because of his ability to move around.”
Aside from having the strongest arm in the league, Elway might have the most durable body of any NFL quarterback. He has been lifting weights steadily for three years. And it has shown. He hasn’t missed a start since 1984.
Part of Elway’s problem last week was the unusually high number of inconsistent pass routes run by his receivers. He was 0-6 on third-and-10 or longer. That could be a problem again today because of the shoulder injury to wide receiver Vance Johnson (questionable) and the neck injury to tight end Clarence Kay (doubtful).
“But he’s the same old Elway,” said Les Miller, the Charger defensive lineman who hopes to return from the ankle injury that kept him out of the Chargers 24-13 loss to the Raiders last week. “Elway’s the one that fires them up.”
Miller said you have to contain Elway to prevent him from flushing out of the pocket, where he mends broken plays so well. Plus, Miller said, “We have to get an upfield rush to put pressure on him in the pocket.”
As if Elway and former Cowboy running back Tony Dorsett, the NFL’s leading active rusher, don’t pose enough problems, the Chargers are still looking for their best players on defense.
Outside linebacker Chip Banks is still holding out for a better contract. His agent said he won’t play this season. Outside linebacker Billy Ray Smith, who spent much of the preseason trying to heal a muscle pull in his calf, re-injured the same calf against the Raiders, didn’t practice all week and is “doubtful.” Starting nose tackle Mike Charles has a tender knee.
Two years ago, the Chargers beat the Broncos in Denver behind Tom Flick, a little-known quarterback starting only his second game. It was the first coaching victory for Al Saunders. Once again Saunders will start a little-known quarterback--Babe Laufenberg--who will be making his second NFL start.
Other similarities? “We’re a tremendous underdog, point-wise,” Saunders said.
“They’ve got some inexperience in there,” Reeves said of the Charger offense. Try eight of 11 players either in new positions or first-year starters.
“It’s a long season,” Reeves said. “If I know our team the way I think I know them, we’ll bounce back and get this thing turned around.”