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.

Rewatch: Broncos @ Seahawks 12/20/85

It's Monday Night Football…on Friday! This was a rare treat brought to us by the NFL and ABC in the mid-80s where they would play on Friday night in Week 16. It’s an early kickoff - 5:00 on the west coast - so it’s a late arriving crowd. 

This is the second of three consecutive seasons of the Broncos and Seahawks concluding their regular seasons with a non-Sunday game in the Kingdome. This time around, only the Broncos have something at stake. The Jets and Patriots both lost in week 15, so the Broncos can clinch a playoff spot with a win and either a Jets or Patriots loss on Sunday. The Seahawks’ record stands at 8-7 so there will be no playoffs for them, although they do have a chance at the rare 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 feat. Their entire season has alternated two wins and two losses. If the pattern follows, the Seahawks will lose this game.

Frank Gifford, working his 300th broadcast on ABC, declares, “The Kingdome. It's a beauty!” The camera pans the interior of the stadium which even by 80s standards was a bit of an eyesore. Perhaps realizing what he just said he follows it with, “Not a whole lot of cosmetics…”

Steve Largent goes over 10,000 career receiving yards on the first Seahawks possession. On the next play, Dave Krieg goes deep for Daryl Turner for a 41-yard touchdown. However, it will be Turner's last catch of the game and season. He has 23 touchdowns in 69 career receptions.

It’s five days before Christmas so they are saying Happy Holidays a lot. We get a shot of Santa. Apparently the northwest was in the midst of an epic fog storm which made visibility extremely poor and travel nearly impossible for several days. They talk extensively throughout the first half of the difficulty the crew had in just getting to Seattle for the game because very few flights were getting into or out of Seattle.

ABC is providing generous holiday helpings of the Seattle cheerleaders - aka "The Seagals" - whenever there is a lull in the on-field action. I love any cheerleader group that uses a pun for their name - see also the Buffalo Jills. The Seagals are basically wearing one-piece swimsuits with big sleeves.

One of many sideline shots provided by ABC

The Broncos punt for their third consecutive drive to start the game and the Seahawks recover and return it for a touchdown. The Broncos are in deep trouble as they are now trailing 17-0 on the road.

The Broncos finally get something going with just over six minutes remaining when Elway connects with Clint Sampson for a 46-yard gain. Two plays later he has Mike Barber open for the touchdown, but Barber trips on a seam in the Kingdom rug. But on 3rd and 10, and Elway hits Steve Watson for the touchdown. 

In addition to the Seagals, there is also a band on the sidelines. Not like a rock band, but a band with chairs and music stands and brass instruments. I'm not sure if they were a regular fixture at Seahawks games or if this was a special occasion. Anyways, it was something fun you could do in the 80s with all the extra space afforded by these multipurpose stadiums.

The Seagals accompanied by a band

The Broncos get the ball back with under two minutes left and it really seems like they want to provide the audience with a chance to get a jump on halftime. After a sack and a penalty, they have a 3rd and 18. But Elway completes a pass downfield to Clint Sampson, who bounces off the tackler for a few extra yards. Suddenly, the Broncos have the ball at the Seattle 32 with 36 seconds left. Passes to Steve Sewell and Butch Johnson get them inside the 10, and Rich "Carlos" comes on to kick a field goal and make the score 17-10.

Clint Sampson breaks free for extra yards

The recording of the game doesn't provide the in-depth look at the knee that ABC was promising at halftime. Not sure how deep they were going to be able to get in 15 minutes. 

The Seahawks get the ball first in the second half but have to punt it. The Broncos really seem to want to end their streak of scoreless third quarters and get a little frisky with their play calls. Elway completes a pass to Mark Cooper, the offensive lineman, that gets them to the Seattle 38.  The drive stalls and Chris Norman comes out to punt. However, instead of kicking, Norman winds up and throws deep to Ricky Hunley, who can't come down with it.

On their next possession, they get to the Seattle 35 and face a 4th and 8. They again eschew the punt and Elway passes to Gerald Willhite, who picks up 16 yards. He's having a good game with 3 catches for 45 yards.

However, the third quarter ends with the Broncos again failing to score. The last time the Broncos scored in the third quarter was in their first game with Seattle on October 20. The last time they scored a touchdown in the third quarter was October 6 against the Oilers.

Willhite winds up with the touchdown after they switch ends of the field, and the game is tied at 17. 

Mike Harden intercepts Krieg on the second play of the ensuing drive. The Broncos are poised to take their first lead of the game, but Rich Karlis is wide left on a 34-yard field goal attempt and the score remains tied. 

The Seahawks put together their first drive of any substance since the second quarter, and a 38-yard run by Curt Warner gets them to the Denver 3. There is much discussion about the knee injury that cost him the 1984 season. The Seahawks aren’t so worried about the knee and hand the ball to him on the next four plays. He finally gets in by leaping over the top on fourth and goal from the Denver 1. With 5:20 left, the Seahawks have regained a 7-point lead. Is the Broncos season near an end?

However, the Broncos respond. Elway spins away from a sack and Steve Watson drifts behind the defense. Elway fires a pass that travels 60 yards in the air to Steve Watson, who hauls it in at the Seattle 5. The throw clinches Elway's first career 400-yard game. Winder carries the ball to the 2 and Willhite takes it to the 1. Sewell is stopped shy of the goal line and the Broncos now face their own fourth-and-goal. They go for it, with Sewell scoring. The extra point ties it at 24 with 2:35 left. 

The Seahawks go three and out before the 2 minute warning. The win probability has shifted to Denver.  

The Broncos start on the Seattle 40 following the punt. Elway dumps it to Sewell who takes it for a 27-yard gain. However, Jeff Bryant dived and hit Elway below the knee on the play. He gets up hobbling. Didn't Bryant watch the halftime show about the knee? 

Gary Kubiak comes on in relief and runs three plays, getting them close enough for a 43-yard Karlis field goal with 55 seconds left. Elway is out on the field to offer congratulations so it's apparently not that serious.

Elway and Kubiak teamed up for winning drive

The game is not over. The Seahawks still have a shot. They get it across midfield and have a 1st and 10 with 21 seconds left. On 3rd and 10 they get it to the 35 and Norm Johnson comes out for a 52-yard attempt. If he kicks it through, these two teams are headed to their second overtime game of the season. But he hits the upright. Broncos win, 27-24. Battling back from 17 points down on the road to get the win? Denver, are you kidding me? 

Elway was known for having a knack for the late comeback with 44 career regular season fourth-quarter comebacks or game winning drives. This marks his 7th such game of the 1985 season. He had no more than 4 in any other season throughout his career. 

Near the two minute warning, Frank described scenario that I didn’t fully understand even after listening carefully a few more times. It seems like he’s saying that if Denver and the three AFC East teams all end up at 11-5 then it is going to come down to margin of victory and potentially the Dolphins could lose out on not only their division but a wildcard. But if Miami is out of a wildcard, then who gets it? It would have to be Denver. But they’ve been feeding us the line that only a Jets or a Patriots loss will be good enough to get the Broncos the wildcard.

Since I didn’t understand, I decided to research the entire scenario, which is what totally normal people do. Here’s what I think Frank was suggesting.

If the Jets and Patriots win on Sunday and the Dolphins lose, all four teams will finish 11-5. 

In that scenario, the Jets are the AFC East champions by virtue of the third tiebreaker because they have a 9-3 conference record and the Patriots and Dolphins would each be 8-4. 

So the next thing would be to apply tiebreakers to determine who among Miami, New England, and Denver gets the wildcard spots. 

The first tiebreaker does not apply because Denver and New England didn’t play each other so there was no head-to-head sweep among the three teams. This would mean the Broncos’ loss to the Dolphins is basically “thrown out” of the tiebreaker. 

The second tiebreaker is conference record and all three teams would be 8-4.

The third tiebreaker does not apply because the only common opponent among the three teams is the Colts, and there must be at least four common opponents. 

So we’re at the fourth tiebreaker, which is plus or minus points in conference games. Denver finished +27 for the season. The Patriots are +33 so in this scenario the Broncos couldn’t pass them. Miami has a pretty wide margin in this category at +63, but this provides the one more avenue for the Broncos to reach the playoffs should the Jets and Patriots both win. If the Dolphins lose their final game by 37 or more points, the Broncos are in. The one problem is that the Dolphins are playing the Buffalo Bills, who are 2-13 on the season. But anything is possible, right?

Rewatch: Broncos vs. Chiefs 12/14/85

The Chiefs visit Denver for a late-season Saturday afternoon game. Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy are on hand to bring us the action. 

The season is over for Kansas City. A seven-game losing streak following a 3-1 start ended their hopes of competing in the AFC West. They tell us that head coach John Mackovic will be evaluated after the season. 

Meanwhile, the Broncos’ playoff hopes are hanging by the thread. They must win their final two games and need either the Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, or Raiders to lose their final two to secure a spot. 

The good news is that one small piece of that puzzle has already slid into place. The Jets lost to the Bears in the early Saturday game.

Garcia Lane is returning back punts for the Chiefs, the only actual instance I know of a person with the first name Garcia, other than the fictional whistleblower guy in the movie The Pelican Brief.

The first half moves along quickly, with no penalty flags thrown until well into the second quarter. Don and Bob don't quite know what to make of a quiet Denver crowd, but there isn’t a lot happening. The Broncos get deep into Kansas City territory once but Elway is intercepted in the end zone. 

Elway sets the single season passing yardage record for Denver, surpassing Craig Morton's 1981 mark of 3,195 yards. Interestingly, Broncos receivers have collectively gone the entire season without a 100-yard receiving game. 

They mention that the Chiefs have a 14-year playoff drought going. Their last appearance was in 1971, when they lost to the Dolphins in the longest game in NFL history on Christmas Day. That loss concluded a very successful decade from 1962 to 1971 in which the Chiefs went 90-42-8 with three AFL titles and a Super Bowl victory.

The Broncos score just before the half when Elway beats the Kansas City blitz and fires to Vance Johnson for the touchdown and take a 7-3 lead into halftime.

The Chiefs narrow the margin to 7-6 in the third quarter. Bob Trumpy is concerned about the Broncos’ listless performance. "Looking stiff." "No life." "Waiting to lose."

Elway connects with Vance Johnson on a 48-yard pass play that gets them to the Kansas City 30. There are still more than four minutes left in the quarter. Could the scoreless third quarter streak finally be coming to an end?

Vance Johnson breaking free for 48 yards

They send Sammy Winder up the middle for a gain of 2. The fans boo, I'm assuming due to the play call. On 2nd and 8, Elway chucks the ball up under pressure and it is intercepted by Albert Lewis at the 2-yard line.

And so the streak of scoreless third quarters reaches 8 games, or half of an NFL season.

The Broncos have the ball as the fourth quarter opens.  They cross midfield on a 20-yard completion to Steve Watson. But two plays later, Elway is intercepted by Lloyd Burruss on 3rd and 10. It's Elway's fourth interception of the game. 

The Chiefs' drive stalls at the Bronco 37. The punt is a touchback so the Broncos take over at their own 20 with just over nine minutes remaining and still clinging to a one-point lead.

There's a skip in the recording because the next thing we see is the Chiefs have the ball at the Denver 8. Wait, what did we miss?

Turns out, just another Elway interception. He was intercepted by Lewis on the first play of the Broncos' drive, setting the Chiefs up at the Denver 28. None of the previous four interceptions had cost the Broncos anything more than a little field position. But this gave the Chiefs their best field position of the day. A 7-yard touchdown pass from Todd Blackledge to Stephone Paige and the Nick Lowery extra point puts Kansas City back in front, 13-7.

I realized while watching that this was the "Janet Elway" game. I remember the story from years ago and had to look it up to refresh the details. From an article written by T.J. Simers of the LA Times:

The Denver faithful were booing Elway, as they did so often during those early years, and after a fifth interception, a fan stood and let Janet Elway’s husband really have it.

“You can get your . . . wife pregnant, but you can’t . . . do anything else, ya bum.”

Janet Elway popped the guy. Slapped him right in the face before a number of Elway’s college buddies jumped in to save the heckler’s life.

For context, John and Janet's daughter Jessica was two months old, having been born in October, about a week before the previous meeting between Denver and Kansas City. I imagine this was big news around town.

Football players are real people, which is hard to remember. I don't know why John Elway was having an off day. He was still a young quarterback and continuing to deal with the pressure and expectations of an inpatient fan base. Maybe it had been a rough week with the baby. Who really knows?

The same goes for the entire Broncos team. Bob Trumpy was rightfully critical of their lackadaisical performance. But in their defense, they were only six days removed from a really tough overtime loss in which they had surrendered a two-touchdown lead to the rival Raiders, one that had likely cost them the AFC West title. They still had slim hopes of making the playoffs as a wild card, but as described above, they were going to need a lot of help. Perhaps the players could see the writing on the wall. Even if they are professionals, I imagine it's hard to get up for a game if there is a sense that the season is already lost. They are only human. 

However, falling behind seems to have given the Broncos a spark. Elway completes a 12-yarder to Steve Sewell. Then a 14-yarder to Watson. Then a 29-yarder to Vance Johnson, and with that catch Vance becomes the Broncos' first 100-yard receiver of the season. 

It really does seem like the Broncos are done messing around and are going to take control. But on a 3rd-and-3 from the Kansas City 8, Elway pitches to Sewell and the ball winds up on the ground. The Chiefs recover. It's the fifth consecutive Denver drive to end with a turnover.

Only 2:30 remains in the game, but the Broncos have all their timeouts remaining. But if the Chiefs can manage a first down or two they might be able to run out the clock. 

They can't get a first down and as an added bonus they stop the clock twice. At the two-minute warning it's 4th and 2 and the Broncos have only used one timeout. The Chiefs punt it back to the Broncos with 1:53 left.

The first play is a 42-yard catch-and-run by Steve Watson that gets them inside the Kansas City 20. Elway converts a 4th and inches at the Kansas City 8. Winder scores three plays later on a 3rd and goal from the 1.

The extra point is up and through to give the Broncos a 14-13 lead with 22 seconds left. The Broncos survive, moving their record to 10-5. A win next week against the Seahawks, paired with a Jets loss, will be enough to get them to the AFC playoffs.

This one takes its place in a long list of Broncos games from the Reeves era that were pretty ugly for three and a half quarters yet because John Elway was the quarterback they came away with a win. After the Chiefs took the lead with seven minutes remaining, John Elway completed 8 of 8 passes for 122 yards.

Rewatch: Broncos vs. Raiders 12/8/85

Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen welcome us to Mile High for this high-stakes showdown between the Broncos and Raiders. It's sunny but another cold day in Denver, 36 degrees and snow 20 miles away. The opening graphic shows us that the Broncos have won 18 of their last 20 games at home, so now the Broncos have to play with the jinx.

The Raiders punt on the opening drive and the Broncos respond with 16 play, 77 yard drive in which they are 5-for-5 on third down and use 10 minutes of game clock. Elway connects with James Wright for a 5-yard touchdown, which makes it 10 straight times that the Broncos have scored (nine of them touchdowns) when inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Elway completes all four of his third down passes for 45 yards and scrambles for the fifth. It seems like the Broncos are firing on all cylinders. 

However, Elway is intercepted on each of the next two Denver drives. The Raiders move the ball to the Denver 8 after the second turnover, but Marc Wilson is intercepted by Dennis Smith in the end zone to end the threat. 

A second Wilson interception with five and a half minutes left in the half, leads to another long Broncos drive. This one covers 71 yards and ends with Sammy Winder scoring from a yard out to put the Broncos up 14-0 with 30 seconds left in the first half. By this point the sunshine has disappeared behind clouds and darkness is beginning to fall.

The Raiders have the ball at their own 15 after kickoff. Wilson fumbles the snap on what looks like a pass play and the Broncos recover, giving them an opportunity to go up three scores at halftime. The end of half strategy seems like it was much different in the 80s. In that same situation today, they're almost certainly just running out the clock. 

Elway immediately looks to the end zone for Clarence Kay. It’s incomplete but the Broncos are penalized 10 yards. On the second play Elway is intercepted but it is nullified by a Raiders penalty. So it's still a 1st-and-15 from the LA 18 but only three seconds remain in the half. Rich Karlis comes out for a makeable 35-yard field goal. But he’s wide right and the golden opportunity is gone.

The Broncos receive the second half kickoff and again we have a recitation of their third-quarter struggles. They have scored only 39 points in the third quarter for the entire season - an average of 3 points per game. Two streaks are ongoing - no third quarter points in their last six games and no third quarter touchdowns in their last eight games. 

Nothing is going to change on this day. The Broncos go three-and-out, have a punt nearly blocked, and surrender a big 22-yard return. The Raiders respond with a Wilson to Todd Christensen touchdown and the Broncos lead is cut in half.  

Elway then throws his third interception of the game and the Raiders again get deep in Denver territory. On a 3rd and 5 from the 15, Marcus Allen breaks free for a touchdown and the game is all tied up. 

The Broncos begin to move the ball as the third quarter concludes, but on the first play of the fourth quarter, Elway is dropped on 2nd and 8 from the Raider 34, and they wind up punting again. 

The Broncos get a break when Dennis Smith gets his second interception of the game, giving them a short field at their own 44 with 11 minutes to go. But that opportunity is lost when Elway is trapped by Stacy Toran and called in the grasp for an 18-yard loss. 

They bring up the stakes for the Broncos and Raiders in this particular game. They don't go into as much detail as I'm about to except to say that the Broncos are hurt far more by a loss in this game than the Raiders.

Essentially, five AFC East/West teams are in contention for four playoff spots. Miami, New England, and the NY Jets all won earlier in the day and are tied atop the AFC East at 10-4. Either the Broncos or Raiders will go to 10-4 with a win and move into sole possession of the AFC West lead.

The Raiders have beaten both the Jets and New England earlier in the season so they already have the tiebreaker advantage over either of those teams. With a win, they will also own the tiebreaker over the Broncos.

A loss for the Broncos would mean they lose tiebreakers to all four teams. In addition to the two defeats at the hands of the Raiders, they also lost to the Dolphins back in September. They haven’t played the Jets or Patriots but trail both teams in key tiebreakers.

Absent head-to-head matchups, the first tiebreaker would be best conference record. The Jets stand at 8-3, the Patriots are 7-3, and the Broncos would be 6-4 with a loss. At best, the Broncos end up still tied with one or both of the other teams at season's end.

That would mean it shifts to the next tiebreaker - common opponents, of which there are four (Dolphins, Colts, Seahawks, Raiders). The Jets are 4-2 against those teams. The Patriots are 4-1 with a game remaining against Miami. A second loss to the Raiders would cause the Broncos fall to 2-3 with a game remaining against Seattle. They’ll lose this tiebreaker regardless of how the remainder of the season plays out.

It boils down to this - a Broncos loss to the Raiders means they will need to win their final two games and hope that one of the other four teams lose their final two games. 

With five minutes remaining, things are not looking good. The Raiders are on the Denver 14, poised to take the lead. However, Wilson throws it right into the hands of Dennis Smith. It’s Wilson’s fourth interception of the game, and this is his third time being victimized by Smith. 

Dennis Smith after his third interception

After a 17-yard Elway to Watson completion, the Broncos have it on their 40.  Enough with the gloom and doom. Here comes the Mile High Magic….right?

Wrong. Three more plays and another punt.  

The Raiders again cross midfield, this time with less than a minute to go. Dick informs us that Chris Bahr is one course away from his law degree which is somehow relevant to the playoff race. On third down, Wilson has Christensen open near the 20, but he can’t pull it down. The Raiders punt and we’re on to overtime. It’s the third consecutive game between these two teams that has gone to overtime. 

Barney Chavous goes out for the overtime coin toss. He’s playing his 180th game as a Bronco, a team record. Raiders call heads, it's tails. The Broncos take the ball to start, but the snow is coming down now and they’ll going into the wind. 

Dan Reeves in the elements

Both teams go three and out twice to start the overtime. The Broncos start their third drive deep in their own end. Elway is pressured and sacked by Howie Long on the first play. He fumbles and Greg Townsend recovers for the Raiders at the 8. They don’t hesitate and immediately send out soon-to-be lawyer Chris Bahr. He kicks it through to give the Raiders the win and puts the Broncos' playoff hopes on life support.

Neither quarterback had a very good day. Wilson threw four interceptions and lost a fumble and Elway had three passes intercepted in addition to the fumble. 

The difference may have been the Broncos failing to score after the Raider fumble at the end of the first half. A 21-0 or 17-0 halftime lead may have been too much for LA to overcome on a cold day.

Also Marcus Allen, with 25 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown, probably swung the game in the Raiders' favor. He was in the midst of his finest season, one that ended in league MVP honors. It's easy to forget how good he was early in his career.  Meanwhile the Broncos have a banged up Sammy Winder and rookie Steve Sewell teaming up with Nathan Poole, just signed off the street after two years out of the game. The Broncos averaged only 3.0 yards a rush in this game.

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.