Elway/Davis One-Two Punch Poses Problems for Green Bay

Seventeen days before Christmas, Denver will be at Green Bay a week from today with an all but unbeatable, fair-weather, 1-2 punch: John Elway’s passes and Terrell Davis’ runs.

Bronco opponents this year all have had two problems:

--When you gear up for Elway, here comes Davis.

--Then when you’ve got Davis stopped, Elway, all too often, is back there throwing the ball.

The weather next week, to be sure, could be decisive. In a Wisconsin blizzard, everything changes. But after three months of pro football, the Broncos are 11-1 and already getting the kind of respect that’s usually awarded Super Bowl champions.

At Minnesota, for example, the .500 Vikings played with wild determination last Sunday when their goal was to upset the NFL’s hottest team and when, in the end, it took a freak Denver play to beat them, 21-17.

It looked as if Elway eased up slightly at Minnesota. And that may happen again today against Seattle. But the Broncos still seem to be Super Bowl-bound, and, if so, nothing could help them more next week, win or lose, than some NFC-game experience at Green Bay.

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Under Dan Reeves and then Wade Phillips, Denver, in the first five seasons of the 1990s, was no more than a .500 team. As recently as two years ago, finishing next to last in the AFC West, the Broncos came in at 7-9.

It’s hard to believe that a new coach, Mike Shanahan, could make all this difference at Denver in only two years.

Jimmy Johnson and Bill Walsh were both third-year NFL coaches when they first reached the Super Bowl. It’s no cinch that Shanahan will make it in two, but if, as it seems, he’s getting close, here are some reasons:

--Known like Walsh as a finesse coach, Shanahan, in fact, leads a roughneck team, as Walsh did. The AFC Broncos are most noticeably macho on defense, as are the 49ers, among other NFC winners.

--For the most part this year, the Broncos, along with San Francisco and other recent NFC champions, have been a lucky team. Thus, to win again last Sunday, they needed two lucky fourth-quarter plays: a fourth-down spot that should instead have given the ball to the Vikings and, shortly, a miracle catch that could have been made by a Viking.

--Strategically, Shanahan has a passing team. All year, the Broncos have been setting up Davis’ runs with Elway’s passes, one of which, last week, he threw just before the half. As they lined up with a first down on Minnesota’s one-yard line, football fans from here to Denver were shouting, “Give it to Davis.”

Elway did, but passed it to Davis, instead of handing off. Inconspicuously, Davis had run an end-zone pattern. Touchdown.

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Five changes: This season and last, San Francisco has been heavily damaged in no fewer than five of the offensive team’s six ball-handling positions.

In all but Jerry Rice’s.

But as they start the last month of the regular season against Atlanta Monday night, then play Carolina next Sunday, the 49ers finally seem to have it together again--for the first time, truthfully, since they won their fifth NFL title in January, 1995.

The improvements:

--With Terry Kirby at halfback, the 49ers have satisfactorily replaced Ricky Watters.

--With rookie Terrell Owens at wide receiver, they have satisfactorily replaced John Taylor.

--Quarterback Steve Young, who has missed most of the season, has come at least part way back from severe groin and head injuries.

--Fullback William Floyd has come most of the way back from a leg injury that menaced his career.

--Tight end Brent Jones has come much of the way back from a leg injury that threatened his career.

These people were plainly still badly off rhythm last week when the 49ers edged the Washington Redskins in overtime, 19-16.

But, at last, they appear to be in position now to get the one thing they need for another Super Bowl run: continuity of performance through a full month of tuning up for the January playoffs.

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The new 49er who makes the biggest difference for this team is Kirby, the Jimmy Johnson castoff who broke the runs that beat Washington.

Kirby, however, wasn’t brought in just to run up yards from scrimmage. The 49ers in the Walsh system don’t rely on 100-yard or 1,000-yard rushers. A 49er halfback is there to make big plays--running, receiving, whatever.

That was Watters’ challenge. Now it’s Kirby’s.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, a slight reduction in the whining about the 49ers has been noted. They don’t seem to realize what they’ve got up there. For 16 years, the 49ers have been winning big games, five in Super Bowls.

No other NFL team has ever hung around the top that long.