Rewatch: Broncos @ Eagles 9/21/86

I thought it appropriate to post this today to show how far the Eagles have come.

This is the Broncos' second straight game in the Keystone State, coming off the win on Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh, which Marv Albert and Bob Griese point out was the first road MNF win in Broncos history. It's not exactly an easy schedule week for Denver - a Monday night game on the east coast followed by an early Sunday game on the east coast. 

The Eagles are not off to a great start in 1986, having lost their first two games, but this is their home opener.

Eagles return man Junior Tautalatasi fumbles the opening kickoff and the ball rolls back towards the goal line. It winds up batted out of the end zone for a safety. Following the free kick, The Broncos, not the Eagles, wind up running the first play from scrimmage in this one. Sammy Winder runs three times for 46 yards on the drive and Gerald Willhite runs twice for 15 yards and catches a pass for 4 yards. The drive stalls at the Eagles 12, but Rich Karlis comes on to kick the field goal and makes it 5-0.

If you thought Danny Reeves was gimmicky, meet new Eagles coach Buddy Ryan. He’s bringing in second year QB Randall Cunningham for Ron Jaworski on third down. Cunningham is picked off by Mike Harden (who also forced the fumble on the opening kickoff) and it's returned 30 yards for a touchdown. Now it’s 12-0, Broncos. 

The Eagles put together a little bit of a drive but it stalls in Broncos territory so they line up for a punt. Punter John Teltschik takes the snap and cocks his arm, throwing it upwards with the trajectory of a punt. Gerald Willhite is back to receive and a flag is thrown after he makes contact with the intended “receiver” on the play. Clearly, the intent of the Eagles was to create confusion and draw a penalty. They don’t get pass interference, but they do get 5 yards and a first down. However, four plays later they later go for it on fourth and one and get stuffed. So they get nothing out of it. 

After a Broncos punt, Jaworski is sacked on the first play and fumbles and the Broncos recover at midfield. The Broncos need six plays to find the end zone again, with Elway throwing a TD pass to Dave Stoddard on a tackle eligible play. 

The Eagles go three-and-out and the Broncos take over once again at midfield. Elway goes deep for Steve Sewell who hauls it in for a 40-yard gain. Winder scores two plays later and it’s 26-0 midway through the second quarter. 

This game, much like yesterday’s Super Bowl, is effectively over at halftime. And what’s more, the Broncos get the ball to start the second half. Gerald Willhite runs for 42 yards on the first play, and five plays later Winder scores on a 17-yard run. Broncos 33, Eagles 0. 

The Eagles actually respond with a scoring drive of their own, with Randall Cunningham taking the field on third and 13 and connecting with Kenny Jackson for a 29-yard touchdown. 

But the Broncos aren’t worried about a comeback. Gary Kubiak trots out in place of Elway for the next possession. I feel like QBs don't come out of blowouts as early as they used to. Has anyone done a study? It was not a particularly great statistical day for Elway (7 of 12 for 96 yards) but it doesn’t particularly matter as the running game and defense are taking care of business. Possibly Dan Reeves knew going in how terrible the Eagles were and decided they could take this one with minimal effort. 

There’s no more scoring in this one so all that’s left is statistical milestones. Marv and Bob tell us that the Broncos are closing in on their first dual 100-yard rushers since 1974 against the Raiders, when Otis Armstrong and Jon Keyworth did it. 

With the reduced activity in the passing game, Steve Watson is in danger of having his consecutive games with a reception streak broken at 49. 

Winder reaches 100 yards on the ground, but Willhite falls short. Watson does not get a catch, and in fact Broncos wide receivers finish with only two catches for 14 yards. This game belonged to the running backs. Winder has 116 yards rushing and receiving on 21 touches, Willhite has 134 yards rushing and receiving on 15 touches, and Sewell has 5 catches for 87 yards. 

The Broncos are 3-0 for the first time since their Super Bowl season of 1977. 

Broncos Best Divisional Playoff Wins

It’s the NFL divisional playoffs this weekend and instead of watching the Chiefs, let’s instead review the greatest divisional playoff weekends in Broncos history. Here’s my top 5. 

5. January 14, 2006. The two-time defending NFL champion New England Patriots visit Denver to face the 13-3 AFC West champion Broncos. Champ Bailey’s 100-yard interception return late in the third quarter is a 14-point swing in favor of the Broncos, who go on to win 27-13. It was the Broncos’ first playoff win since Super Bowl XXXIII, ending a seven-year drought. However, the Broncos fell to the Steelers in the AFC Championship game a week later and fell short of Super Bowl XL. 

4. January 4, 1987. The Broncos host the defending AFC champion Patriots at Mile High. Denver clings to a 20-17 lead throughout the fourth quarter until Rulon Jones sacks Tony Eason in the end zone to clinch victory with less than two minutes remaining. This is the Broncos’ first playoff win since beating the Raiders on New Year’s Day 1978 - they had lost five playoff games in a row. The Broncos, of course, went on to beat the Browns the following week to advance to Super Bowl XXI. 

3. January 4, 1998. The Broncos go on the road to face the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, a place that has been traditionally difficult for Denver, especially late in the season. The Chiefs overtook the Broncos for the AFC West lead late in the season, aided by a last-second field goal to beat Denver in November. In this one, the Broncos proved their superiority, with the defense holding off a late Chiefs drive to preserve a 14-10 win. It was only the second road playoff win in Broncos’ history. The Broncos won the third road playoff game in Broncos’ history the following week in Pittsburgh to advance to Super Bowl XXXII.

2. December 24, 1977. The Broncos host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first playoff game in their 18-year franchise history. The Broncos own the AFC’s top seed thanks to their 12-2 record, but the Steelers are only two years removed from back-to-back Super Bowl titles. The two teams engage in a tight back-and-forth for three and a half quarters on Christmas Eve until Denver takes control late in the fourth. Following a turnover, Craig Morton connects with Jack Dolbin for the clinching touchdown in a 34-21 victory. Denver beats Oakland the following week to advance to Super Bowl XII.

1. January 4, 1992. The Houston Oilers visit Denver following a win in the wildcard round. Although Denver sported a better record than Houston, they had suffered a 42-14 loss in the Astrodome the previous October. Early on, this one was trending in the same direction, with the Oilers jumping to 14-0 and 21-6 leads in the first half. However, the Broncos steadily climbed back in the game and with just over two minutes remaining trailed 24-23 and had the ball at their own two-yard line. John Elway proceeded to execute “The Drive II” in which he converted two fourth downs. The second of these was a 44-yard pass to Vance Johnson to put Denver in position for the winning field goal by David Treadwell. The following week, the Broncos lost a heartbreaker to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game, falling short of Super Bowl XXVI. 

Pretty interesting that three of the five took place on January 4, and the other two games took place on dates ending with a 4. I don’t know what it means but it’s interesting. 

Rewatch: Broncos @ Steelers 9/15/86

The Broncos and Steelers on Monday Night Football, live from Pittsburgh, PA. Frank Gifford is in the booth with his new partner…Al Michaels! A young Al Michaels, just beginning a four-decade run of prime time NFL broadcasts. 

This is a fairly dull game in comparison to the Broncos’ season-opening win over the Raiders. The Broncos maintain a 7-0 lead into the third quarter. When the Steelers finally get a field goal, Michaels gleefully notes that Pittsburgh’s first points came at the 100 minute and 6 second mark of their season. They were blanked 30-0 in their opening game against the Seahawks. 

The Broncos respond with a quick 6-play, 80-yard drive, capped by John Elway faking a handoff to Sammy Winder and throwing deep to Steve Sewell for a 34-yard touchdown. 

However, the Steelers offense has awakened and they answer with their second consecutive scoring drive. Rich Erenberg scores from 7 yards out on a fourth-and-1 and it's a 14-10 ballgame with just under ten minutes left in regulation.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, the Broncos turn to another one of Danny Reeves' famous gadget plays. Elway tosses it to Gerald Willhite, who winds up and throws a strike to a wide, wide open Steve Watson for an apparent 79-yard touchdown. It's called back for an illegal forward pass, but the replays show that everything was clean. The line of scrimmage was the Denver 21 yard line, Elway threw it from about the 13, and Willhite caught it at about the 11. He took a few steps forward before releasing the ball, but was still well behind the line of scrimmage. The NFL has instituted instant replay for the 1986 season, and this seems like a great candidate for a reversal. But nothing happens.

Only after the Broncos run another play do the officials stop the action to discuss. Eventually, they decide that nothing can be done because the Broncos had already run another play. 

The Broncos wind up punting. Al Michaels lets us know that the replay booth said they hadn't been sure of what the call was on the field, and that's why no action was taken. Although it seemed pretty clear to me that the call was illegal forward pass on number 47, because that’s what the referee said when he turned on his mic.

Oh well. The Pittsburgh crowd is now fired up as the Steelers move into Denver territory, sensing the opportunity to turn the game in their favor. However, the drive ends with the Steelers’ David Hughes fumbling it away at the 35-yard line. The Broncos don't do anything with it, so the Steelers get another shot, but this time Mark Malone is intercepted by Tony Lilly, putting the Broncos in excellent field position. On the first play after the two-minute warning, Elway tosses it to Winder, who finds his way to the end zone for the clinching score.

My family acquired our first VCR at some point during the NFL offseason, and so my childhood problem of only being able to stay up until halftime of Monday night games was solved! This was the first of many games I taped through the years.

After the Broncos offense has returned to the sidelines following the final score, we hear Elway’s voice, “I want to say hi to my mom and wife” and then the camera goes to him on the sideline. He says, “Hi mom, Hi Janet, Hi Jessi. Woo!” I remember rewinding this greeting over and over again because a) I could, these VCRs are amazing b) it was hilarious and c) it was maybe the first quasi-personal interaction I had with Elway. We didn’t get Denver TV stations at the time, so we didn't get any of the extra coverage outside of the on-field action. 

Hello from Pittsburgh

Controversy would have ensued if the Steelers had taken advantage of the failed instant replay and rallied for a win. They did note that the Broncos were one of four teams to vote against instant replay, with the Steelers abstaining. Clearly the NFL didn't have the kinks worked out yet and it took years of stops and starts and tinkering to arrive at the system we have in place now. But even though we have challenge flags and automatic review of scoring plays and advanced cameras, there are still calls that get missed in the modern NFL.

History Repeats?

Today the Denver Broncos will play the Buffalo Bills in an AFC wildcard game. Why is it called wildcard when half the teams in this round won their division? Well, that question is beyond the scope of this post. The game kicks off at 11:00 AM MST in Buffalo. Where will I be for the first Broncos playoff game in nine years? At church, of course. The meeting schedule changed with the new year, and so church begins at 11:30. We’ll get home around 3:00, long after the game as concluded. So I’ll miss the live broadcast.

The last time the Broncos and the Bills met in the playoffs was January 1992, and I faced a similar scenario. It was the AFC Championship, I believe set to kick off at 10:30 AM. Our ward’s meeting schedule began at 9:00 for most of my life, but for this year it was changed to 11:00. I was in my teens at the time, and while it was disappointing to miss the live broadcast, I just set the old VCR. And then I would watch it afterwards, not knowing the result before I started. At least that was my plan.

Such a plan only works if you don’t accidentally hear something before you get home to rewind and watch the tape. In this case, someone in our ward went home during our meeting block and checked the score. And then came back in the door and loudly announced, which I overheard. So my plan to get full enjoyment of the game was spoiled!

The Broncos were not favored in this particular game. This was the peak era of Buffalo Bills football. They were the defending AFC champions, with back-to-back 13-3 seasons in the book. Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith. The Broncos were coming off the Drive II where they narrowly escaped with a win over the Houston Oilers. They were a solid team, but beating the Bills on the road would not be easy. Yet when I heard that the Bills were holding onto a narrow 7-0 lead, I was encouraged. What to do??

I had a friend named Mike, who had keys to his family’s minivan. We wound up skipping the last hour of church and went out to listen to the fourth quarter on the radio. The Broncos nearly pulled the upset. Even though John Elway was out of the game, Gary Kubiak engineered a late drive to narrow it to 10-7. And then they recovered the onside kick. Could it be another miracle win, taking its place alongside “The Drive” and “The Fumble”? Alas, no. The Broncos fumbled near midfield, and the Bills held on for a close win. I think it was years later before I went back and watched the tape.

I don’t have a way to record the game today. I’m not signing up for YouTube TV at a rate of $90 a month so I can DVR. I do have the internet to keep me posted on the results, and I guess if I want to watch later there’s the NFL plus premium subscription for $15 that could facilitate that. It’s kicking off right now and I’m not sure what I’ll do. 

I don’t expect these Broncos to win this game, but sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised. We’ll see what happens!

A Word on the 2024 Broncos

And now a break from our regularly scheduled rewatching of mid-1980s Broncos games to check in on the current edition of the team.

Tomorrow they host the 15-1 Kansas City Chiefs in the season finale. If the Broncos win, they are in as the #7 seed in the AFC playoffs and head to Buffalo next weekend for their first playoff game since Super Bowl 50. Tall order? Not especially. The Chiefs are resting most of their top guys, meaning that the Broncos will likely claim victory over KC’s junior varsity.

I would have preferred it not be this way. The Broncos clinched their first winning season since 2016 on December 15 with a comeback win over the Colts. They were 9-5 and their win streak was at four games. All they needed was one more win to clinch a playoff spot, and at that point, rising as high as the #5 seed was not out of the question. Instead, they blew a halftime lead to the Chargers on the Thursday before Christmas and then lost in overtime last week to the Bengals. This kept playoff hopes alive for the Bengals as well as the Dolphins, who will claim the #7 seed with a victory over the hopeless Jets should the Broncos falter. 

It’s hard to say this isn’t backing into the playoffs. A win over the Chiefs will count in the standings regardless of who plays or doesn’t, but it does feel a little cheap. Also, five years ago the Broncos would already have been out of luck at this point but a 17-game season and a 14-team playoff have made this possible. 

The other issue is the fact that the 2024 Broncos are a bit of a paper tiger. Their record is a sterling 7-0 against teams with losing records, but only 1-6 against teams with winning records. They’ve split their games against two 8-8 teams, the Bengals and the Falcons. The best team they’ve beaten all year is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who currently have the same record as the Broncos. 

However it happens, it will be good to break this ugly streak of eight seasons missing the playoffs and talking about something besides what new coach they should hire. And it’s nice to see that Bo Nix has turned out to be reasonably competent and we’re not trying to figure out how to run him out of town. We have something to build on, which is less depressing than rolling out different combinations every year and hoping it works out. They still lack serious offensive threats - i.e. Pro Bowl level talent at running back, tight end, and receiver, and one has to wonder how good their defense actually is after some of these late-season showings. 

This season has been encouraging and it’s been fun to watch games that actually seem to matter, although this team is a long ways from competing for AFC supremacy with the Ravens, Chiefs, and Bills. 

Rewatch: Broncos vs. Raiders 9/7/86

The 1986 season starts off with a blockbuster between the 1984 and 1985 AFC West champs -  the last three games between the rivals have been decided in overtime. The Broncos get a touchdown on the opening drive, but the Raiders otherwise dominate in the early going. They score just about every way you can - getting two touchdowns, a safety, and a field goal on the first play of the second quarter to take 19-7 lead. 

And then comes what is perhaps the iconic play of the Broncos’ 1986 regular season. They have third-and-five at the Raiders 23. Elway hands to Sewell, who starts right, pauses, and then throws back across the field to a wide-open Elway, who hauls in the pass and ambles the remaining 15 yards for the touchdown. I don't know how many times I've seen it replayed through the years. Dozens upon dozens.

Elway with first (and only) career receiving TD

Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy are on the broadcast for NBC. Criqui says we'll see it again and again (prophetic) but Trumpy kind of poops on it. The ball wasn’t very well thrown. It's six points but it's a trick play and you can't just keep doing that. He seemed really unhappy about it and his partner probably had to tell him to go for a walk during the commercial break.    

Raiders answer with a field goal to go up 22-14. The Broncos pull within a point right before the half on a 1-yard run by Gene Lang after getting a big break on the previous play. Stacey Toran of the Raiders was called for pass interference on third-and-long on a ball that was out of the reach of Clarence Kay. 

The broadcast highlights the Broncos third quarter struggles of the previous season, in which they were outscored 103-39. The Broncos do finally get a touchdown when Ken Woodard forces a Marcus Allen fumble and returns it for the score, but it’s sandwiched between a pair of Raiders touchdowns. After three quarters, it’s Los Angeles 36, Denver 28 and it kind of seems like it might just be the Raiders’ day.

The Broncos have managed to keep it close with a heavy dose of Mile High Magic. So far they have touchdowns off of a gadget play, a generous pass interference penalty, and a turnover. And as the fourth quarter begins, Rich Karlis comes on and boots a career-long 51 yarder after going 0-for-5 from 50 or more in 1985. Napoleon McCallum then fumbles the ensuing kickoff, setting up the Broncos with another opportunity.

Denver gets deep into Raider territory and they put up a quote where Elway said that the Raiders might have a better defense than the Bears. And then he promptly hits Lang for a TD, giving the Broncos 37 points on the day and probably ending further comparisons. 

There is still plenty of time left and the Broncos are holding a narrow 38-36 lead. The Raiders are threatening with three and a hlaf minutes to play. Marc Wilson connects with Dokie Williams for a first down at the Denver 10, but he fumbles, turning it back to Denver.

This recording leaves in a lot of the ads. Sometimes it’s fun to remember the world of the 1980s that we once lived in. Commercials for the Yugo sent me on a bit of a rabbit hole researching the worst imported car ever. There has even been a book written about it.  AT&T used to present “you make the call” where it would replay a game situation and ask you, the fan, what should happen if you were the coach or the referee. The one they show here is from the Patriots-Bengals game the previous season, perhaps not ironically the one that wound up sealing the Broncos’ fate. Do the Patriots go for it on 4th-and-1 holding a narrow lead and a playoff spot on the line?  If you said yes, you’re right, as Robert Weathers sprints all the way to the end zone to clinch the victory.

The Broncos are facing their own version of “you make the call” at the two-minute warning. They have a 3rd-and-9 at their own 22. Trumpy asks Criqui if the Broncos should run it and rely on the defense or throw and try to convert. Criqui says throw it. 

They do indeed throw it and Steve Watson hauls in Elway’s pass for 36 yards, which essentially clinches the game. Even though Denver winds up punting three plays later, the pass forced the Raiders to burn their final two timeouts and shifted field position, rendering the Raiders' last-gasp possession nearly useless. The Broncos win in what remains the highest scoring Broncos-Raiders game ever. The one that came the closest was the Raiders’ 59-14 win during the Josh McDaniels era. 

This was the sixth consecutive game between these two teams decided by three points or less. I miss these days when these games were not only competitive but also quite meaningful in deciding the division title.

Reflection on the 1985 Broncos

Broncos players were surely glued to the TV on the final Sunday of the regular season and hoping to see a loss by the Patriots or the Jets, who were each facing an AFC Central opponent. 

The AFC Central champion Cleveland Browns kept it close in the first half before the Jets finished the game with 27 unanswered points to win 37-10 and clinch one of the remaining spots. 

Meanwhile, the Patriots jumped to a 20-6 halftime lead over the Cincinnati Bengals, only to have Cincinnati claw their way back into the game in the second half. New England held a narrow 27-23 advantage with two minutes remaining and faced a 4th-and-1 at the Bengal 42. The handoff went to Robert Weathers, who went all the way to the end zone to put the game, and the final AFC playoff berth, out of reach. 

The Patriots were the Cinderella story of the 1985 playoffs. They went on the road and upended the Jets in the wildcard game, then upset the top-seeded Raiders the following week in the LA Coliseum. They then dominated the defending AFC champs in the Orange Bowl to earn a trip to the Louisiana Superdome.

It’s hard to say how the Broncos would have fared if they had earned one of the wildcard berths. Winning three games on the road would have been tough, yet the Patriots managed the pull it off. No one in the AFC was invincible in 1985. The Dolphins were not as dominant as their Super Bowl team had been, and the Broncos played them evenly in an early-season matchup. The Raiders were a good team, but could they have beaten the Broncos a third time after squeaking out two narrow regular season victories? The toughest potential game for the Broncos may have been facing the Jets in the Meadowlands, a place where they would lose two games in 1986.

In the end, it wouldn’t have mattered. The 1985 season belonged to the Chicago Bears, and it’s unlikely any AFC opponent would have prevailed on Super Sunday. The Patriots lost 46-10 in what was the worst loss in Super Bowl history at that point. 

Even though they were still a year away from truly competing for an AFC title, the ‘85 Broncos were an impressive squad. Facing slim playoff hopes after losing at home to the Raiders, they came from behind to win in each of their final two games. They could have laid down and taken the 9-7 record, but had the character to go out and force the Jets and Patriots to earn their way into the playoffs. And so the Broncos became the first team to win 11 regular season games and miss the playoffs, which seems like an injustice because the Browns needed only an 8-8 record to clinch their spot.  Only one other team has stayed home with as many wins, when the 2008 Patriots stayed home at 11-5 while the Chargers won the AFC West with an 8-8 record.

These Broncos felt like a playoff team in so many ways but also had so many shortcomings. They totaled just 39 points on the season in the third quarter, with none over the final two months of the season. They finished just 1-4 against 1985 playoff teams. They failed to hold halftime leads over the Raiders and lost both games in overtime. They were forced to rely too heavily on the passing game once their running backs were depleted.  

However, the Broncos were beginning to earn respect around the league. Sammy Winder had been the only Pro Bowl representative for the 13-3 team from the prior year, but in 1985 four Broncos earned invitations. They were all from the defensive side of the ball - Karl Mecklenburg, Rulon Jones, Dennis Smith, and Louis Wright. In addition, Mecklenburg and Jones earned All-NFL recognition after combining for 23 sacks on the season. 

On offense, John Elway established himself as an elite NFL passer, and set team records in attempts, completions, and yardage. The talent around him was capable though not superb. Ten different players caught 19 or more passes with Steve Watson leading the way with 61. Sammy Winder totaled only 714 rushing yards on the year but led the team with eight touchdowns and set a team record with rushing touchdowns in five consecutive games. There was hope for the future as Vance Johnson set team rookie records with 51 receptions for 721 yards and had the team’s only 100-yard receiving performance of the season. Steve Sewell also played well in limited duty as a rookie, with a combined 499 yards rushing and receiving and 5 touchdowns. 

On the surface it might appear that the Broncos took a step back from their 1984 season, but in many ways the 1985 squad was better equipped to compete for a conference championship. The cards just didn't fall their way.