Broncos Give Elway a Gift, Some Defense

The Denver Broncos have a defense to go with John Elway’s offense this season.

Elway threw two touchdown passes and scored a third on a quarterback sneak, and Bill Romanowski had three takeaways, leading the Broncos to a 30-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

Elway, 36, who played in his club-record 192nd game for Denver, said he thinks his 14th NFL season could be his best because of the Broncos’ improved defense.

“I haven’t seen our defense make plays like that in a long, long time,” he said. “It’s fun to watch our defense creating those turnovers.”

“This is a different football team,” Denver Coach Mike Shanahan said. “This is not the same team it was last season. Now, we need to go out and prove it.”

The Seahawks (0-2) switched quarterbacks in the second half, benching Rick Mirer and going with backup John Friesz, but they could generate only 10 first downs and 211 total yards against the Broncos (2-0).

Erickson said he changed quarterbacks because the Seahawks had only five first downs and 79 yards in the opening half.

Erickson said he didn’t know which quarterback--Friesz or Mirer--he would start here next Sunday against Kansas City.

Friesz passed 23 yards to tight end Christian Fauria with 4:14 left for Seattle’s only offensive touchdown of the game. The Seahawks’ Joey Galloway ran a punt back 88 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to tie the score at 13-13.

Elway, throwing a scoring pass in a club-record 14th consecutive game, broke the tie with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller with 1:06 left in the quarter.

Jason Elam kicked a 33-yard field goal--his third of the game--with 4:28 gone in the fourth quarter for a 23-13 Bronco lead.

After the Seahawks closed to 23-20 on Friesz’s touchdown pass, Elway marched the Broncos 52 yards in six plays for their final score with two minutes to go, scoring on a one-yard sneak.

Romanowski intercepted a pass from Mirer and recovered Mirer’s fumble in the second quarter. He recovered a fumble by Friesz in the fourth quarter that set up Elam’s final field goal.

“When our defensive line gets after people, that makes my job a lot easier,” said Romanowski. “If we can keep doing the little things, this defense will keep improving.”