Names Change, Elway’s the Same

Regardless of whether you put a Baltimore or a Cleveland label on them, John Elway has their number.

Elway threw three touchdown passes to Ed McCaffrey and ran for another score, and Terrell Davis ran for a club-record 194 yards and two scores as the Denver Broncos held off the Baltimore Ravens, 45-34, on Sunday.

When Elway drove the Broncos to a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, it marked his 39th fourth-quarter game-saving drive and his 32nd game-winning drive.

His first came against a former Baltimore franchise, the Colts, in 1983. His most famous came against the Cleveland Browns, the predecessors of the Ravens, in the AFC championship game in January 1987.

The Broncos, and Elway in particular, continued to torment former Brown and current Raven owner Art Modell. Denver now has won 16 of the last 18 meetings with the Browns/Ravens.

“It didn’t feel like Baltimore,” Elway said. “They didn’t look like Baltimore. I guess it felt more like the Browns of old in different uniforms. But I have a lot of respect for them. Once Vinny [Testaverde] got going in the third quarter, we knew it was going to be a shootout, and we were going to have to answer them every time we laid our hands on the ball.”

Testaverde brought the Ravens back from a 28-13 halftime deficit with a furious third-quarter rally, throwing three touchdown passes in the period to give Baltimore its only lead, 34-31.

The Ravens went to a no-huddle attack in the second half and Testaverde flourished. He completed a 38-yard pass to Derrick Alexander before connecting with Floyd Turner for an 11-yard touchdown barely two minutes into the half.

Testaverde then ended a 72-yard drive with a 25-yard pass to Michael Jackson.

Finally, after a Denver field goal, Testaverde connected with Jackson again on a nine-yarder with 28 seconds left in the quarter, culminating a 77-yard drive.