Broncos Could Finally Be Ready to Bust Out Against the Chiefs

Because the game of the day is in Kansas City today, the 3-0 Chiefs are favored over the Broncos. But in Denver, Bronco fans are saying that their 3-0 team is well positioned to win for three reasons.

The three are John Elway, Terrell Davis, and Anthony Miller- the quarterback, running back and receiver who, as an alliance, give Denver some of the same firepower that the Dallas Cowboys have had in recent Super Bowls with their three, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin.

Elway’s experience gives him a chance to excel as he ages. As for Miller and Davis, they might be the two most underrated offensive players in the AFC, if not the NFL.

No other receiver uses his hands as precisely as Miller does. No other ballcarrier uses his blockers as efficiently as Davis does, migraine headaches and all.

Moreover, Denver’s new leader, Mike Shanahan, starting his second season in charge, seems to be one of the game’s steadiest gameday coaches since Bill Walsh.

The Broncos still don’t have quite enough defense to win a Super Bowl. But if they have enough to upset Kansas City, they can immediately take charge of the AFC West and even the AFC.

Not long ago, who would have thought it.

*

It isn’t easy: One question about NFL officiating again this year is whether its complexities are sufficiently appreciated by those who play and watch football.

The question came up not long ago at, of all places, Dodger Stadium, where the umpires apparently misread two close plays.

Deciding two games in the final month of yet another Dodger title drive, two base runners who appeared to be out at home were both called safe.

Baseball, compared to football, doesn’t seem that difficult to officiate. Awaiting an outfielder’s long throw, for example, there is only one man in motion for the plate umpire to keep track of, the base runner from third. Normally, moreover, an agile umpire can easily place himself to oversee a fixed position.

On an NFL sideline pass, by contrast, at least two opponents are usually traveling at high speed. And even if a nearby official is properly positioned, there are at least four moves for him to study. Is the receiver juggling the ball in or out of bounds? Is either foot in or out? Has the receiver been pushed? Is there illegal contact?

If the pass is high to a reaching receiver, the official’s sight lines are further stretched.

Elsewhere, other officials must simultaneously make sure that, among other things, as many as six or eight blockers are blocking legally.

Football officials make errors, sure. But who’s surprised about that when a simpler game is too much for baseball umpires?

*

Rookie problems: On some NFL teams this year, notably San Diego’s, there has been a big effort to sign up a bunch of nice guys to replace last year’s troublemakers.

Such policies sound good. Yet there can be a downside when a ballclub gives up on talented but troublesome veterans to make room for rookie players--as the San Francisco 49ers did in 1992 when they let defensive end Charles Haley go to Dallas, where he has been important to three Super Bowl winners.

The Chargers learned some of that the other day in Green Bay. At a time when the Packers led in the second quarter by only 14-3, San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries apparently overcame third and 28 with a perfect long pass into the hands of rookie receiver Charlie Jones, who dropped it.

Although Green Bay seemed certain to win and shortly did, 42-10, and although Jones looked like a player with an NFL future, he lost the ball on the kind of play that the weaker side must make this year to have any kind of chance against such as Green Bay.

Expecting rookies to make big plays against the 1996 Packers in the third week of a 16-game season is unrealistic.

Pro football is best played with veterans, except, possibly, in Miami, which is coached by the NFL’s only Jimmy Johnson. And even in Miami, they’ve begun to worry that Johnson’s winning streak against soft touches could end Monday night at Indianapolis in the weekend’s final matchup of 3-0 teams.