Sharpe Is Sharp, but Broncos Aren’t

The Denver Broncos, so happy to rid themselves of Coach Dan Reeves after last season, are on their way back to Denver, knocked out of the playoffs by the Raiders, 42-24, and finished with a 9-8 record.

Reeves, who supposedly was too intense and too domineering for the likes of quarterback John Elway, will have no time to consider what went wrong with the Broncos Sunday in the Coliseum.

Reeves, named the Associated Press’ coach of the year on Thursday, has his Giants (12-5) two victories away from the Super Bowl.

“He didn’t get my vote,” said Elway, when asked if Reeves deserves such credit. “I thought Wade Phillips did a great job as head coach; he’s my coach of the year. He walked into a tough situation, and with the injuries we’ve had with the youngest team in the league, I think he’s done a super, super job.”

Phillips’ Broncos, however, took a dive at season’s end, squandering an opportunity to secure home-field advantage a week ago with a loss to the Raiders and now dropping out of sight with another loss to the Raiders.

While Elway is happier and playing the best football of his career, the Broncos appeared to lack the overall attention to detail that marked Reeves’ years in command. The Broncos were never considered all that talented under Reeves, but somehow, some way, they advanced to three Super Bowls.

Phillips’ Broncos were called for 10 penalties against the Raiders, failed to gain an edge in field position because of poor punting in the second half, and allowed quarterback Jeff Hostetler to shred their secondary.

More important, this game came down to two final quarters of play, and the Broncos failed to capitalize.

“We didn’t play very well on defense and it was probably our worst game of the year,” Phillips said. “Any time you give up 42 points, you’re going to get beat. You can’t win that way. . . . We couldn’t stop the passing game and we played poorly on short yardage and on the goal line.”

Hostetler passed for seven touchdowns without being intercepted once this season in three starts against the Broncos. On Sunday, he hit tight end Ethan Horton for a nine-yard score, beat Denver’s three-deep zone with a 65-yard strike to Tim Brown for a second score and then took advantage of that same defense again for a 54-yard touchdown pass play to James Jett.

“It’s like a race,” said Bronco safety Dennis Smith. “We’re the trucks and they are the race cars. If it is a race, we’re going to lose. If it is a collision, they’re going to lose. Unfortunately, there were more races in this game than collisions.”

Elway’s game of pitch and catch with tight end Shannon Sharpe, who is the younger brother of Green Bay’s Sterling, allowed the Broncos to stay even with the Raiders, 21-21, in the first half.

“You have to take your hat off to the Raiders,” said Sharpe. “They just outplayed us.”

Sharpe caught 13 passes, tying an NFL-playoff record shared by Buffalo’s Thurman Thomas and San Diego’s Kellen Winslow, for 156 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown to open Denver’s scoring.

“They were double- and triple-teaming me and yet it felt like I couldn’t do anything wrong,” Sharpe said. “I was just putting my hands up and it seemed like John was finding me. The record doesn’t matter, though, because we lost the ballgame. I just wish I could have done something to sway the game in our direction.”

Short of playing both ways and upgrading Denver’s secondary, there wasn’t much more Sharpe could do. Three of Sharpe’s nine receptions in the first half resulted in first downs, including a 13-yard diving reception on third and seven at the Raiders’ 18-yard line that set up Denver’s second score.

“People said the Raiders had a psychological edge because of beating us here so many times,” Sharpe said. “A psychological edge is when you put up 42 points and the other team has 24. They scored, we scored, but they kept grinding on us.”