Rewatch: Broncos @ Steelers 12/1/85

Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy are on hand to call the game on a beautiful day from Three Rivers. They are joined in the booth by special guest Paul Zimmerman aka Dr. Z - the famed Sports Illustrated writer. It's a rematch of the AFC Divisional Playoff game played 11 months earlier when the Steelers upset the Broncos at Mile High. The Steelers are again fighting for a playoff spot, tied at 6-6 atop the AFC Central with the Cleveland Browns, with the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Oilers each a game back at 5-7.

David Woodley is starting due to an injury to the Steelers' main man, Mark Malone, although he's not exactly a picture of perfect health himself, having spent time in the hospital due to intestinal flu in the week leading up to the game. Woodley is most known for starting Super Bowl XVII for the Dolphins. Sammy Winder, only 10 days removed from arthroscopic knee surgery, is back in at running back for the Broncos.

The first half is largely uneventful. The Broncos don't get anything going until Woodley goes deep midway through the second quarter and gets picked off by Steve Wilson. The Broncos need just 5 plays to go 68 yards. Winder gains 27 yards on consecutive plays and John Elway connects with Clint Sampson for a 24-yard touchdown to give the Broncos a 7-3 lead. 

The Broncos get a field goal to extend their lead with 1:08 left in the half, enough time for the Steelers to put together a drive. Dr. Z is emphasizing that the Broncos are daring the Steelers to throw the ball, and the strategy is working as Woodley is only 4 of 12 passing.

But Woodley completes 3 of his next 4 and suddenly the Steelers are at the Broncos 21. Woodley is sacked by Karl Mecklenburg on the next play and the ball comes loose and rolls toward the sideline. It appears the Broncos pounce on it before it goes out of bounds, but the Steelers maintain possession and get a field goal to cut it to 10-6. 

Dan Reeves, who like most of the Broncos staff is nattily dressed in an orange sweater, gives the referee an earful on the way to the locker room.

The Achilles’ heel of the 1985 Broncos was the third quarter. Entering this game, they hadn’t scored a point in the third quarter of the last five games and hadn’t scored a third quarter touchdown in the last seven games. 

Both streaks are extended in this game. The Broncos can't move the ball on their first three possessions of the second half. The Steelers get another field goal to cut it to 10-9. The Broncos get a break when Steve Wilson gets his second interception of the day, setting them up at the Pittsburgh 40. However, they get no points out of it when Karlis misses the field goal from 39 yards.

They mention that Three Rivers Stadium is labeled “Home of Champions” because the Steelers won all those championships in the 70s and the Pirates won the World Series in 1979. My main question is why was there always trash blowing all over the field and also why were there always passenger automobiles parked around the perimeter of the field like it was a high school game. You see it in a lot of old clips of Steelers games, including this one.

Are they like player vehicles, or…

Early in the fourth quarter, the Broncos get their third interception of the day, this one from Tony Lilly. It sets them up at the Pittsburgh 42, and they manage to cash in this time with Steve Sewell taking it in for six.

The cameras give us a shot of a large poster/balloon of lips, in tribute to Louis Lipps. This apparently inspires the Steelers, and they put together their first TD drive of the day, with Lipps himself hauling in a 31-yard TD pass, beating Steve Wilson on the play.

A lot of work went into this piece of fan art

On the broadcast they mention that the Bronco defense is starting to crack, perhaps because they've been on the field so much due to the offense's inability to make anything happen. Moments later, the Broncos are facing a crucial 3rd and 6 when Mike Merriweather picks off Elway and returns it for the touchdown. 

Things are not looking great for the Broncos. After keeping the Steelers out of the end zone all day, they've yielded two touchdowns in a minute and a half of game clock. Only five minutes remain and the crowd is going crazy. The Broncos need a touchdown but haven’t managed one in this game that didn’t follow a turnover. Perhaps like last December, a superior Denver team will again be upset by the Steelers and their tradition.

But hold on....a big return on the kickoff by Vance Johnson sets up the Broncos at the Denver 42, giving them a short field to work with. However, two plays later and the Broncos are facing a 3rd and 9. A graphic flashes that the Broncos are 2 of 12 on third down for the day. 

Elway drills a pass to Steve Watson, who has Donnie Shell all over him. Nineteen yards and a first down.

They give the score of the Saints game and their new head coach Wade Phillips, who have just rolled the Rams 29-3.

The Steelers blitz on second down, but Elway drops a pass into Clarence Kay's outstreched arms inside the Pittsburgh 5 for 27 yards. After the 2 minute warning Dr. Z opines that he likes the blitz call by Tony Dungy because it was forcing the Broncos to make a play to beat them, which results in a bit of a disagreement between Trumpy and Dr. Z. Trump says Kay beat Eric Williams like a drum and Z says he didn’t beat him he just made a great play. Trump seems surprised by the pushback and says well they’re inside the five so take it however you can get it. Sewell gets his second TD of the game and the Karlis extra point puts the Broncos back in the lead. 

The tension remains as the Steelers have plenty of time on the clock for David Woodley to get his team in position for a winning field goal. However, before you know it Mike Harden has picked him off and is racing to the end zone with the clinching touchdown. The extra makes the lead 31-23 and in the era before two-point conversions the Steelers have no shot at two scores. They get as far as the Denver 14 but Rulon Jones puts it away with the team's sixth sack of the day (Mecklenburg had four of them) to go along with the four interceptions. 

So this was a game that was a somewhat dull defensive struggle until the fourth quarter, when the two teams combined for five touchdowns and an exciting finish.

I may or may not have watched some of these back in the day, so I’m using the term “rewatch” kind of loosely. And that's what makes the project kind of interesting. Even though I knew going in that the Broncos get the win, there were points when I was not sure exactly how they were going to pull it off.

Rewatch: Broncos @ Raiders 11/17/85

It’s Marv Albert and Bob Griese welcoming us to a rainy LA Coliseum for a showdown between the 8-3 Broncos and the 7-4 Raiders. Sammy Winder is out for the Broncos with injury and Lyle Alzado is out for the season for the Raiders. The Broncos are also missing Gene Lang.

The game starts with three consecutive three-and-out drives before the Broncos put together an 11 play, 74 yard drive which culminates in a 16-yard TD pass from John Elway to Steve Watson. 

Fulton Walker returns the kickoff to the Raiders 39, and then Marcus Allen rips off a 61-yard TD run. He changes direction before finding daylight, a move reminiscent of his Super Bowl XVIII gallop. After commercial, they give us a replay showing the umpire threw a pretty nice “block” on Karl Mecklenburg, who probably would have made the tackle for a short gain. 

Allen with the ball and an opening

 

Mecklenburg in good position for tackle - one problem

Umpire goes down, Allen breaks free

 

Vance Johnson fumbles the kickoff and the Raiders recover. However, Steve Foley intercepts for Broncos moments later to nullify the advantage. The Broncos then embark on a 16-play, 78-yard drive featuring Gerald Willhite, who scores after hauling in a shovel pass from Elway two and a half minutes into the second quarter. 

Jerry Seeman is the referee for this game. He was probably the most recognizable zebra of the era, at least for me. "Why does Jerry Seeman always look so happy when he calls the penalties?" Marv asks.  We were all asking that question at the time. 

The legendary Jerry Seeman

The Broncos are up 14-7 and have pretty much dominated the game to that point. Raiders QB Marc Wilson hasn’t completed a pass and most of their offense came on the run by Allen. 

But Wilson gets hot on the next drive. The Raiders need only 6 plays to cover 68 yards and utilize their BYU connection as Wilson finds Todd Christensen for the touchdown, who slips on the wet field after the catch. 

I’ve always kind of wondered why you can’t tell it’s raining during the broadcast of a game even if the announcers say that it is pouring down. I guess it is various reasons ranging from the camera distance from the field to lighting to angles. Also this game was transferred from a decades-old VHS recording. In this game, evidence is provided in the dirtier-than-usual uniforms and the puddles on the Coliseum track surrounding the field. And there were a lot of empty seats for this game. Attendance was only 63K at the Coliseum compared to 91K for Broncos-Raiders a year earlier.

Ray Guy shanks a punt late in the second quarter, giving the Broncos possession at the Raiders 42. The Broncos quickly turn that into points, with Elway throwing back across the field to Clarence Kay for his third TD pass of the game. Broncos take a 21-14 lead into half.

Denver gets the ball to start the second half with a chance to extend their lead. However, they fail to move the ball and punt it back to LA. Wilson executes a quick drive which results in a touchdown to tie the score at 21.

The Raiders run a surprise onside kick, with Chris Bahr recovering his own kick. The Raiders have found their groove and put together another drive, highlighted by a 19-yard pass to Marcus Allen on a 3rd-and-3 which is LA's fourth consecutive third down conversion of the second half. The Broncos finally get a third down “stop” when they hold the Raiders to a nine-yard gain on a 3rd-and-10. The Raiders go for it on 4-and-1, giving it to Frank Hawkins, who picks up the first down. Two plays later, Wilson bootlegs for a TD to give the Raiders their first lead of the game. 

The Raiders are getting a ton of mileage out of the NFL films tune "The Raiders" but I didn't realize that was the title until I looked it up. They played it in the stadium numerous times throughout the game. In the process, I found this nice compilation of NFL films music here. 

The Broncos go three-and-out for the second consecutive drive and put the ball back in the hands of Marc Wilson. Marv mentions that the steady drizzle has stopped and seconds later Wilson throws his third interception of the day. Louis Wright's 24-yard return gives Denver good field position. Elway leads a 10-play drive that ends in a three-yard touchdown run by Steve Sewell and it's tied at 28 with 12 minutes left to play.

They mention that Bob Griese is giving up Thanksgiving at home to work the telestrator for NBC's braodcast of Jets-Lions the coming Thursday. Clearly NBC saw him as a rising star in the booth, as he would also be assigned to work Super Bowl XX with Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen at season's end. However, he jumped to ABC in 1987 and established himself calling college football. 

They flash a graphic that the Broncos are 8-1-1 all-time in overtime games, with their only loss coming back in 1978. 

Bob wonders aloud if it is true that the Broncos have won two games in overtime this year without their offense being on the field. Marv goes along to get along and says "that's right" but it's actually not. Although they did win the Week 11 game against the Chargers on a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, the offense did run several plays in overtime in the Week 7 victory over the Seahawks.

Perhaps both teams resigned themselves to overtime, as neither is able to penetrate the opposition's 40-yard line until the Broncos punt with 35 seconds left in the game. Fulton Walker gets a big return to midfield, and a pass from Wilson to Allen gets the Raiders to the Denver 42. With 6 seconds left, Bob repeats his errant assertion that the Broncos won two games without their offense going on the field in trying to explain that you don't want to mess with the Broncos in the extra period. But then Wilson connects with Jessie Hester to the Denver 22, who gets out of bounds with one second on the clock, and it looks as if the Raiders will be able to escape with a win in regulation. However, Bahr's kick is wide right, leaving the game tied.

The Raiders win the toss to start overtime. On a 2nd-and-9 play from the 35, Wilson completes a pass to Dokie Williams. Mike Harden misses the tackle, then Williams breaks free of a cluster of three Broncos and next thing you know it’s a 42-yard gain. Tack on a 5-yard facemask penalty on Steve Busick, and the Raiders are inside the Denver 20. They run a couple of plays and Chris Bahr comes on for another try. This time he kicks it through and the Raiders claim the victory in a game that lasted three hours and thirty-eight minutes. This game continues what has been a common theme for the 1985 Broncos - strong starts and then hoping for the best in the second half. In this game, it didn't work out. Only 106 net yards for the Broncos in the second half compared to 256 for the Raiders.  

It seems like I should remember this game more than I do. It went right down to the wire and then into overtime, would wind up having a huge effect on the outcome of the divisional race, and it was against the Broncos' hated rival. But I was 10 years old at the time so who knows what I was doing.

November 1985 was actually a super memorable month in NFL history. This game came only six days after Redskins QB Joe Thiesmann’s leg was snapped on Monday Night Football against the Giants. And the Bears were on a roll, pushing their record to 12-0 with a 36-0 shutout of the Falcons, setting up a post-Thanksgiving Monday Night showdown in Miami against Bob Griese's old team. Of course, the Dolphins would go on to defeat the Bears and preserve the legacy of the 1972 Dolphins, the only team to go undefeated for an entire season.

Rewatch: 49ers @ Broncos 11/11/85

Welcome to Monday Night Football! It’s the Broncos' first appearance in prime time since the Blizzard Bowl against the Packers 13 months earlier. And it’s also the first-ever matchup between Joe Montana and John Elway.

The 49ers are the defending champs but are in danger of falling three games behind the Rams in the NFC West. Meanwhile, the Broncos are temporarily a half-game ahead of the Raiders, who lost the day before.

The 1985 ABC crew was Frank Gifford, Joe Namath, and O.J. Simpson. This will be the only season (thankfully) for this particular trio. Joe is sporting a nice cabbie hat though. 

Wind chill of nine for this showdown

The 49ers drive into Broncos territory before stalling and give up any field possession gained when Max Runager launches a 1-yard punt, so the Broncos take over at the 40. 

The home crowd is clearly amped as you can hear the GO! BRONCOS! cheer. Which is kind of a relic. When did that fall out of fashion? Now all they do is IN-COM-PLETE.

The Broncos go three and out but Chris Norman, the league's leading punter, pins the Niners deep in their own end. 

Dennis Smith sacks Montana and the 49ers punt again, this time from their own end zone, and the Broncos get great field position at the Niners 37, and cash in on an Elway to Gene Lang TD pass on a 3rd and goal.

The two teams again exchange punts, and after Norman's punt is partially blocked, Frank says the kicking game is going to play a major role tonight. If only he knew.

The 49ers finally put together a drive that stalls inside the Broncos' 10. Ray Wersching boots a 26-yard field goal to get them on the board and in the process becomes 49ers all-time scoring leader.

After another exchange of punts, the Broncos have the ball again. They run a flea flicker and Elway connects with Vance Johnson for 51 yards and first-and-goal inside the 10. Elway then connects with Steve Watson for a touchdown and Broncos lead 14-3.

I remember watching this game as a 10-year-old. This would have been my first time watching the Broncos in prime time. I was allowed to stay up until halftime. I remember being frustrated that they kept pronouncing Karlis as Carlos. They were all doing it but Joe Namath was the worst offender.

O.J. Simpson says MACK-lenburg even though the others were correctly using Mecklenburg.

Judging from the pronunciations and some other things, it was pretty obvious watching this game that the prep that Broadway Joe and the Juice put into this was pretty minimal. It might have been the first Broncos game they’d seen all year. And I’m not sure that Frank was much better. Elway? Well, we’ve heard of Elway!

A bad snap on punt results in 49ers taking over inside Broncos 5, and it seems certain that the 49ers will now be able to narrow the gap. 

It’s very loud at the south end of Mile High. A Montana pass to Earl Cooper on second down in back of end zone is ruled incomplete. “Brilliant!” Frank says twice, before it's ruled not a catch. ABC's replay facilities have been knocked out so they can’t take another look at it. The third-down pass is off Roger Craig's fingertips at the one-yard line. Bill Walsh decides to go for it on fourth down. OJ says he doesn’t think the world champs can feel good about themselves if they can't get it in from the two. Frank says it could be the ballgame if they don't get it in. And they don't get it in as Craig is knocked off his feet before he reaches the goal line. 

San Francisco gets the ball back and put together a nice drive but wind up facing another fourth down inside the Broncos’ five-yard line. This time Bill Walsh decides to send in Wersching for the chip shot field goal. 

And then comes one of the more famous moments in Broncos’ history. Fans have been pelting the field with snowballs and just as the ball is snapped to holder Matt Cavanaugh, a snowball hits directly in front of him. The distraction causes him to bobble the ball, and the kick never gets off. And thus, the “Snowball Game” was born. Though I kind of still remember it as the “Carlos Game.” The officials don’t intervene, Frank and Joe do some finger wagging at the Denver fans, and the Broncos head to halftime with an 11-point lead.

The snowball causes havoc on Niners attempt

The Broncos get the ball to start the second half, but have to punt. Montana connects with Mike Wilson on a deep pass, only his fourth catch of the year. A couple of plays later, Montana again finds Wilson, this time for six points. 

Under pressure, Elway gets intercepted. The 49ers again drive deep into Broncos territory. However, the Denver D is again tough around the goal line. The Niners kick a field goal to cut the lead to one with 7:28 left in the third.  It seems like the momentum is beginning to shift to the 49ers, but then there is a long stretch where not much happens. I certainly didn’t miss very much being sent to bed at 8:30 MST. 

The 49ers come up with a goal line stand and stop the Broncos on 4th and goal from the one-foot line. Karlis later misses a field goal and that’s about it for Denver’s scoring opportunities. 

There is a lot of punting in this game and I was wondering if they made a special emphasis on Monday Night Football to track the punts up into the stadium lights. I don’t feel like that’s a thing on most broadcasts, but the lights aren’t on for most broadcasts. 

The 49ers take the lead for the first time with 3:46 remaining on another Wersching field goal.

Broncos have a third and 13 from their own 27 and it’s not looking great. They played the world champs tough but just weren’t able to pull it out, even with the help of a snowball. 

But then Elway goes deep for Watson. He is covered by Dwight Hicks, who never sees the ball. It hits him in the back and the penalty flag comes out. The Broncos are back in business. 

OJ analyzes the Broncos’ 2nd and 10 play and says " a guard out there...Billy..uh..Byron." Another instance of the crew’s lack of familiarity with the Broncos. He was referring to center Billy Bryan.

OJ thinks they should run it on 3rd and 10 and Frank agrees. Ronnie Lott comes free and is in hot pursuit of Elway. What comes next is a pretty remarkable play, one that I don’t think shows up on any Elway highlight reels. He’s basically running backwards, and is probably just a split second from being sacked by Lott, when he flings a pass from the 45-yard line to Steve Watson at the 22, who takes it to the 10 for the first down. If had been sacked on that play, they’re out of field goal range and facing 4th-and-25. If he had thrown incomplete, the Broncos’ only shot is a 48-yard field goal attempt by Karlis, on what has been kind of a shaky night for kickers. I don’t feel like the broadcasters were effusive enough about this whole turn of events. 

We have the two minute warning, the Broncos run a few plays, and Karlis boots a routine 24-yard field goal to put the Broncos back in front, 17-16, which will turn out to be the final score. The 49ers get the ball back but can do nothing with it. 

Frank says the Denver fans are great except for the few yo-yos that throw snowballs. 

The Broncos are 7-3 and now in sole possession of first place in the AFC West for the first time in the 1985 season.

Rewatch: Broncos @ Chiefs 10/27/85

The Broncos are heading into Arrowhead, where they haven’t won since 1979. And Sammy Winder, who was on a pace for another 1,000 yard season and was leading the team with 6 touchdowns on the year, is sidelined with a touch of the flu. 

No Sammy? No problem. After a Chiefs punt, the Broncos drive 52 yards in 10 plays and Gerald Willhite dives into the end zone from a yard out to put the Broncos in the lead.

Gerald Willhite going over the top

The Chiefs punt again, and this time it is blocked by Randy Robbins who also recovers it at the Kansas City 9, and the Broncos get a field goal to make it 10-0.

The Broncos completely dominate the first quarter, with 96 yards of offense compared to 7 for Kansas City.

Things don’t improve much for the Chiefs when they switch ends of the field. Gene Lang bulldozes in from a yard out on the second play of the second quarter to extend the Denver lead to 17-0. Randy Robbins then blocks his second punt of the day, setting up Willhite’s second touchdown of the day. 

Willhite heading for another six

The rushing attack seems to be doing just fine in the absence of Winder, and will end up breaking the 200-yard mark on the day.

The Chiefs finally show some life and answer with a long drive to momentarily get the home crowd back in it, with Ethan Horton scoring from a yard out to get Kansas City on the scoreboard.

Willhite is injured late in the first half and carted off the field with a concussion. 

Denver gets a field goal with the clock ticking down to end the half, pushing their lead to 27-7. Audible boos are heard as the teams head into the locker room. 

This game was almost entirely drama-free. If there ever was a time the outcome was vaguely in question it came in the third quarter. The Chiefs kicked a field goal to make it 27-10 and then they drove deep into Denver territory. If they can get it in the end zone, they are only down 10 with plenty of time on the clock. They decided to go for it on 4th-and-3 from the 10-yard line, but Bill Kenney is sacked by Rulon Jones to end the threat with three and a half minutes left in the third. 

The Broncos are now alternating Gene Lang with rookie Steve Sewell in the run game. We’ve seen a lot of Vance Johnson so far in the 1985 season, but this is the first extended look at Sewell, who was picked 5 spots ahead of Vance in the draft. He finishes the game with 64 yards on 20 carries.

Following a 12-yard pass to Butch Johnson for a first down, Lang breaks a 26-yard run on the last play of the third quarter. They get the ball to the one, but Sewell can’t punch it in on 3rd and goal. Karlis kicks a 19-yard field goal to go up 30-10. The drive consumed seven minutes of game clock and that's pretty much the ballgame.

This a dark stretch for the Chiefs. They beat the Raiders and Seahawks early in the season to start 3-1, but this is their fourth consecutive loss. The fans are not happy. Boos and jeers are heard from what sounds like a near-empty stadium. However, the Royals are next door preparing to play game 7 of the World Series in a few hours. Bret Saberhagen will pitch a complete-game shutout and the Royals will win 11-0 to claim the title. So the KC sports fan will wake up Monday morning having forgotten all about this lackluster midseason performance by their NFL team.

Marv Albert and Bob Griese were on the broadcast for this one. They mention that Jessica Elway, the first child of John and Janet, was born a week earlier. Marv also mentions that 14 Chiefs had children during the offseason and that coach John Mackovic had commented that if they did as well on the field as they did in the maternity ward they should have a great season.

And in response, Bob says, "the way they are playing, he may have a baby."

Weird comment, but maybe it should have been the title of the Chiefs' 1985 highlight video: So Bad, Our Coach had a Baby...

This win gets the Broncos to 6-2 and keeps them tied atop the AFC West with the Raiders.

Rewatch: Seahawks at Broncos 10/20/85

Denver and Seattle both come into this one riding two-game win streaks. This game begins a crucial stretch of the schedule in which the Broncos will play 8 of 10 against AFC West opponents.

The Broncos take the ball right down the field on their opening drive. 80 yards in nine plays, concluding with a nifty 36-yard run by Sammy Winder to put the Broncos in the lead 7-0. It's pretty rare to see Winder rip off a long gain like that.

The Raiders wind up scoring late to beat the Browns 21-20 in Cleveland, moving their record on the season to 5-2 and temporarily putting them in a half-game lead over the Broncos and Seahawks for first place in the AFC West. Dick Enberg has a feeling the AFC West won't be decided until the final week of the season...not much of a stretch considering that's how it went in 1984 and that all five teams were separated by a single game going into Week 7.

A rookie named Eugene Robinson is flagged for an illegal block on a punt return. It is in fact the same Eugene Robinson who will be beaten by the Broncos in consecutive Super Bowls 12 and 13 years later.

Seattle has sack nullified by an offsides penalty, giving Elway another shot at third down which he converts with a pass to Vance Johnson. Dick has fun telling us about all of Elway's sons: Vance JohnSON, Butch JohnSON, Steve WatSON, Clint SampSON.

The Broncos have a 16-play drive that includes a 4th-and-inches conversion by Winder at the Seattle 15, but ultimately Rich Karlis has to come out for a field goal try, which is blocked, leaving them with no points on the clock-chewing drive. 

The Broncos get the ball back and have another shot at a field goal from 52, but this time Karlis is wide right.

Krieg connects with Paul Skansi for a first down at the Broncos 38. It’s their deepest penetration of the first half, but Skansi is injured on the hit by Dennis Smith and won’t return to the game. On third-and-10, Dave Krieg loses the snap and the Broncos recover with a few seconds left in the second quarter. They get close enough for Karlis to try again from 56 on the last play of the half, but he is again wide right. Neither team has managed a score since the opening drive of the game. 

The Seahawks receive the kickoff to start the second half and on the first play Curt Warner is stripped of the ball with the Broncos recovering at the 30. But they can't move the ball and after three first half misses by Karlis, decide to punt. Chris Norman pins the Seahawks back on their 4-yard line, but the Broncos’ third takeaway of the game soon follows. An interception by Tony Lilly sets them up at the Seattle 30 once again. They stall, but Karlis boots a 45-yarder to extend the Denver lead to 10 points.

Denver's defense has been stout, but with the offense unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities, a Krieg to Steve Largent touchdown pass cuts their lead to 3 with 1:46 left in the third quarter. The pass extended a couple of streaks - Krieg now has 25 straight games with a TD pass and Largent has 114 consecutive games with a reception. 

The Broncos offense goes three-and-out to end the quarter. Seahawks All-Pro safety Kenny Easley is returning punts for the injured Paul Skansi. He doesn't call for a fair catch and gets leveled by Daniel Hunter before he can catch the ball. The Broncos are flagged, but the Seahawks star is down for several minutes.

Curt Warner goes down with an injury and Merlin takes the opportunity to talk about Broncos defensive coordinator Joe Collier’s use of Polaroid pictures sent down from the coaches booth to get a look at how the Seahawks are attacking his defense. Cutting edge for 1985!

Joe Collier studying photos on sideline

The Broncos don't manage a first down in the second half until there are five minutes left in the fourth quarter. The game is now tied at 10, but the Broncos might be ready to make their move. But on a third-and-5 at the Denver 43, Bill Bryan snaps it over Elway's head. It's a 22-yard loss and they have to punt with three and a half minutes remaining.

Seattle takes over at their own 34. Curt Warner rips off a 12-yard run for a first down near midfield. The Seahawks have been able to run the ball on the Broncos (Warner winds up well over 100 yards) but they haven't been able to get a passing game going. So it seems like the best thing to do would be to just run the ball and the clock, get in position to score, and leave the Broncos as little time as possible. But for some reason Krieg launches a deep ball in the direction of Daryl Turner, who doesn’t have a catch in the game. Mike Harden intercepts and gets a 28-yard return to the Denver 34. 

There's been a lot of talking up of Dave Krieg on the broadcast and oh, wow, look how his stats are better than Elway's! But it's okay, the next few years will reveal who the vastly superior player is. 

However, the Broncos again can’t get a first down and faced with a fourth-and-1 decision elect to punt it away and play for overtime. Chris Norman is getting a lot of work in this one and making the most of his opportunities - the ball rolls out of bounds on the 2-yard line with 0:03 on the clock.

The Seahawks win the toss and elect to receive, but the stalemate continues. Karl Mecklenburg gets his second sack of the day on third down and forces a punt. He’s up to 8 1/2 sacks on the year. 

The Broncos can't do anything with their first two overtime possessions and each time Chris Norman pins them inside their 20. 

We're nearly halfway through the overtime period when Seattle begins their third possession. Dennis Smith forces a fumble on a sack, but Seattle recovers at their 10. However, on the very next play, Krieg misses Largent and is picked off by Daniel Hunter, who returns it 19 yards to the Seattle 16. 

Fortunately for the Broncos, the ball is already in field goal range, so they aren’t going to have to get a first down in order to win it. They still run three plays before bringing on Karlis. The 24-yard attempt is not much more than an extra point, but as Dick and Merlin point out, the Broncos have missed three extra points on the year. Also, this hasn’t exactly been a stellar day for Karlis with the three missed field goals. He barely squeezes it inside the left upright, but it’s good for a Broncos 13-10 victory. 

The Seahawks led the NFL in takeaways in 1984 with 64 and the Broncos were second with 56. However, in this one, Denver won the turnover battle 5-0.

Dan Reeves’ pregame prediction

Even with the wide disparity in turnovers, failures with the offense and special teams kept it close. The Broncos missed three field goals and managed only a single first down after halftime. Nearly a third of the Broncos' offensive production on the day came on the first drive of the game. 

Clearly, the Broncos weren't going to let Seattle throw the ball on them. Steve Largent was held to a single reception. Daryl Turner had no catches on the day. Krieg completed 9 of 32 passes for 115 yards and 3 interceptions. He was also sacked five times leaving Seattle with just 77 net passing yards in 69 minutes of play.

Chris Norman had probably the best game of his career. He punted 11 times for 517 yards, a 47 yard average, and pinned the Seahawks in their own end numerous times. He's in the midst of the best stretch of his career. Unfortunately, it doesn't last, and he's replaced the following season.

I really miss the Denver-Seattle divisional rivalry. Why did the Seahawks have to go to the NFC? Couldn't we have send the Chargers instead?

Rewatch: Oilers at Broncos 10/6/85

Compared to last week’s Freeze Bowl, this is ideal fall football weather - 70 degrees at kickoff. 

The Oilers and the Broncos actually swung a trade of draft picks for the 1985 draft. Denver moved up from the 36th overall pick to the 31st selection by sending their fifth round choice to Houston. 

With that 31st pick, the Broncos grabbed Vance Johnson from the University of Arizona, who according to the broadcast was the fastest player in the draft with blazing 4.3 speed. He’s already had an impact in the young season, and that trend continues early on in this game. He has a 30-yard punt return to set up a field goal, and minutes later nearly scores on a reverse. He’s brought down short of the goal line after a gain of 14, but Sammy Winder scores to give Denver an early 10-0 lead. 

The Broncos have a short field on their next possession, but can’t take advantage. Rich Karlis misses a 52-yard attempt, breaking his streak of 13 consecutive regular-season makes. His last regular season miss was hitting the upright on the game-tying attempt in Kansas City last December. 

The Oilers were bad in 1984 - losing their first 10 en route to a 3-13 finish. But talent reinforcements have arrived. They had the 3rd and 11th overall picks which garnered DT Ray Childress and CB Richard Johnson, as well as DE Richard Byrd with the 36th pick swapped from the Broncos. Also coming on board is former Heisman winner Mike Rozier, although he’s already played a full season in 1985 by compiling 1,727 combined rushing/receiving yards for the USFL’s Jacksonville Bulls. 

They mention that Phil Niekro won his 300th game. He's the fourth of five pitchers to reach the milestone during the 80s, although only five have joined the 300 club since 1990. I'm in the middle of a book on sabermetrics that talks about what a misleading pitching stat wins are, but it's a remarkable achievement nonetheless.

The Broncos execute a nifty 4-play, 82-yard drive. Elway picks up a 3rd-and-5 with a 36-yard pass to Clint Sampson that gets them to the Houston 41. On the next play, Elway pitches to Winder, who hands it to Butch Johnson on a reverse, who flips it to Elway. The defense is not completely fooled, but Elway still manages to hit Steve Watson for the touchdown on a pass that travels 50 yards in the air.

The Oilers have to punt on the first drive of the second half. With their fifth-round draft pick acquired from the Broncos, they selected BYU punter Lee Johnson. This is his sixth of seven punts in the game, but is showing the ability that will earn him a two-decade career in the NFL, averaging 45 yards on the day. The Broncos convert a third-and-10 on a pass interference penalty, and an Elway to Clarence Kay TD pass gives them a 24-3 lead. 

Houston gets their first touchdown of the day on a 67-yard pass from Warren Moon to Butch Woolfolk, who uses a combination of speed, elusiveness, and lot of missed tackles by Broncos to find the end zone. Mile High Stadium is filled with boos, although maybe they were saying Boooooooouuutch.

Another pass interference penalty on the Oilers combined with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike for kicking the flag gets Denver back in scoring range. Elway tosses to Vance Johnson, who uses nifty footwork along the sideline to sprint for a 29-yard touchdown to restore the Broncos three-touchdown margin. It’s Elway’s third touchdown pass of the game, which gets him to 12 on the season. 

Vance tiptoes the sideline on the way to end zone

After Elway is intercepted by Keith Bostic for the second time in the game, Mike Moroski comes on in relief of Moon. Today, Moon is in the Hall of Fame, but perhaps we forget that it was not a slam dunk that his 1984 move from the CFL to the NFL would be a successful one. He had a very rough start with the Oilers, entering this game with a 4-16 record as a starter and now he’s benched trailing by 21 points. 

Creative fans

But the change seems to give the Oilers a boost. A field goal cuts it to 31-13, and as the fourth quarter begins the Broncos have a 4th and 1 at the Houston 40. The ball is snapped to Elway before he’s expecting it and for a brief moment it appears the Oilers have stopped them. But a flag was thrown because  center Bill Bryan saw Houston jump offsides and snapped it early. The Oilers are upset by the call and are penalized an additional 15.

The Oilers were good in the 70s and will be good again in the 90s, but were not particularly good in the mid-80s. From 1982-1986 they went 16-57, a winning percentage of just .219. Their offense is not good and the defense is aggressive but stupid. At this point they have been penalized 14 times for 173 yards. 

However, Elway is intercepted for the third time so the Broncos come away with no points. Avon Riley, who had taken off his helmet to yell at referees just a few minutes ago, comes up with the ball and aggressively plows into Gerald Willhite on the return, lowering his shoulder and landing an uppercut under Willhite’s chin. Another 15 yard penalty for Houston. The Oilers do get a touchdown to cut it to 31-20 but get no closer. 

On this same day, the Raiders beat the Chiefs and the Seahawks beat the Chargers. The four-way tie for second in the AFC West is now a four-team logjam atop the division, with the Broncos, Raiders, Seahawks, and Chiefs all holding 3-2 records.

Rewatch: Dolphins at Broncos 9/29/85

This is the AFC Championship matchup between Dan Marino and John Elway that we didn't get nine months earlier after the Broncos were upset by the Steelers. 

It’s certainly playoff weather. Although we’re only a little more than a week removed from summer, Denver got 8 inches of snow and hit a record low temperature for September at 17 degrees Fahrenheit. At game time it’s 29 degrees and there are piles of snow at either end of the field. 

The game had received the annual “Orange Sunday” designation although it turned out to be more of a White Sunday in retrospect. And as one might expect, NBC’s lead crew of Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen were on hand. 

Touché 

The Broncos are first on the scoreboard. Rulon Jones forces a fumble on the Dolphins’ third possession and recovers at the Miami 25. The offense cashes in with Gene Lang scoring on a 10-yard run. 

However, momentum quickly swings back to the Dolphins. Marino hits Nat Moore for a 69-yard touchdown to tie the game. The Dolphins are back in scoring position again after a sack of Elway, a punt, and a 15-yard late hit penalty on Steve Busick. Another touchdown by Moore is nullified by penalty, but the Dolphins still get the field goal to take the lead. 

In the second quarter, Elway connects with Butch Johnson and Lang for big gains, and then Sammy Winder scores on 7-yard run with 5:32 left before halftime to make it 14-10, Denver. 

Dolphins get pinned back on their own 14 on the ensuing kickoff, but Tony Nathan hauls in a Marino pass and rumbles 75 yards before being brought down by Ken Woodard. The Broncos D rises up and holds the Dolphins to just a field goal, retaining a one-point lead. 

However, the Broncos can't move the ball so Marino gets to run the 2-minute offense, which results in a TD pass to Joe Rose to put the Dolphins in front, 20-14. 

NBC is flashing baseball scores. The Kansas City Royals lost 6-3 to the Twins, putting them a game back of the Angels with a week left in the season. Dick tells us that they’ve got a four-game series with the Angels starting tomorrow. The Royals wind up taking three of four in that series, win the AL West by a game, and go on to win the World Series. It seems a little unusual to hear commentary on pennant races during an NFL broadcast, but this was a very long time ago. 

It’s not halftime yet. The Broncos get inside the Miami 40 on a pass interference penalty and then Elway scrambles to get them in field goal range. Rich Karlis comes on to kick a field goal but hits the left upright and it bounces back onto the field, no good. We’ve seen this before, haven’t we?

But there was a flag on the play. Twelve men on the field for the Dolphins, so the Broncos get five yards and another attempt for Karlis. This time the kick glances off the right upright, but goes through. They don’t keep stats on it but you have wonder where Rich ranks on the all time list for hitting the upright. The successful try narrows Miami’s lead to 20-17 at the half. 

The Broncos go 82 yards in 10 plays to open second half, with Winder scoring his second touchdown of the game to put the Broncos back in the lead. Karlis converts the extra point to make it 24-20. But wait…there is a penalty on number 67, Dean Miraldi, for illegal motion. I probably wouldn’t even be including the detail of the extra point except this time Karlis misses. So the lead is only three. In this back-and-forth game, will that come back to bite the Broncos?

The teams each take a turn with the ball, and then the Dolphins drive to the Broncos 46. It’s 3rd-and-9. Marino finds the legendary Vince Heflin for the first down and he spins away from Louis Wright and Steve Foley and takes it all the way. Heflin is only in action because Mark Clayton left the game with an injury. Mark Duper didn’t play at all and yet Marino is shredding the Broncos pass defense. He finishes this game with 390 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The Dolphins get the ball back after the Broncos fail to move it, and with the aid of a pair of pass interference penalties on third downs, they get into easy field goal range and extend their lead to 30-23.

But the Broncos get a nice kickoff return from Vance Johnson, and aided by a 15-yard penalty on the Dolphins, they set up at midfield to begin their next drive. There are still 8 minutes left on the clock, and plenty of time for the Broncos to tie this one up. However, shortly after Dick runs down the NBC Sunday night lineup of Punky Brewster, Silver Spoons, Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and the NBC Sunday Night Movie, which is “First Blood”, Winder fumbles and it is recovered by Miami.

Miami can’t move the ball and Mecklenburg drops Marino for a sack on third down to force a punt, but precious time has ticked off the clock.

The Broncos move downfield quickly and a pass to Butch Johnson gets them a first-and-10 at the Miami 16. However, they stall there and settle for a field goal rather than going for it on fourth and long. Probably the right move. They’ve cut it to 30-26 and there are still three and a half minutes to play. Dick and Merlin say that Dan Reeves is gambling on his defense. 

The gamble on the defense turns out to be a good one, but the gamble on the special teams - not so much. The Broncos surrender a big kickoff return to Lorenzo Hampton, who brings it back almost to midfield. Even though the Broncos defense forces a three-and-out, Reggie Roby pins the Broncos deep with a punt. So with a 1:39 remaining, the Broncos are 97 yards from the opposing end zone and need to get all of it - remember that missed extra point? 

Elway completes a couple of passes but is then intercepted to end the final threat. Marino is the victor in Elway-Marino I. 

This seems like it will be the first of many duels between these two quarterbacks from the 1983 QB draft class and that they will battle for AFC supremacy for years to come. And yet, Elway-Marino II won’t come for another 13 years, and they will retire having met only three times in the regular season or playoffs. Contrast that with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, who met 17 times during the 15 years their careers overlapped. 

It might be the weirdest scheduling quirk in sports history and isn’t limited to just the playing careers of Marino and Elway. This game was the only meeting between the Dolphins and Broncos between 1976 and 1997 - a span of 22 seasons. In those days, due to the irregular size of divisions, teams weren’t guaranteed to meet every four seasons the way they are now. Schedules were partially a function of how you finished in your division the prior season. For example, because the Broncos finished first in the AFC West in 1984, the teams from the AFC East that went on their slate in 1985 were the Dolphins (1st in 1984) and the Colts (4th in 1984). Even when the formula shifted from 1st-4th and 2nd-3rd matchups to 1st-3rd and 2nd-4th matchups, the Broncos and Dolphins still didn’t align. Jim Kelly, another member of the 1983 QB class, met Elway head-to-head six times, and his Bills played in the same division as Marino’s Dolphins.

The craziness extends beyond the regular season. One would think that Elway and Marino would have crossed paths in the postseason on a frequent basis. They would have faced off in the 1983 and 1984 playoffs but for the fact that the Broncos didn’t win their first playoff game either time. And then from 1985 to 1996, the Broncos and Dolphins never qualified for the playoffs in the same season, although one or the other qualified every season in that span (with the exception of 1988). It wasn’t until the 1998 season, Elway’s final year, when they finally crossed paths in the postseason. Oddly enough, Elway-Marino III came only three weeks after Elway-Marino II. The whole thing is just bonkers!

What I’m trying to say in so many words is that this Week 4 game is one of the hidden gems in Bronco history, although no one fully realized how special at the time. And despite the cold, it was an exciting, well-played game. Only three turnovers between the two teams. Time of possession was dead even - 29:59 to 30:01. Six lead changes. A 300-yard passer, a pair of 100-yard receivers (Nathan and Moore) and a 100-yard rusher (Winder). 

In 1984, the Broncos didn’t lose their second game until Week 13, but it’s only Week 4 of the 1985 season and they have already dropped their second game. At 2-2, they’re in a four-way tie for second place in the AFC West behind the 3-1 Kansas City Chiefs.