Class Reunion

By T.J. SIMERS

Jan. 18, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

DENVER —

It is destiny, a Mile High reunion show featuring Dan Reeves, Steve DeBerg, John Elway, Mike Shanahan and Pat Bowlen, doubling now as Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, four years to the date Shanahan was hired to the coach the Broncos, rejuvenate Elway and win the big game--something Reeves could not do.

It is closure for Elway, a 23-10 AFC championship game victory over the Jets, including 23 unanswered points, in what is expected to be his final appearance in Denver, and one more opportunity to torture Reeves.

It is redemption for Reeves, a chance to shine up a tarnished legacy damaged by Elway sniping, three Super Bowl losses and Bronco owner Bowlen’s decision to dismiss him, if only his underdog Falcons can remain charmed for one more game.

It is payback for Shanahan--hired by Reeves out of the University of Florida the become Denver’s quarterbacks coach and later fired by Reeves for undermining his authority and relationship with Elway--if only his team can repeat as Super Bowl champions.

“It is pretty ironic it all coming together,” admitted Elway, who started his first game for Reeves in Denver in 1983, was replaced five games later by DeBerg--now a backup quarterback in Atlanta--and then blossomed under Shanahan. “[That relationship with Reeves] is just one of those things that didn’t work out, and now look what’s happened.”

Elway, his face still flush from taking a victory lap around Mile High Stadium with the Lamar Hunt Trophy in his arms, revealed that he and Reeves bumped into each other last year at Augusta National and punches were not thrown.

“It was real cordial; I was with Mike [Shanahan] on the first tee and Dan was coming off the 18th green and we talked for about 20 minutes,” said Elway, who called playing for Reeves “hell” and threatened to retire after the 1992 season unless Reeves was dismissed. “It was a nice chat. He sent me a note after last year’s Super Bowl congratulating me.

“[The problems between the two] That’s done--it really is.”

There was no apology offered, Elway said, “I don’t think either one of us apologized. It wasn’t nearly as bad as people have made it out to be. We played golf, and sure we had our little spats, but hell we went to three Super Bowls.”

It was worse than people have made out, the young head-strong quarterback competing from afar with 1983 draft classmate Dan Marino, but being statistically restricted by the young head-strong head coach, who can take less talent farther than most any other coach in the game.

Marino has more yards than Elway and more touchdown passes, although Elway has always contended privately that he would dominate the record books if allowed to unleash his powerful right arm before the fourth quarter.

A few years ago his wife, Janet, said the public only saw the real John Elway in the fourth quarter when Reeves had no choice but to let her husband take control, which accounts for most of the 47 comebacks in his career.

Told of this a few weeks later, Reeves cried, befuddled by the fervor of the Elways’ animosity toward him.

“No one knows what my family went through having to leave Denver,” said Reeves at the time. “I still don’t understand it.”

Later, as coach of the New York Giants, a clash with general manager George Young added to Reeves’ woes, eventually resulting in his dismissal.

Then it was on to Atlanta to coach the dreadful Falcons.

But after a 1-7 start in Atlanta and folks in Denver nodding as if they expected as much, the Falcons have gone 22-4 under Reeves, the best record for any team in the NFL in that time, including the almost miraculous victory over Minnesota on Sunday to advance to Super Bowl XXXIII.

“The guys in the locker room were laughing at me before the game because I told them, ‘You watch, Reeves is going to keep that game close into the fourth quarter and then find a way to win it,”’ said Denver tight end Shannon Sharpe, one of only three players on the Bronco roster who played for both Reeves and Shanahan. “All the adversity he’s had to go through since leaving here and unceremoniously having to leave the Giants, he’s found a home in Atlanta. Those guys believe in Dan, but I’ll take my chances with Mike Shanahan in Miami.”

The Broncos played the first half of Sunday’s game with the Jets as if they were once again being coached by Reeves. Elway handed the ball off to the left, to the right and then threw incomplete, nothing very exciting, but the game was still very close.

The Jets led, 3-0, at halftime, 10-0 in the third quarter, and then the call came in from the sideline: “Air it out, John.”

But this time it was Shanahan setting Elway free, calling for a deep pass to Rod Smith down the middle of the field.

When the Broncos broke the huddle, however, Shanahan saw the same thing Elway did: wide receivers Smith and Ed McCaffrey were lining up on the wrong side of the field.

Smith also noticed and nodded to Elway, acknowledging that he knew what to do in mimicking McCaffrey’s pattern. But McCaffrey, a guy who went to Stanford, was confused and began running toward Elway, who stopped him and yelled, “Run to the post.”

Apparently the Jets weren’t listening. They let McCaffrey run to the post, and Elway, who had thrown for 40 yards in his first 19 passing attempts, found McCaffrey for 47 yards. Two plays later Elway passed to fullback Howard Griffith for an 11-yard touchdown, pulling Denver within a field goal.

“They just exploded in the third quarter,” Jet cornerback Aaron Glenn said. “Once they hit that pass to McCaffrey, they just kept pressing.”

The Broncos recovered a popped-up onside kick, tied the game with a Jason Elam 44-yard field goal and then went ahead with a 48-yard Elam kick.

The Jets, who ran a dozen plays for 32 yards in the third quarter and got nowhere close to the end zone, were finished after Terrell Davis ran 31 yards for a touchdown.

“I felt we had them on the ropes a little bit in the first half and they were struggling offensively,” Jet Coach Bill Parcells said. “Then [defensive back] Victor Green went to sleep and John Elway hit that long one [to McCaffrey] and that got them to 10-7. That gave them all the momentum.”

Maybe the Broncos started slowly, being shut out for the first time in the first half since Shanahan took over as coach at Denver, because the pregame activities focused on Reeves and his Falcons.

The Broncos warmed up with the crowd watching the scoreboard screen and cheering for every positive Falcon play, an interesting departure from the days when Reeves stood on the Denver sideline. The folks in Denver never embraced Reeves, blaming him for their city becoming a national joke after losing three Super Bowls.

But Reeves now directs an underdog, and his tearful news conference shown on CNN upon his release from an Atlanta hospital after heart surgery might have done more for his image than any play, game or victory. The man that had been perceived as so controlling, so temperamental and so uncaring, appeared human, and now up on the scoreboard his team had taken the Vikings into overtime.

On the field, it appeared even Elway took notice, although he would say later he didn’t care who won the NFC championship, the first of many not-so-candid comments to come in the two weeks.

“To be honest with you at times we [Shanahan and Reeves] were best friends,” said Shanahan, the second of many not-so-candid comments to come.

The NFL, probably preferring an explosive shootout in Super Bowl XXXIII with Denver pitted against Minnesota, delayed the start of the AFC title game when Atlanta and Minnesota moved into overtime. But the Broncos and Jets could only wait so long, and while Morten Andersen lined up for a game-winning field goal in Minneapolis, Denver kicked off.

Andersen’s kick was good, the fans in Mile High reacted as if Terrell Davis had scored a touchdown for the home team.

“You couldn’t write a better story,” said Bowlen, who fired Reeves and tried to hire Shanahan before settling for Wade Phillips and then firing him two years later to hire Shanahan. “I think Dan’s a great coach, but it’s not unusual after 10 or 12 years in one organization for coaches and owners to get burned out.”

For 12 seasons Reeves coached in Denver, 10 of those with Elway, compiling a 116-78-1 record. After acquiring Elway in a trade with Baltimore in his third season on the job, Reeves joked, “As good as this guy is, I don’t want to be known as the guy who ruins John Elway.”

On the way to the Hall of Fame, Elway might be the only one still willing to argue that point. But for Reeves to gain such pro football acclaim, he might have to be the guy to ruin Elway’s last game with a Super Bowl victory of his own.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Road to Miami

Round-by-round NFL playoff results :

WILD-CARD ROUND

Jan. 2

Miami 24, Buffalo 17

Arizona 20, Dallas 7

Jan. 3

Jacksonville 25, New England 10

San Francisco 30, Green Bay 27

DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS

Jan. 9