Rewatch: Broncos vs. Saints 9/15/85

I couldn't resist coming back for another season after seeing the variety of games available for the 1985 Broncos.

The Saints came to town for Broncos home opener. The Broncos are coming off a road loss to the L.A. Rams to open the season the week before. It's kind of a gray and cloudy day in Denver. There's no audio of the broadcast for the first several minutes, just some groovy music and messages about technical difficulties.  When we finally get sound midway through the first quarter, the Broncos have just taken a 7-0 lead on a John Elway to Butch Johnson touchdown pass, although the actual play has been removed from the video. 

CBS is on the broadcast, and once again they've sent Steamboat-lovin' Verne Lundquist and Elway-hatin' Terry Bradshaw. This will be the Broncos' only appearance on the network in 1985.  

The Saints are beginning the 19th year in the NFL and are still a couple of years away from their first winning season. They are led by Bum Phillips, who is strolling the sideline sporting his trademark cowboy hat, sky-blue trousers, a large belt buckle, and a white western-style shirt. I kind of miss this era of coaching fashion. He's starting his fifth year as the coach in New Orly-ans (as Verne says it) although his son Wade, the Saints defensive coordinator, will take over head duties by the end of the year. Only four years later Wade will come to Denver to head the Broncos' defensive unit. 

Bum Phillips in sideline attire

Bum rose to fame in the late 1970s as head coach of the Houston Oilers, who made the playoffs every year between 1978-1980 although they could never break through to the Super Bowl. A big part of their success was due to Earl Campbell, who averaged nearly 1,700 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns over those three seasons.

Earl joined Bum and the Saints in 1984 and is the biggest name on the roster. However, it's clear in the early going that it's not 1979 anymore.  Verne suggest that Earl appears to be near the end of the line but Terry’s like, “oh, no, he’s really good. I played against him and I just can’t believe that.”

The 1985 season turns out to be the last for both Earl and Bum.

The Broncos score twice more to go up 21-0 in the second quarter. Both of these are missing from the video. It's very odd. The game is just going along and then suddenly you see the Broncos celebrating and you're like, well, something must have happened. Then they give the instant replay and you can see the scoring play. Someone mentioned it in the comments and the uploader of the video said that it must have been removed by YouTube and the NFL for copyright. Maybe so, but why wouldn't they just take down the entire game? It seems like a lot of work to go through and snip out certain plays from a meaningless NFL game from nearly 40 years ago. Hopefully this isn't a trend or it will really but a damper on my rewatches.    

Butch Johnson makes a nice sideline grab in the third quarter and gets both feet in. However, it wouldn’t count under today’s rules as the ball popped out as soon as he hit the ground. Of course, neither would his Super Bowl XII TD catch for the Cowboys against the Broncos. After a pass interference penalty gets the ball to the one-yard line, Elway hits Clarence Kay for a touchdown, which we get to see without interruption. The remover of scoring plays must have given up by this point. The Broncos are up 31-9 so the game is essentially over. 

Other notes:

Saints cornerback Johnnie Poe almost intercepts Elway. “Doggone good play by Johnnie Poe,” says Bradshaw.

Rich Karlis hits the upright on a 48-yard field goal (shades of 1984) but this one bounces through for three points and a 34-16 lead.

Broncos LB Jim Ryan has a letter ripped off his jersey at some point so he plays out the game as Jim Rya.

The Saints pull within 34-23 and make things interesting when they drive to the Broncos 12-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. They go for it on 4th & 7 but Tony Lilly knocks away the pass to the end zone to end the threat with five and a half minutes remaining.

Rain is falling hard in the fourth quarter. Karl Mecklenburg picks up a late sack to give him his first career four-sack game. Elway has four TD passes to match, and also finishes with 28 completions for 353 yards, both of which were career highs at that point of his career.