Pack Is Back, So Is Elway : Broncos Slash Stewart’s Steelers, 24-21

Hold that retirement.

At 37, the scramble is gone from his legs and the youth is gone from his body. But Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway nevertheless will get another shot at winning a Super Bowl thanks to an arm that is still a rifle, a mind that is still one of the sharpest in the game and a supporting cast that perhaps is better than ever.

Elway needed all of what he has left on Sunday afternoon at Three Rivers Stadium to enable Denver to hold off the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-21, in the AFC championship game to advance to Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego, where the Broncos will face the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 25.

A year ago, Denver’s season was in ruins after the team, with the best regular-season record in the American Football Conference, crashed and burned in its first postseason game, beaten by the Jacksonville Jaguars in one of the biggest upsets in pro football history.

And again this season, after getting off to a 6-0 and 9-1 start, Denver appeared to be headed into another tailspin, losing late-season games to the Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers to tumble into the wild-card category for the postseason.

But with Elway at the controls, the Broncos are back on course and headed for the Super Bowl for the fifth time, fourth in the Elway era.

Every Super Bowl appearance has ended in defeat for Denver. Does Elway think this one offers the best chance for victory?

“Yeah,” he said, “because it’s the next one.”

The Broncos are getting another chance because of the difference in quarterbacking Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Both sides ran the ball well as they have done all season. Denver, with the third-best rushing offense in the league during the regular season, got 139 yards and a touchdown out of Terrell Davis. Pittsburgh, with the No. 1 rushing offense in the league, got 105 yards and a touchdown out of Jerome Bettis.

But the pivotal factor was the men calling the signals and throwing the ball. It was a clear victory for experience over youth, execution over exuberance.

Elway, completing his 15th season, completed 18 of 31 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns. And in the final minutes of the game, desperately needing a first down to keep the ball and run out the clock, Elway passed to Shannon Sharpe for 18 yards to quiet the roar that echoed throughout Three Rivers Stadium all day from the sellout crowd of 61,382.

Kordell Stewart, completing his third season with the Steelers and his first as starting quarterback, made several bad decisions in a game in which he completed 18 of 36 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown.

Stewart, nicknamed “Slash” for his ability to be quarterback/runner/receiver, was Slash on Sunday because of his interceptions/fumble/poor decision-making.

Last month, Stewart beat the Broncos by accounting for five touchdowns, throwing for three and running for two. But on that day, he faced basic man-to-man coverage.

Sunday, Denver defensive coordinator Greg Robinson threw the works at Stewart. Zones, man-to-man, wave after wave of blitzes. Stewart saw it all and didn’t react well.

He threw three interceptions, one into double coverage, another into triple coverage, and fumbled the ball once.

“We changed up a lot. We tried to create indecision on his [Stewart’s] part,” Robinson said.

“Kordell is a young quarterback,” said Denver linebacker Allen Aldridge, who made one of the three interceptions. “He is going to be a great quarterback, but it’s going to take some time.”

In the first quarter, it appeared that Stewart, making only the second postseason start of his career, might repeat his brilliant performance against Denver.

The Broncos had taken the early lead on an eight-yard touchdown run by Davis, a run that started to the right side before Davis cut back against the grain and burst into the end zone.

But Stewart, who last week ran for the only touchdown in Pittsburgh’s 7-6 playoff victory over the New England Patriots, was also off and running again.

Faking a screen pass to his left from the Denver 33-yard line, Stewart instead headed right and, thanks to a key block by center Dermontti Dawson, raced down the right sideline all the way into the end zone to tie the score.

A fumble by Davis late in the first quarter led to another Pittsburgh touchdown, Bettis going over left tackle from a yard out early in the second quarter to put the Steelers on top, 14-7.

But before the quarter was over, the Broncos scored 17 points that would allow them to dance off the field at game’s end to football’s big ball in two weeks.

Jason Elam began the scoring with a 43-yard field goal. Later in the quarter, Stewart, trying to connect with his favorite target, Yancey Thigpen, in the end zone, threw into double coverage with Ray Crockett picking the ball off.

Elway drove the Broncos down the field and put them in front for good with a 15-yard touchdown pass play to Howard Griffith.

With 30 seconds to play in the half, Elway got his team back into the end zone, connecting with Ed McCaffrey on a one-yard pass play.

Stewart finally got back on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter, but it was too late. He connected with Charles Johnson for a 14-yard touchdown.

When it was over, Stewart seemed able to put it in perspective.

“You don’t find too many guys in this league,” he said, “to come in their first year and make it this far. Not even to the playoffs. If that’s not gratifying to me, I don’t know what is. . . . I’m young, 25 years old, first year ever playing this position at this level. Hopefully I will have had the opportunity to win some Super Bowls from now to the age of 37.”

Elway has certainly had his opportunities. And now, having hinted at the possibility of making this is last season, he truly has a chance to make this a last hurrah.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SUPER BOWL XXXIII

GREEN BAY PACKERS (15-3) vs. DENVER BRONCOS (15-4)

Sunday, Jan. 25, 3:15 p.m. Channel 4

* NFC Report: C10

* AFC Report: C10

* First Look at Matchup: C11