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1996 Denver Broncos: Disappointment Was The Prelude To A Dynasty

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Mike Shanahan was in his second year as the head coach of the Denver Broncos in 1996, and the team had to overcome the hold the Kansas City Chiefsseemed to have on the AFC West—the Chiefs had won the division two of the last three years and made the playoffs each year since 1990.

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The 1996 Denver Broncos got off to a strong start when rolled over the New York Jets in Week 1. The Broncos kept the momentum going with a win at Seattle and a home win over Tampa Bay, sending them to Kansas City with a 3-0 record.

This was a different Denver team than the one quarterback John Elway had taken to AFC titles in 1986-87 and 1989. Under the leadership of Shanahan, the Broncos had become more run-oriented now that the quarterback was 36 years old and Terrell Davis was beginning a Hall of Fame career.

Davis ripped off a big 65-yard touchdown run and Denver held a 14-10 lead at halftime. But Kansas City’s own future Hall of Famer, Marcus Allen, scored a late TD and the Broncos push to the top of the AFC West was temporarily abated in a 17-14 loss.

Elway, Davis & Shanahan came out of the loss and won at Cincinnati, then beat San Diego and still had plenty of reason to feel good about themselves at 5-1 going into the bye week. They came out of the bye with a win over the Baltimore Ravens, and at 6-1, now held a one-game lead in the AFC West. But they needed to beat the Chiefs to validate their rise, and now it was time for Kansas City to come to Denver.

The rematch was no contest. Elway found Shannon Sharpe for two early touchdown passes and the only score Kansas City would get all day was on a kickoff return. Known for “MartyBall”, the hard-nosed running game emphasized by coach Marty Schottenheimer, the Chiefs were outgained on the ground by the Broncos 213-24. Both Davis and backup Vaughn Hebron ran well and Denver had opened up the AFC West.

The Broncos had to recover and play a Monday Night game in Oakland a week later. Against an archrival and off a draining game, perhaps it wasn’t a shock they were a little flat, letting a 16-7 lead get away as Raider quarterback Jeff Hostetler played an excellent game and threw two second-half TD passes to give his team a 21-16 lead.

But at this stage of Elway’s career it was even less a shock that he would bail his team out, hitting Rod Smith for a 49-yard TD pass that pulled out the win. Another win over Chicago followed and the record rose to 10-1.

A trip to Foxboro to play New England was next. The Patriots were 7-3, on their way to an AFC East title under the coaching of Bill Parcells and the quarterback play of Drew Bledsoe. In a game that was a critical to homefield advantage, Denver again came up big. Davis rushed for two first-half touchdowns, caught a third and the Broncos rolled 34-8.

One week later the Broncos made a trip to Minnesota to face a playoff-bound team in the Vikings. If there was a spot where a letdown might happen, a road game against a good NFC team would’ve been an understandable spot. It didn’t happen.

This Denver team could not only run the ball, they could play defense, led by All-Pro safeties Steve Atwater and Tyrone Baxton and a four-man front anchored by Michael Dean Perry inside and Alfred Williams outside. They kept the Broncos in the game even with the offense a little sluggish, trailing 17-14 after three quarters. Then Elway did it again, hitting Ed McCaffrey with the game-winner in the fourth and throwing for 334 yards.

Denver was 12-1 and had the best record in the NFL when they visited Green Bay on December 8. The Packers were on their way to the top seed in the NFC, so this game was naturally seen as a Super Bowl preview, as the old gunslinger Elway, met the new gunslinger in Brett Favre. Or at least that was the plan.

With Elway nursing some injuries, and the AFC seeding race all but over, Shanahan held his quarterback out. Davis and the defense were enough to keep the game competitive into the third quarter and the Packers only led 13-6. But Favre threw three touchdown passes the rest of the way and the final was a 41-6 rout. Denver split their last two regular season games to close the year 13-3, still the #1 seed in the AFC.

Denver took the field on January 4 as the late afternoon Saturday game against Jacksonville (at the time this was the second game of the day, prior to the NFL’s move to prime-time on Saturday night). The Jaguars were in the second year of their existence under head coach Tom Coughlin and led by quarterback Mark Brunnell. The talent was mostly on offense, where Brunnell could target receiver Keenan McCardell and had bruising runner Natrone Means in the backfield. Tony Boselli, a big tackle could clear the way for Means and protect Brunnell.

None of that was happening in the first quarter, as Hebron scored the game’s first touchdown. As I was looking this stuff up, the name Hebron triggered some memories. He played his college ball at Virginia Tech and a good friend of mine is a diehard Hokie fan who was feeding me a lot of Hebron Kool-Aid back in the early 1990s. Since Hebron went on and became a solid #2 back behind only a future Hall of Famer, I guess my friend was right.

After that early score, Denver missed the extra point and when Elway later hit Sharpe, Shanahan made the mistake of chasing points and went for two. It didn’t work and the score stayed at 12-0. The lost points were made to hurt by halftime, as Jacksonville got two field goals and a touchdown run from Means in the second quarter and led 13-12 at intermission.

When Brunnell hit McCardell for a TD pass and the Jags got another field goal it was nervous time in Mile High Stadium, as the home team trailed 23-12. But Elway had been here before and he rallied the troops early in the fourth quarter. Davis finished off a drive with a touchdown and then ran in the two-pointer. The lead was down to 23-20.

For all the good work that Denver had done throughout the year in becoming more physical, it went for naught today. Means was the dominant back and Jacksonville won the rushing battle 203-126. Brunnell threw another TD pass, and even another Elway answer wasn’t enough. The dream died a tough death in Denver, 30-27.

This was a bitter pill for Denver fans to swallow, because at the time it looked like Elway’s best chance for a ring might have slipped through his fingers—at home, to a 9-7 team with no playoff history no less. But a happy ending was ahead. —the Broncos won the Super Bowl the next two years. As a result we can look back on the 1996 Denver Broncos as one that set the tone for three years of dominance, rather than one that resulted in a Hall of Fame quarterback missing his last chance.

NFL Analysis: Baltimore Returns To The Scene Of The Crime On Thursday Night

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We’re back at the scene of the crime, so to speak, for the opening of the 2013 NFL season. The Baltimore Ravens visit the Denver Broncos on Thursday night to kick off the year in an 8:30 PM ET kickoff on NBC.

The last time these two teams faced was the second round of last year’s playoffs, which had about as stunning an end to regulation as we’ll ever see, when Denver free safety Rahim Moore allowed Baltimore receiver Jacoby Jones to get behind him for a 70-yard touchdown catch that tied the game 35-35, and ultimately allowed the Ravens to win in overtime. It was a historic moment for a Baltimore team, who rode that into an improbable Super Bowl championship ride.


Baltimore has said goodbye to Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, the two mainstays of a defense that has been among the league’s best since 2000. This is now Joe Flacco’s team, and the quarterback will be especially scrutinized after an offseason where his contract negotiations involved getting the most money possible for himself, even it meant the team had to lose key parts—Reed being one, and receiver Anquan Boldin another.

Flacco has talked big and backed it up before—he played extraordinarily well in last year’s postseason, and while I think Jones deserved MVP of the Super Bowl itself (108-yard kickoff return, and a 70-yard touchdown catch on an underthrown ball), Flacco was clearly the Ravens’ most valuable player on the four playoff games taken as a whole. Now the quarterback has to show he can carry a team without the veteran leadership that Lewis and Reed provided for so many years.

Baltimore still has good talent though, and they’re a better team than Denver, at least right now. The Broncos are without linebacker Von Miller, who was suspended for the first six games on a substance violation. Denver is also without defensive end Elvis Dumervil—ironically now in Baltimore playing outside linebacker in the Ravens’ 3-4 scheme.

Where is Denver going to find a pass rush to get on Flacco? And if they don’t get pressure, they’re in a lot of trouble. Jones and fellow receiver Torrey Smith ate the Denver corners for breakfast throughout last year’s playoff game, and now Champ Bailey is dealing with some foot problems. Baltimore, with Flacco’s strong arm, is not at all hesitant at going down the field to their big targets, and I think the Ravens are going to make a lot of hay in the air.


The Baltimore defense doesn’t have the same leadership without Lewis and Reed, but they might be more talented this year. They’ve added Dumervil, they have Terrell Suggs fully healthy, and they have corner Lardarius Webb, who missed almost all of last year, back healthy. I don’t want to dismiss the importance of the intangibles Lewis brought, but if the defense finds another way to motivate itself, they’re better than last season.

I can really think of only two reasons to pick Denver in this game, and they’re Peyton Manning and the fact the game is in Denver. And neither of those are insignificant reasons. Manning’s got a new receiver to play with in Wes Welker, and if his offensive line protects him, the future Hall of Fame quarterback will keep his team in the game and give them every chance to win.

But the Broncos are a 3-1 favorite on the Las Vegas moneyline, something that strikes me as completely disproportionate.  TheSportsNotebook’s NFL analysis will pick each game this year outright, using the moneyline, rather than the pointspread as the measuring stick. As Herm Edwards tells us, “You play to win the game.” I’ll take the Ravens to win the game outright at +255, and for it at minimum to be within a field goal either way. 

NFL Analysis: Denver Tries To Avoid Decline

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The Denver Broncos rolled to a 13-3 record and the top seed in the AFC in 2012, but the lasting memory of their season is Baltimore Ravens’ receiver Jacoby Jones getting behind free safety Rahim Moore at the end of regulation in their second-round playoff game for the touchdown that forced overtime, and ultimately the Broncos’ elimination.

The issue for this season’s NFL analysis is whether that game was just a fluke, or if it exposed some deeper flaws in the Denver team.

As good as Denver was throughout the regular season—and with Peyton Manning’s brilliant comeback year leading the way, they ranked high in most statistical categories—the Broncos did not have a tough schedule and if not for a couple special teams’ touchdowns, would have lost that infamous playoff game decisively.

Now you have Manning at 37-years-old, plus other key players who are continuing to get up there in years. Champ Bailey on the corner, Shaun Phillips at outside linebacker and new wide receiver Wes Welker are all at least 32-years-old. This is not a young team.


Furthermore, the pass rush—the pride and joy of the defense a year ago—has lost its two strongest components, one of them permanently, the other temporarily. Elvis Dumervil was allowed to leave via free agency and went to Baltimore. Von Miller, who generated 18 ½ sacks from his outside linebacker spot, is suspended for six games due to a substance violation.

These were the only two Denver defensive players that could be genuinely called elite, and it’s tough to see how this remains anywhere close to the top-five defense it was in the 2012 season.

We can continue the piling on by pointing out that the one area of the team that wasn’t very good was the running game. Denver ranked 25th in yards-per-carry, in spite of the fact that opponents clearly had to game plan for Manning and the passing game.

The Broncos drafted Montee Ball from Wisconsin to try and help, and he’ll vie with holdovers Ronnie Hillman and Knowshon Moreno for time. But none of the three is a really strong inside rusher, and Moreno is coming off knee surgery.

I know this post has taken on a very negative tone, but the presence of Manning is going to ensure that Denver wins games and makes it back to the playoffs. The addition of Welker, to go with 1,000-yard receivers in Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas, give the future Hall of Fame quarterback enough targets to put points on the board and cover for a weakened defense.

But Manning came to Denver because both sides wanted more than just getting to the playoffs. The quarterback and a weak division will get them their chance in January, but it’s hard to see this as a true Super Bowl-caliber team right now. Las Vegas has posted their Over/Under win prop at 11.5, and I have to go Under. 

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