Elway Talks Chargers Into Loss : Ever Was Heard That Discouraging Word--Offside

Through the past few years, football teams visiting Denver usually have been concerned with getting beaten by either John Elway’s arm or John Elway’s feet.

The Chargers found a new way to lose Sunday afternoon.

They lost to John Elway’s mouth.

The Rocky Mountain Mouth pitched a siren song at the Charger defenders, exciting rather than lulling them. In fact, it excited them so much that they lost a very big game, 16-10, for seemingly the littlest of reasons.

Offside penalties.

That’s right. They came to Denver invigorated by back-to-back victories over Kansas City and Phoenix, admittedly not exactly a National Football League murderers’ row but nonetheless giving them an opportunity to move into a tie for first place in the American Football Conference West.

And they were defeated, essentially, by offside penalties. This was like losing a baseball game on a balk or a golf match by signing the wrong scorecard or a tennis match with a foot fault. Offside penalties are irritants, not killers.

The last time offside penalties played such a starring role in a Charger game was in the 1980 AFC championship game with Oakland, when Wilbur Young’s gaffe kept a drive alive and allowed the Raiders to run out the clock.

However, one offside penalty was not the Chargers’ undoing Sunday. There was an epidemic of them, six by the defense alone. And none of them were the harmless little distractions offside penalties usually are.

And all of this was caused by the fact that, on Sunday at least, Elway’s bark was much worse then his bite.

“He’s the master of the hard count,” said Lee Williams, the Charger defensive end, “and we knew it. You just get a little over-anxious to put heat on him. It boiled down to our discipline not being up to par.”

Elway, it seems, has a way of barking the count that makes each “hut” sound like the one that will trigger the play. And there is nothing illegal about it, as long as he is not bobbing his head or doing anything else of a physical nature to make it look as if the ball is being snapped when it isn’t.

The thing about Elway’s hard count was that the Chargers talked about it in meetings and prepared for it in practice.

“But practice is practice,” said Burt Grossman, the rookie defensive end who got his first look (and listen) at Elway. “The adrenaline gets going in games.”

Boy, did the adrenaline get going.

Look at the damage six offside penalties did:

1. First quarter. Denver at its own 37, third and five.

Elway throws across the middle, and the Chargers’ Vencie Glenn intercepts at midfield. Suddenly, the Chargers have the ball and field position to expand a 3-0 lead.

But wait. Gill Byrd is offside. Denver keeps marching.

2. Second quarter, Denver at the Charger 35, second and eight.

Joe Phillips is offside before the snap. Denver makes a first down on the next play, and the drive to a tying field goal continues.

3. Second quarter, Denver at the Charger five, third and goal.

Elway’s pass to Vance Johnson is splendidly defended by Glenn, but Grossman is offside. (Denver still has to settle for a field goal.)

4. Third quarter, Denver at its own 49, third and 12.

Leslie O’Neal sacks Elway for a big loss, but Williams is offside. Denver still punts, but the Chargers are deprived of 14 yards of field position in a game in which field position was everything.

5. Fourth quarter. Denver is at its own 33, third and three.

Grossman jumps offside, and Denver gets a first down without running a play. The drive is alive.

6. Fourth quarter, same drive. Denver is at the Charger 44, third and eight.

George Hinkle is offside before the snap, the second such penalty on a drive that would produce the winning touchdown.

The killer, of course, was No. 5. It looked, in fact, as if Grossman had gotten back in time and that a Denver lineman then jumped.

“No contact was made by our side,” Grossman said, “and we did get back.”

However, offside penalties are not subject to review by the instant replay official. Indeed, it probably never occurred to anyone that offside penalties would be the fulcrums on which a game might pivot.

Billy Ray Smith, the veteran linebacker, just shook his head.

“When you play Elway,” he said, “you have to temper your enthusiasm to get to the quarterback. You’ve got to play a quarterback like Elway with a little more savvy.”

Yes, it was a frustrating afternoon, but not for the usual reason, that being that John Elway kept coming up with Houdini-like escapes.

“I hate to use a cliche,” Smith said, “but the Broncos didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves.”

Not really. The Chargers were beaten by the Rocky Mountain Mouth.