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John Elway and Peyton Manning: Two iconic QBs, one exit plan? By Judy Battista NFL.com January 17, 2014 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- John Elway sat up in his box last Sunday, watching the Denver Broncos' lead wither away. Elway, of course, was the architect of many Broncos victories, and his career arc remains a romantic ideal: He retired after the 1998 season as a champion, leaving the game after winning two straight Super Bowls and setting to rest, at the last possible moments available to him, the notion that he could not win on the biggest stage. It is not lost on Elway that the same reputation has been attached to Peyton Manning with his career in the latter stages. Manning, at 37, is the same age now that Elway was when he won his first Super Bowl, and it is impossible not to draw parallels between the two men. Elway had no comparable rivalry during his career like Manning has with Brady -- Elway mentioned maybe Bernie Kosar because they played each other three times in the conference championship game in Elway's early years, drawing laughter from reporters -- but because of their shared profession, of their uncommonly similar circumstances, Elway has a unique window into Manning's mindset as Manning prepares to face Brady for the 15th time, and for the chance to play in his third Super Bowl. The familiar question, then, is whether Elway, the Broncos' executive vice president of football operations, suspects that Manning might follow his path to retirement should their parallel careers align again, if Manning wins a second Super Bowl to provide a neat bookend to his career. Elway said he does not know what Manning will do -- they will not talk about it until after the season anyway -- but his own experience is telling, about what a professional athlete ponders when, as Manning has put it several times recently, they see the light at the end of the tunnel. "I still think he's young and he's playing well," Elway said, in a meeting with a small group of reporters Thursday. "That's going to come down to Peyton. It's going to come down to what he wants to do. Having been a football player before, when you leave this game, you want to leave it on your last leg and try not to leave anything on the table. So, anybody that's a competitor, that's kind of the way they want to leave the game. I was just fortunate to be able to be on two great football teams and be able to win world championships when my last leg broke." In that way, the trajectories of Elway and Manning are much different. Manning spoke this week about feeling refreshed with a new offense with new teammates and coaches. He continues to enjoy the dogged preparation he has always engaged in, noting that he has often heard older players say they love playing on Sunday but no longer enjoy the work that leads up to it. He has played, remarkably, the best season of his career -- the best season of any quarterback's career -- at an age and following a neck injury that would surely have sent most of his peers to the golf course for good. His much-scrutinized arm strength has not caused his game to deteriorate, the element that Elway said ultimately drove him from the field. The soundness of Manning's neck might ultimately dictate his timetable, but Elway's history is probably instructive, too, because of the insight it offers into the way players of this stature think. "I looked at my whole last year, and I think I missed four games my last year," Elway said. "So, could I have gotten through another year? Sure, I could have. But would it have been at the level I want to get, being at the same level, was I enjoying the game as much as I had enjoyed it? No, because it took me so long to heal. It was kind of the beginning of the body breaking down. So the combination of both and being able to run off into the sunset, made it easier for me." There seems little doubt that Manning is still enjoying playing. "I can't imagine him not -- throwing 55 touchdown passes and 5,400 yards," Elway said. "I guarantee you if I was in his shoes, I would have enjoyed it. I'm sure he is still enjoying it, and he's on a good football team, which also, late in your career, is crucial." Putting that team together has been Elway's responsibility, although he was not always certain he would pursue this post-playing path. Elway said that when he retired, he wanted to get away from the game, to find out if there was something out there for him other than football. Elway has been wildly successful at nearly everything he has done -- from playing, to car dealerships, to restaurants -- but ultimately he received his answer. "It took me two years to figure out there wasn't -- three years to really figure out that I'm built to be involved with football somehow," Elway said. "That's really what I know the best because that's what I've spent all my time on. My adult life has been in football. I had the dealerships and restaurants, but those don't have scoreboards on Sundays. When you're used to seeing a scoreboard -- even when you are 4, 5, 6, 7 years old -- on Saturday and Sunday every weekend in the fall, I don't think you ever break that." He was charged with rebuilding the Broncos, with restoring a winning culture in a team that was trying to recover from the failed Josh McDaniels experiment. Elway praised McDaniels as a bright, young coach -- the same praise he heaped on his current offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, for whom he said he wished he could play. But he also had the unenviable task of jettisoning Tim Tebow and the more enviable job of wooing Manning. The stunning loss to the Baltimore Ravens last postseason, Elway believes, steeled the Broncos from the shocks of this season, from Von Miller's early-season suspension to John Fox's midseason open-heart surgery. When he took the job, Elway said, he never expected to face as much adversity as the Broncos have. Elway said the calls about Miller's suspension and about the arrests of two Broncos executives on drunk-driving charges ruined his summer, but the Broncos have successfully navigated it all, in addition to the more routine laundry list of injuries. For all the success Elway has enjoyed in his second career go-around in Denver, though, there was a certain wistfulness to how he viewed it compared with his playing days. "It's very different and it takes some getting used to," Elway said, as he sat at the head of a conference table. "I enjoy watching the regular-season games, but I was absolutely miserable last week watching this game. I mean, it took me four hours to get the pit out of my stomach after the game was over. As a player, it was so exciting to be in this because this is what you work for. So it's not nearly as much fun upstairs as it is down on the field, especially these championship games or playoffs. "But I also am proud of being a part of it and being able to help put the team together, put the coaches together, put the personnel side and everything that comes together. I'm proud of everybody that has been a part of putting this whole thing together. So there is a lot of pride in that. It's a different feeling then -- there's more of a quiet pride than there is being the quarterback, where everyone is patting you on the back." Both Elway and Manning have spoken about the fraternity of quarterbacks -- Manning reflexively defends all of them -- and Elway said they talk more frequently about philosophy and less about X's and O's. Manning joked that Elway does not sit in on quarterbacks meetings or get on the phone during games. But Manning has used Elway as a resource to learn even more about quarterbacking, the same way, Manning said, he learned from his father when he was younger. At some point soon, they will talk about Manning's future. Perhaps the outcome of this season, whether it ends Sunday or two weeks from now at MetLife Stadium, will push Manning toward a decision, the way it did for Elway. But for now, this Manning season bears little resemblance to Elway's injury-riddled final season. Except, they hope, in the final result. "I really don't think it's hard to block that out," Manning said. "As a matter of fact, I think it's probably even easier just to hone in on what's taking place right now. I really felt that that has been my approach since the beginning of last season. Just when you go through a significant injury and a major career change, you truly do go one year at a time, and you don't look past what's going on now because you are not sure what's going to happen. Tomorrow is not promised. For a young player, sure, it can be easy to look ahead to maybe that new contract that they want to get or some career goal that they're trying to achieve. But at this point in my career, it's easy just to focus in on what's going on right now." And here are five things to focus on as we hurtle toward Championship Sunday: 1) Can the top seeds buck a trend and advance? Since the NFL started naming No. 1 seeds in 1975, just nine Super Bowls have featured each conference's top dog. The most recent instance occurred at the end of the 2009 campaign, when Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts lost to the New Orleans Saints. 2) Are we witnessing a revolution in quarterback play? Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson do not just represent the next generation of quarterbacks, they represent an entirely different style of play. They combined for 1,063 yards rushing this season. Their older and less-nimble AFC counterparts, Brady and Manning, combined for - 13 rushing yards this year -- and 1,463 rushing yards in their careers. 3) Is the NFC Championship Game an aberration or the tip of the iceberg for offensive play? Last weekend, three of the four winning quarterbacks passed for fewer than 200 yards (Manning had 230). The NFC's two best teams are also the only teams in the league that rushed on more than 50 percent of their offensive plays this season. The 49ers rushed 52.5 percent of the time, most in the NFL, while the Seahawks rushed 52.3 percent of the time. The last Super Bowl champion to rush more than half of the time was Jerome Bettis' 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, who ran the ball on 57.2 percent of their offensive plays. The power-rushing incarnation of the New England Patriots has rushed 63 percent of the time in its last two games, a throwback to the franchise's last championship team. The 2004 Pats, with Corey Dillon leading the way, rushed 50.6 percent of the time. 4) What version of the Broncos' defense will the Patriots face? When the Patriots beat the Broncos in November, Denver had linebacker Von Miller and cornerback Chris Harris (both of whom are now out for the season), but the team was still giving up an average of 26.6 points per game. In their last three games, though, the Broncos have given up just 14.7 points per game, while allowing 120 fewer total yards per game (almost 87 fewer passing and 33 fewer rushing) than they did in the first 14 outings of the season. 5) Can Denver avoid turnovers? Since Week 16, the Patriots are tied for the league lead in takeaways, with eight. Manning has thrown 22 interceptions in 21 career postseason games, and the Broncos' offense turned the ball over 26 times in the regular season, which ranked right in the middle of the league. Manning threw just 10 interceptions this season -- one more than his career low set in 2006 -- but he also fumbled 10 times, losing six of them. In their Week 12 win, the Patriots intercepted Manning once and forced five fumbles, three of which they recovered. Of the four remaining teams, the Broncos had the worst turnover differential in the regular season -- zero. Elway Rallies Again Hurt by losses off the field, the quarterback known for comebacks mounted another one. By Tyler Bridges Stanford Magazine January 13, 2014 The glory years were history. For 16 years as the Denver Broncos quarterback, John Elway, '83, had won the acclaim and admiration of the entire state of Colorado. The first overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft, he was adored for his on-field heroics—he led Denver to five Super Bowls, winning two, and was voted Most Valuable Player in the league in 1987. By the time he retired in 1999, he had secured his place as one of the game's all-time greats. But in late 2002, his life had gone all to hell. He had lost his sense of mission. His father, Jack, his best friend, had died of a heart attack a year earlier. His twin sister, Jana, had recently succumbed to lung cancer. And his marriage to Janet Buchan, '84, his Stanford sweetheart, was crumbling. Then, as he had done so many times as a player, rallying late in games to pull out improbable victories, John Elway made a comeback. He made business investments that prospered. He remarried. In 2011, he rejoined the Broncos as executive vice president for football operations. "After reaching that pinnacle, there's no question it was a tough period," says Elway, leaning back in a black leather chair in his Denver office overlooking the Broncos practice field. Thanks in part to Elway bringing aboard another superstar quarterback, Peyton Manning, the Broncos are one of the NFL's top teams. Elway's resilience doesn't surprise Dennis Engel, who protected Elway as a lineman at Stanford and has been his closest friend in Denver. "He approaches life the same way as football," says Engel, '83. "You get up and dust yourself off. You learn from your mistakes. Regardless of whether it's business or sports or your dad or sister dying or your marriage not working out. You're going forward. There's no quit in the guy." The competitiveness at the heart of his ability to bounce back was immediately evident to Elway's freshman-year buddies at Stanford. Mostly football and baseball players, they competed ferociously with Elway at everything they did. Elway usually won. One night, they were playing Ping-pong at Branner, the all-freshman dorm. Elway vanquished his friends, one by one. A crowd gathered, and someone rousted the dorm's Ping-pong champ, who arrived with his own paddle. "He got beat by Elway," said Mike Aldrete, '83, a baseball player who is now the bench coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. "I remember sitting back and saying, 'Wow!' " Sophomore year, Elway roomed with three football players in the Manzanita trailers. They drank Coors Light and played cards or board games most nights. Nobody—least of all Elway—wanted to go to bed a loser. As a result, the games regularly extended past midnight, recalls Don Lonsinger, '83, a roommate and wide receiver. "I couldn't go to sleep if I lost," Elway remembers. It's not as if Elway has never known disappointment on the playing field. He broke virtually every passing record at Stanford but never played in a bowl game. In the 1982 Big Game, his last game as a collegian, Elway led the Cardinal on a desperation drive—highlighted by a 29-yard pass completion on fourth-and-17 from his own 13-yardline—to set up a field goal that put Stanford ahead 20-19 with four seconds remaining. A few moments later, a stirring victory became a haunting defeat when Cal executed five laterals and navigated the final few yards to the end zone through the Stanford Band in what became known simply as The Play. It probably cost Elway the Heisman Trophy. Six months later, the Broncos obtained Elway, and he signed a five-year, $5 million contract. He returned to Stanford to complete his studies—by now he was living in the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house—and graduate with a degree in economics. But the relative anonymity of campus life was over. When Elway arrived in Denver, fans hailed the rookie quarterback as their savior. The Broncos had won only two games the year before. Denver newspapers published a daily "Elway Watch" that described his life in detail, including what he ate for lunch and what candy he gave out on Halloween. He won over his teammates by arriving early to lift weights and being one of the guys when they went out drinking at night. "He was such a great friend to everyone, and that made everyone play harder," says Steve Watson, a wide receiver during Elway's early years. "There were no airs, no pretense." During the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons, Elway led the Broncos to the Super Bowl. They were pummeled each time. Critics said he would never be considered a great quarterback. In the locker room after the third Super Bowl defeat, 55-10 to the San Francisco 49ers, a disconsolate Elway lamented to wide receiver Michael Young, "They're never going to let me live this down." "Dude, we would never be here but for you," Young replied. Redemption for Elway came eight years later at Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego. Against the heavily favored Green Bay Packers, the Broncos triumphed 31-24. They won the Super Bowl again the following year, Elway was chosen MVP, and he retired at 38 in a ceremony carried live on ESPN. He seemed on top of the world. But he had trouble adjusting to what he calls "real life." An online merchandising business that he started with Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky went under. A chain of upscale laundromats failed. Young recalls sitting in a car with Elway late in 2002 as the former quarterback aired his frustrations. When the conversation turned to the deaths of Elway's father and sister and his impending divorce, tears welled in both men's eyes. They were interrupted. Passing fans recognized Elway and excitedly began pounding on the car window. Young tried to shoo them away, to no avail. Elway stepped out, signed autographs and posed for photos. "Why did you do that?" Young asked. "I hope it would have made those people's day," Elway replied. "Besides, it would have taken longer to tell them to go away." Around this time, Elway became part owner of an Arena Football franchise, the Colorado Crush. The team went 2-14 in its first season but two years later won the league championship and helped Elway turn around his life. "People would say [the Arena League] was below me," Elway says. "I looked at it like it was a chance to learn [about the management side of football]. It was my MBA. . . . It cost me a lot of money, but I got some good experience." Elway says he had always planned to have a second career after football. In fact, he had already enjoyed enormous success in business before his playing days ended. In 1997, he and a partner sold several car dealerships to Auto Nation for $82 million. In 2003, he decided to get back into the car business. A dealership became available in California and Elway flew there to check it out. Back in Denver, he analyzed the income statements, tapping into accounting skills he had learned at Stanford. "He did his due diligence," says Mitchell Pierce, his partner in the dealerships. "At the end of the day, he was the guy who made the decision. He felt the reward outweighed the risk." During the 2007-09 recession, auto sales plummeted. "A lot of guys either went out of business or tried to get out of the business," Pierce says. "John has this ability to stay calm, stay clear and find solutions. The building's on fire, everyone's running out of the building, and he's thinking it might be a good time to run into the building." He and Pierce bought three Denver dealerships during the recession and have five today. "Every one of them makes money," Pierce says. The retired quarterback also opened Elway's, a steakhouse in Denver. Skeptics noted that other sports star's steakhouses had floundered. Tim Schmidt, his partner, was confident. "I was tying myself with the most iconic brand in the history of the state," Schmidt says. He, too, saw Elway's attention to detail. Elway sat through long meetings discussing the restaurant's menu and design, as well as revenue and expense projections. "People thought he would be a figurehead with cars and with the restaurants," says Schmidt. "He's not a figurehead. He's a worker. That's where his success comes from. People can't believe that. He puts in the hours." As a quarterback, Elway took charge on the field and raised everyone's play with his phenomenal abilities and sparkling confidence. In business, he showed a different side. As a rule, Elway spoke sparingly in the meetings, which surprised those who expected the larger-than-life figure to dominate. "I can't learn if I'm talking," he says. "The only way I can get better is to hear other people's opinions and find out why. . . . To be a great leader, you have to be willing to do what everyone else is going to do, too." So many superstar athletes are content to glide through life after their playing days end. Why wasn't it enough for Elway to be simply a Hall of Fame quarterback? "I wanted to prove I could be as good at something else, other than an athlete," he offers. "I've tried to prove it in the business world. I don't want to get pigeonholed as just a guy who's God-given with athletic ability, who was a great athlete and nothing else in the world." Elway hits another jackpot in free agency By Arnie Stapleton Associated Press January 9, 2014 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — John Elway followed up possibly the best free agent signing in NFL history — Peyton Manning — with another jackpot this season. Wes Welker and Louis Vasquez helped transform the Broncos offense into the highest-scoring team in the Super Bowl era, and a bevy of defensive signings helped rescue a unit that was hit hard by injuries and illness. Vasquez, a fifth-year right guard lured from AFC West rival San Diego, earned All- Pro and Pro Bowl honors after anchoring an offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL (20) this season and produced a league-high six games without allowing a quarterback takedown. Welker, pried away from Tom Brady in New England, caught a career-high 10 touchdown passes despite missing the final month with a concussion, one of a record five Broncos to reach the end zone 10 or more times. None of the other seven teams still playing has more than one "go-to" player who has double-digit TDs. Although Welker (two years, $12 million) and Vasquez (four years, $23.5 million) were the cornerstones of the Broncos' free agency haul, Elway, the team's executive vice president, signed a slew of others who also played big roles in helping the Broncos go 13-3 for a second straight season. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie ($5 million), Terrance Knighton (two years, $4.5 million), Shaun Phillips ($1 million), Quentin Jammer ($1.1 million) and Paris Lenon ($940,000) all turned into big bargains. They kept a depleted defense functioning through a rash of ailments that claimed starters Von Miller, Rahim Moore, Kevin Vickerson and Derek Wolfe and also turned captains Champ Bailey and Wesley Woodyard into backups. "We brought in good guys and these guys have been effective for us all year," Bailey said. "And I thought T-Knight should have made the Pro Bowl. I thought DRC should have made the Pro Bowl. I mean, that's the type of years they had." Last month, Elway signed Jeremy Mincey when he was released by Jacksonville and the defensive end has helped the Broncos shore up a run defense that was exposed by running back Ryan Mathews and the Chargers (10-7), whom they'll face again Sunday in the AFC Divisional playoffs. Elway's philosophy is to build through the draft but to add veterans to fill the gaps but only if they're "guys that will fit in that locker room the right way." Elway doesn't want anybody who will put individual desires ahead of team goals and spoil the chemistry. This locker room may be chock-full of superstars but there aren't any super-sized egos or self-centered jerks. Mincey, who was released by the Jaguars after missing two team meetings and falling out of favor with a front office that gave him a four-year, $20 million contract last year, had to pass muster in Elway's eyes before he was brought on board. The Broncos reached out to the Jaguars and determined a change of scenery and a reunion with Denver defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, who was his head coach when he had his best seasons in Jacksonville, would rejuvenate his career. "Peyton knew exactly who I was when I walked into the locker room and welcomed me with open arms and said, 'We need a guy like you around,' and I said, 'Appreciate it.' That made me feel really good from a guy like that," Mincey said. Knighton, who also played with Mincey in Jacksonville, said he's been nothing but a pro's pro since his arrival in Denver. A trio of the free agents — Phillips, Jammer and Vasquez — were long-time Chargers who will be facing their former team this weekend. Vasquez signed at the start of free agency and he was the only free agent named All-Pro this season, giving Elway arguably the best free agent signing two years in a row. Phillips came on board over draft weekend to replace Elvis Dumervil and he led Denver with 10 sacks. Jammer, a starter for the last decade with the Chargers, started just one game for the Broncos this season, and that was only because Rodgers-Cromartie sent him out in his place in San Diego on Nov. 10, unbeknownst to the coaches. Jammer is like the other free agents in that he was lured by the chance to play with Manning. Unlike the others, he hasn't seen the field much. But he harbors no regrets. "I'm trying to win a ring," he said. "I can't be picky." Kiszla: John Elway is NFL's top executive in 2013 as Broncos boss By Mark Kiszla The Denver Post December 27, 2013 Looking to win a Super Bowl, Broncos executive John Elway gambled $5 million on the idea that cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie hadn't forgotten how to play winning football. "If I win the Super Bowl, I'm done. I'm retiring," Rodgers-Cromartie said Thursday. C'mon, now. No Pro Bowl-caliber player quits football at age 27, in the prime of his NFL career. "I've got six years in this league. My goal was to get five coming out of college," Rodgers-Cromartie said. If the Broncos win the championship, would he really walk away from the game? "It's going good. I might go one more year," said Rodgers-Cromartie, signed by Elway to a low-risk, one-year contract after two forgettable seasons in Philadelphia left the once-ballyhooed cornerback looking for work. In 2013, Denver has been the prohibitive favorite to win the AFC from wire to wire, despite the losses of key players such as offensive tackle Ryan Clady, linebacker Von Miller and cornerback Champ Bailey. That's a testament to strength and depth of a roster assembled by Elway and his front-office staff. In 2013, has any NFL executive done a better job than Elway? No. While he was often mentioned as executive of the year candidate a year ago after landing Peyton Manning to play quarterback, a compelling case can be made that Elway actually made shrewder personnel moves this season. The three Denver players most deserving of an invitation to the Pro Bowl are Manning, guard Louis Vasquez and Rodgers- Cromartie. All were brought to town by Elway. While the fax machine faux pas with pass rusher Elvis Dumervil hogged headlines, Vasquez and Rodgers-Cromartie were part of a free-agent class that also included wide receiver Wes Welker and defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. Where would the Broncos be without those acquisitions? Nowhere near first place in the AFC with a 12-3 record. The faith Elway showed in Rodgers-Cromartie paid off big. He might not make the Pro Bowl, when rosters are announced Friday. But, without question, Rodgers- Cromartie has been the No. 1 performer on a Denver defense that has been forced to play short-handed all season long. Rodgers-Cromartie played in the Super Bowl with Arizona at the conclusion of his rookie season in 2008, and made the Pro Bowl a season later. A trade to the Eagles in 2011, however, sent his career into a tailspin. Denver acquired him with the belief Rodgers-Cromartie's production could again match his potential. "There are a lot of talented people. I think it comes down to performing consistently and I think he understands that better now," Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said. "I think he's worked at it well and been a good teammate, and so I think he's had a good, solid year. "I think his best football — I'd like to say — is in front of him. I believe that. I think he's a guy that continues to be on the rise." Vasquez is the rock-solid foundation of a Denver offensive line that has prevented Manning from being sacked no more than 17 times, giving him the cleanest uniform among starting quarterbacks in the league. "He's been one of the fewest-hit quarterbacks in the league. That is the main goal at the end of the day," Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase said. "And Luis has been a big part of that." Elway has made mistakes in personnel. While quarterback Brock Osweiler, selected 57th overall in the 2012 draft, sits and learns behind Manning, it's hard not to imagine how much better the defense might be had the Broncos instead taken linebacker Lavonte David with the pick. Rookie running back Montee Ball has slowly become a contributor, but how much more potent could this offense be if Denver had ignored its long-term health concerns about Alabama star Eddie Lacy? Nobody, however, can quibble with the fact Denver has won its third consecutive AFC West title under the guidance of Elway. Maybe the guy in charge should get an award. Elway Talks with Troops By Gray Caldwell DenverBroncos.com December 18, 2013 Thanks to USAA, EVP of Football Ops. John Elway spent his Wednesday morning on the phone with nearly two dozen military men and women stationed overseas. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Thanks to USAA, Broncos Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway spent part of his Wednesday morning chatting with overseas military men and women. On a conference call were 23 soldiers with the second armored brigade and fourth infantry from Fort Carson, stationed in seven different camps throughout the Middle East in three different countries. "I'd just like to say it's a pleasure for me to be talking to you guys today," Elway said to open the call. "I appreciate your work and everything you do for this country, the sacrifices that have been made by you guys over there. From the bottom of my heart, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and it's an honor for me to be able to spend time with you guys today. "So I'm looking forward to hearing some questions -- and don't be shy." The soldiers weren't. In fact, one soldier got straight to the point. "What happened last week?" he asked, pointing out that he's been taking flak from the non-Broncos fans in his platoon, drawing laughs from the other soldiers. "We just didn't play very well," Elway responded. "I think that it was a short week, but that's not an excuse either because the Chargers were on a short week. We came out and we were just flat and offensively they did a good job. They kept the ball away from us. They had the ball 40 minutes to our 20 minutes. And on offense we didn't do a good job on third down, and anytime you're not picking up third- down conversions, you're not going to stay on the field. That's what happened to us in that second quarter with three three-and-outs. And then they did a good job running the ball. We weren't able to stop their running game, which allowed them to eat up the clock – and they did a good job on third down. "I think overall, as I said, it was a tough loss for us but I think it's a chance for us to kind of reboot and refocus on where we are and what we have in front of us. In the long run I think it's going to be a good thing for us as long as we take it as a wakeup call. Hopefully these next four, five weeks into February you'll be doing all the talking in the platoon." Elway was asked more than 20 questions in the nearly 40-minute phone call, with topics ranging from his biggest fear (heights) to his biggest pet peeve (not taking advantage of opportunities), what he would be if he didn't get into athletics (an accountant) and whether he can still hit the crossbar with a throw from the 50-yard line ("I think I could, it would just take me a lot more tries these days.") Other questions stuck to football. One soldier asked if wide receiver Wes Welker would be back on the football field by the time the playoffs roll around. "We're going to be safe with Wes and make sure that he's completely healthy before he comes back," Elway said. "So it's going to be a day-to-day thing." Another asked for Elway's memories of the helicopter run in Super Bowl XXXII. "That was one play in my career that when I talk about it, I still kind of get shivers about it," Elway smiled. "Because I remember the first thing I did once I saw I got the first down is looked over to the sideline and saw our sideline jumping up and down – and the excitement level that was on the sideline. So as far as getting a change out of something, there was nothing close to that in my career that came close to getting that when I got that first down." Elway talked Knowshon Moreno: "He's a guy that's tough, a guy that plays hard and he's passionate about what he does. We'd love to have 53 guys like Knowshon." He even gave some advice to a Raiders fan whose boyfriend is a Broncos fan. "I'm just hoping you come to the good side -- I'm hoping your boyfriend can talk you into coming over to be being a Broncos fan," he laughed. "But I can understand your loyalties to the Raiders because they've been a big part of this league for a long time. I don't have an answer for you other than I know you'd be happy being a Broncos fan." By the end of the call, the soldiers were out of questions, and Elway was grateful for the opportunity to speak with the men and women serving the United States of America overseas. "I appreciate the time and appreciate all that you do," Elway said to close the call. "I know that over there it's a little bit tough sometimes, but I want you to know that the Denver Broncos and this organization are 120 percent behind you and we really do appreciate all your hard work and sacrifice that you've made for this country. We know we couldn't do what we do unless you're doing what you guys do. So we appreciate it so much and it was a pleasure to spend time with you. "I want to wish everybody a happy holidays and we're going to do our best to bring home a World Championship." John Elway's No. 7 retired at halftime of Stanford Cardinal's game against Oregon Ducks By Elliott Almond San Jose Mercury News November 7, 2013 STANFORD -- As soon as the Stanford Stadium scoreboard flashed No. 7 on Thursday night, the sold-out crowd of 51,545 readied to applaud legendary Cardinal quarterback John Elway. The man who played from 1979-82 joined No. 1 Ernie Nevers and No. 16 Jim Plunkett as school's only players to have their jerseys retired. (Elway's number will be retired after the season although the ceremony came during halftime of the Stanford-Oregon game). The player who made No. 7 iconic beamed while a montage of Elway's spectacular collegiate career played on the scoreboard. His famous 60-plus-yard scramble-pass against USC received the biggest response as Elway was flanked by four family members wearing No. 7 Stanford jerseys. As he began to thank the crowd his microphone malfunctioned but the nonplussed quarterback didn't flinch. He eventually thanked the school in a brief speech. "I enjoyed my four years there so much, living in the track shack with Ken Margerum between my freshman and sophomore year," Elway said earlier this week. His favorite moment? "When we beat Washington when I was a senior and they were No. 1 in the country," Elway said. An All-American out of Granada Hills High in Los Angeles, Elway chose Stanford although his father Jack became San Jose State's coach. "Ultimately, I went to Stanford because it was a quarterback school," he said. "Dad was a going to throw the ball, too," but Stanford won out because of the academics. Elway ended his thank yous with a crowd-pleasing cheer for Cardinal success in the second half against the second-ranked Ducks. Ty Montgomery, the last Stanford player to wear No. 7, opened the second half with a 57-yard kickoff return to Oregon's 38. The Cardinal scored on Jordan Williamson's 34-yard field goal for a 20-0 lead. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has no plans to introduce rules that would punish players who fake injuries in order to slow the game against fast-paced teams such as Oregon. "It's not exactly an epidemic," he said before the game. Scott hopes league coaches police themselves. But if they don't he said he could hold out all injured players for a designated period to make it an incentive not to fake it. Stanford took a surprising 17-0 halftime lead with a morale-killing defense. The last time Oregon had been shutout in the first half was Sept. 3, 2009 against Boise State, which won 19-8. Stanford to retire John Elway's number during Oregon game By Elliott Almond The Denver Post November 5, 2013 STANFORD -- John Elway never planned to wear the number Stanford will honor Thursday night when the fifth-ranked Cardinal plays host to No. 2 Oregon. He picked it only to appease those teammates who were upset that Elway had been promised No. 11, the jersey worn by a veteran defensive back. "I was not going to take the number off anybody's back, that's for darn sure," Elway said Monday. "As much as I wanted No. 11, it was an easy change for me." Three decades later, Elway and his now-famous No. 7 joins No. 1 Ernie Nevers and No. 16 Jim Plunkett as the school's only players to have their jerseys retired. When having to choose a new jersey, quarterbacks coach Jim Fassel told the freshman, "The number doesn't make the guy, the guy makes the number." The kid who threw the ball so hard in practice it would leave a mark on receivers' chests proved Fassel right. Despite never playing in a bowl game, the quarterback with the toothy grin threw for 9,349 yards and 77 touchdowns at Stanford from 1979-82. He still holds the school's single-game record of six touchdown passes against Oregon State in 1980. Elway, 53, went on to win two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos and now is executive vice president of the team. He has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Sports Hall of Fame. But it has taken his school eons to retire the jersey. "It's unbelievably long overdue," coach David Shaw said. "This is all for John. He's been everything a Stanford man should be." Junior receiver Ty Montgomery and sophomore defensive end Aziz Shittu will finish the season wearing No. 7, the jersey Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wears in honor of Elway. No one put their stamp on it, though, like the two-time Pac-10 player of the year and 1982 All-American. "The greatest Stanford football player I ever saw was Darrin Nelson as far as sheer ability," said Jim Rutter, the school's athletics archivist. "But the guy that raised the hair on my arm was John Elway. My breathing would change when he dropped back" to pass. Such as one play in a 34-9 defeat to USC in 1980. The fourth-ranked Trojans held a 12-0 lead as Stanford had a first-and-10 from the USC 46-yard line. Elway, then a 6-foot-3, 205-pound sophomore, took the snap only to see the feared Trojans rushers upon him. He scrambled out of the pocket, eventually hurling the ball 60 yards past future 49ers star Ronnie Lott and into the chest of receiver Ken Margerum for Stanford's lone touchdown. "When John scrambled, all rules were off," said Nelson, now a UC Irvine administrator. "When he did that, I had carte blanche to run deep. No matter where I was, he could get the ball there." The Cardinal was 20-23-1 in the Elway era although the coaching staffs boasted four guys who would lead NFL teams. The only winning season came in 1980 when Stanford finished 6-5 the first year he started. But Elway's competitive spirit soared on Saturdays. A week after having four passes intercepted at Boston College in 1980, Elway rebounded at Norman, Okla., against the then-No. 4 Sooners. The quarterback completed 20 of 34 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns in a downpour. "It was the football version of "Caddyshack,' " said John Macaulay, Elway's center that day. "Everything clicked." That was not always the case. Elway suffered an ankle sprain in a season-opening defeat at Purdue in 1981. Then the school faced San Jose State, coached by John's father, Jack Elway. Dad didn't want son to play. Eventually a team physician cleared the immobile quarterback, who was intercepted five times and sacked seven more in a 28-6 defeat. Afterward, Jack Elway complained to Fassel, the offensive coordinator, that his son shouldn't have played. "I know," Fassel said. "But Jack, you didn't have to blitz him every damn down." Football so dominated the landscape, it's easy to forget Elway also was an exceptional left-handed power hitter for the Cardinal baseball team. He hit .349 and drove in 50 runs in 49 games as a sophomore before signing a $140,000 contract with the New York Yankees. "We had the ability to beat a lot of good football teams, but then again we had the ability to lose to a lot of teams we should have beaten," Elway said of his memories. The moment often associated with Elway and Stanford is perhaps the most bitter one: the 1982 Big Game. The quarterback had rallied the Cardinal with a drive that included a 29-yard completion on a fourth-and-17 on its own 13-yard line. Stanford kicked a game- leading field goal with four seconds left. Then came the infamous Play that derailed Stanford's bowl dreams. Elway's Delta fraternity brothers were in the middle of it. Assuming Stanford had won, they stormed the field to congratulate the quarterback they called "Woody." "We're ahead of the trombone guy," recalled Eric Hardgrave, 1983 Pac-10 baseball player of the year. "Then Kevin Moen is running by us." Moen ran through the Stanford band on the crazy kickoff return to score the touchdown for Cal's 25-20 victory. The Play ended Elway's college career but not his legacy. "The highs and lows were the things I remember the most," he said. Contact Elliott Almond at 408-920-5865. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/elliottalmond. Thursday's game Oregon (8-0, 5-0 Pac-12) at Stanford (7-1, 5-1), 6 p.m., ESPN John Elway builds Broncos roster, lets John Fox run the team By Mike Klis The Denver Post October 31, 2013 A small portion of cafeteria food was placed in the middle of John Elway's otherwise meticulously organized desk. John Fox had just exited the office, cracking laughter as he left. Hanging on a large board to Elway's left were nameplates of every Broncos player, magnetized beneath their positions in depth-chart order. Elway built that board. He let Fox arrange the depth chart. As the Broncos' executive vice president of football operations, Elway is the man responsible for building the Broncos' 53-man roster. He hired Fox to coach it. Each week, and throughout the week, Elway meets with Fox to discuss the previous game or any number of issues that need to be addressed in their common pursuit of Super Bowl XLVIII. Does Elway ever talk with Fox about playing time for players he put on this team? "I do, and I don't," Elway said. "I ask about certain players, but I don't order. I let them make that decision." Elway built the Broncos' roster and then pretty much got out of the way. "I've always been of the belief that as a leader you serve," Fox said. "People work with you not for you. John's that way. He has a unique perspective. He played at a very high level. He played arguably the hardest position to play in sport. As a coach, you've got your own dogged way to look at things. That perspective John brings is a good thing." Thank goodness for Elway's leadership style. On a team that has quarterback Peyton Manning, imagine if Elway was also the hyper-micromanager-type? The entire building would shake with the heebie-jeebies. In less than three years, Elway has transformed a 4-12 Broncos team he inherited into one that has gone 18-1 in its past 19 regular-season games. It's not supposed to be this easy. There are NFL general managers who started in the business cutting up video tape, scouting in the desolate reaches of the South, grinding through waiver-wire rules and administrative regulations, working their way up to the top front-office job, and never came close to achieving this type of success. Elway pretty much went from Hall of Fame quarterback to architect of the NFL's prohibitive favorite to win it all. "We're 7-1, and it looks pretty, but the encouraging thing is I think everybody realizes we still have a lot of areas where we can get better," Elway said. "We've turned the ball over too much. I think we're a minus 1 in the turnover ratio. And Kansas City is what?" He dumped his plate of half-eaten food and started flipping through an NFL statistical document that showed Kansas City leading the NFL with a plus-12 turnover ratio, while the Broncos lead the NFL with 11 lost fumbles. The Chiefs are 8-0 and lead the AFC West. The Broncos are right behind at 7-1. The teams play twice in the next four weeks. "What's encouraging is there's a lot of room for improvement," Elway said. "We have not peaked out yet." Go back to what many would call a premature end to the Broncos' 2012 season. Elway couldn't throw the ball for Manning in a playoff loss to Baltimore on a bitter cold January evening. But he could strengthen the team around him. His five top free-agent signings — Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Shaun Phillips and Terrance Knighton on defense; Wes Welker and Louis Vasquez on offense — have all been hits. Extra-base hits. "They have all fit very well," Elway said. "I'm proud of them in that they're a good group of guys, and they like each other, and they play well together." The draft has not gone so well. But then, on a team good enough to win 17 regular- season games in a row over two years, where's a rookie going to play? The offense Elway put together is flat- out the league's best. "Offensively, to me the biggest thing was to solidify the inside, and we did that with Vasquez," Elway said. "He's come in and been tremendous." Vasquez has been a nice part. Manning has been a machine. "It really was amazing how well he played," Elway said. "But you have to look at how the whole offense has played. That's where (offensive coordinator) Adam Gase has done a tremendous job with the offensive staff. For Manning to be that proficient, everybody has got to be doing their job right." Denver's defense was playing nowhere near championship-caliber level until last week against the Redskins, when linebackers Von Miller and Wesley Woodyard shared the field for the first time. "To me, we're better talent-wise on the defensive side (than last year)," Elway said. Elvis Dumervil is gone, but Phillips has more sacks. Knighton has brought a backfield-disruption force to the interior front, and Rodgers-Cromartie, second-year strong safety Duke Ihenacho and rookie Kayvon Webster have upgraded the secondary. From Elway's chair, though, there isn't much conversation about what's been accomplished. He brings Fox in to talk about how they can get better. "To me, everybody has a responsibility," Elway said. "We've got good people. We've got a good coaching staff, good people in the personnel department. Everybody has different opinions here and there. Questions why. But for the most part they're hired to do their job. I don't feel like it's my position to stunt what they do." Good Broncos, bad Broncos There's more good than bad when a team is 7-1 at the halfway point of the season. But we found an equal portion of both: THE GOOD The Manning Machine: Quarterback Peyton Manning leads the NFL in nearly every individual passing category. And the Broncos are averaging a preposterous 42.9 points per game — 12.5 more than next-best Chicago. Special teams: There are three football units, and the Broncos are dominant in two of them. Matt Prater is 12-of-12 in field goals — including 6-of-6 from 40-49 yards — punter Britton Colquitt has put 11 kicks inside the 20 with just one touchback, and Trindon Holliday is the league's only returner with a touchdown off a kickoff and a punt. Von Miller is back: The linebacker's suspension was for six games, not 16. Better days are ahead for the Broncos' defense. THE BAD Ryan Clady is done: Can a team lose one of league's best left tackles and win it all? Fumble! The biggest culprit has been Manning, who has lost four of the Broncos' league-most 11. The good news is lead running back Knowshon Moreno has not fumbled. Backup Montee Ball has two, and Ronnie Hillman had one that sent him to the bench. The schedule: None of the Broncos' seven wins have come against teams with a winning record. The next four games — at San Diego, home vs. Kansas City, at New England and at Kansas City — figure to offer a much sterner test. Stanford to retire John Elway's No. 7 jersey By Antonio Gonzalez The Associated Press August 6, 2013 STANFORD, Calif. — Thirty years after he left school, Stanford football is retiring John Elway's No. 7 jersey. The former Cardinal quarterback and No. 1 overall pick of the 1983 NFL draft will have his jersey retired during halftime of Stanford's home game against Oregon on Nov. 7. Elway, now the executive vice president of the Denver Broncos, will be only the third player to have his jersey enshrined by the school, joining Ernie Nevers ( No. 1) and Jim Plunkett (No. 16). "I am extremely humbled that Stanford has chosen to recognize me in this very special way," Elway said in a statement released by the university. "It's a tremendous honor to join Cardinal legends Ernie Nevers and Jim Plunkett with this distinction. Being a student-athlete at Stanford and earning my degree from the school are two things I take the utmost pride in accomplishing. "Without question, my four years at Stanford played an integral role in who I am and any success I've had. In particular, my teammates and coaches deserve so much credit for making me better, both on and off the field. I will always cherish my time on campus as well as the friendships from Stanford that have lasted more than 30 years. I look forward to returning for this occasion and celebrating with the great Cardinal fans." Wide receiver Ty Montgomery and defensive end Aziz Shittu both wear No. 7 currently. They will be the last to wear that jersey at Stanford. Elway threw for 9,349 yards and 77 touchdowns while completing 62 percent of his passes at Stanford. He held nearly every major passing record—most of them since shattered by Andrew Luck—when he left school. Elway still owns the single-game record with six touchdown passes in a 54-13 win against Oregon State on Nov. 1, 1980. Elway was the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year in 1980 and 1982, when he also was a consensus All-American. After the Cardinal lost at rival California on the infamous lateral play in his final collegiate game, Elway finished second to Herschel Walker in the 1982 Heisman Trophy voting. The Baltimore Colts drafted Elway with the top pick in the 1983 draft and traded him to Denver, where he led the Broncos to five Super Bowl appearances and two titles. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004. "Today is an exciting day for Stanford football, and you can't talk about Stanford football without talking about John Elway," said third-year Cardinal coach David Shaw. "Like Frankie Albert and Jim Plunkett before him, John's Elway's greatness set the standard for quarterback play for a generation of athletes." John Elway leaves Canton fun early to focus on scrimmage By Mike Klis The Denver Post August 4, 2013 John Elway pulled his truck into Sports Authority Field at Mile High about the time former Green Bay Packers linebacker Dave Robinson was wrapping up his Hall of Fame induction speech in Canton, Ohio. The world moves fast, and Elway keeps up by not living in the past. The NFL wanted to mark its 50-year anniversary of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Elway was encouraged to attend the event. He split the difference. Elway the former Broncos quarterback arrived in Canton just in time to attend the Ray Nitschke lunch Friday, which is when the returning Hall of Fame members welcome the new induction class into their fraternity. He then was introduced at the Gold Jacket dinner Friday night. But unlike the other Hall of Famers in Canton, Elway the Broncos football operations boss couldn't spend one more day basking in the glow of past achievements. He skipped the Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday night because his Broncos were going to have a scrimmage in front of 44,439 fans at their stadium in Denver. "This is my job. This is more important," Elway said outside the home team's locker room about an hour before heavy rain and lightning delayed the scrimmage. "(The Hall of Fame gathering) was very nice. It was nice to be able to see everybody (Friday night) and see as many guys as I could. "But even though it's not a game tonight, you want to get them out there in the stadium in front of a crowd when the lights are on and see how they perform." After an intense storm of lightning and heavy rain, the scrimmage went off late, but with few surprises. The scrimmage proved Elway and coach John Fox have done a good job of picking the correct starters. For the No. 1 defense stymied Brock Osweiler and the No. 2 offense, as there was no threat of a score after 12 plays. Meanwhile, a glove-handed Peyton Manning and the No. 1 offense were sharp during a 10-play touchdown drive against the No. 2 defense. "Had it been the other way around, I probably wouldn't have been too happy," Fox said. The highlight of the night came before the scrimmage when, during the rain delay, Manning went out on the field and took a running belly flop near the 50-yard line. "I was telling (Wes) Welker 'that was fun,' " Manning said. "I can't remember the last time that you get to do something like that." During the scrimmage, Manning threw the ball well, connecting with Welker for one first down, Demaryius Thomas on a deep pass down the right side for a 29-yard gain, then sprinting out right and throwing back across the middle for a 4-yard touchdown pass to Thomas. Entering the scrimmage at Sports Authority Field, Elway had 86 players on his training camp roster competing for 53 opening week slots. He said his staff and Fox's coaches haven't started dummying up their 53-man roster. "It's really too early to start doing that, because you don't know how the injuries are going to go," Elway said. "To me, when I start doing that I drive myself crazy because it changes every day." Or in the case of the safety position, the competition sometimes changes every couple of practice periods. Mike Adams had been Rahim Moore's safety partner all of last season, but this year David Bruton and, more recently, Duke Ihenacho have been getting their chances. Veteran cornerback Quentin Jammer is making the conversion to safety, but it's taken time. "There's competition everywhere," Elway said. "Running back. Tight end. Wide receiver, that fourth and fifth spot. But we haven't seen anybody in a game, yet." The scrimmage was a big part of the evaluation — rookie quarterback Zac Dysert played well in leading the No. 3 offense to a field goal against the No. 3 defense. The Broncos' preseason opener Thursday night at San Francisco will be too. And to think Elway was more interested in the performances of guys named Nate Irving, Stewart Bradley and Julius Thomas on Saturday night than those of Bill Parcells, Larry Allen and Cris Carter. "I missed this (scrimmage) two years ago when Shannon (Sharpe) was going in," Elway said. "I'm glad I was there for Shannon. But I just don't like being gone." John Elway, one of the league's all-time great quarterbacks, has become one of the best GMs too Frank Schwab Yahoo! Sports Jul 15, 2013 John Elway looks on as Wes Welker has his introductory press conference (USA Today Sports Images) When John Elway was hired to run the Denver Broncos' football operations, it looked like a move that pandered to a fan base that still loved Elway well after retirement. The franchise was in sickly shape at the time, ravaged by an unfathomable decision to let Josh McDaniels have complete and total control of the organization in his first coaching job. That should have set the franchise back a decade. Elway, if nothing else, was good PR. People in Denver would never object. I thought at the time that it might be a bad move. Great players don't always make great executives, and Elway had no NFL front office experience. Ozzie Newsome and Jerry West are among the rare cases of great players becoming great executives; it just doesn't happen that often. But in typical Elway fashion, he willed himself to be one of the best GMs in the NFL. Signing Ryan Clady, one of the NFL's best left tackles, to a deal that benefited both sides before the contract deadline for franchise-tagged players is just another sign of how well he has transitioned to his new job. The way Elway has completely rebuilt the Broncos in a little more than two years is absolutely remarkable. What makes Elway's quick rebuild of the Broncos so impressive isn't the very thin track record of top quarterbacks as front office executives – and seriously, the list of well known quarterbacks who have become successful general managers is surprisingly short, especially given how everyone drones on about their leadership skills – it's that he had never done it before. When he was hired, his front office experience was with the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. The Crush did win a championship under his control, but that's far from the NFL. And Elway's playing prowess didn't guarantee anything. Jerry Reese, Ted Thompson, Trent Baalke and John Schneider are among the finest GMs in the league, and none were great players (Thompson played 10 NFL seasons but was never more than a backup). Having a rocket arm and the remarkable athletic ability to escape any situation doesn't mean you can run a draft room. Elway took over a mess, and at the point he came on the Broncos' status as a top franchise was flimsy. Elway retired after the 1998 season and in the 12 seasons before he was hired, Denver had one division title and one playoff win. And it's easy to forget what a mess McDaniels left. In 2009 and 2010, the Broncos drafted Knowshon Moreno, Robert Ayers, Alphonso Smith, Darcel McBath, Richard Quinn and Tim Tebow in the first or second round. That's a lot of wasted picks. The franchise should still be digging out from that. Elway immediately put together a pretty strong group for the 2011 season and fueled by Tebow's late-game heroics, the Broncos won a division title and a playoff game, matching what the franchise had done the dozen years before that. Then he was able to deftly move from Tebow to Peyton Manning, and built a championship contender. If Rahim Moore doesn't blow deep coverage against the Ravens, the Broncos obviously had the talent to play in the Super Bowl. Perhaps this season will be the one. Losing Elvis Dumervil on a weird fax snafu was a bad blow, but Elway added receiver Wes Welker, guard Louis Vasquez, cornerback Dominique Rodgers- Cromartie and what appears to be another solid draft class to put the Broncos in good position. Under Elway the Broncos kept the right veterans from the previous regime, quickly moved on from other mistakes and made smart additions. The recent DUI embarrassments of front office personnel Tom Heckert and Matt Russell put a bit of a damper on the offseason, but expect the franchise to dole out some punishments and keep its focus on the field. Elway has put together a team that is as good as any in the NFL. Once again, he has put the Denver Broncos on his back. Elway smart, gutsy enough to make tough call on McGahee By Mark Kiszla The Denver Post June 14, 2013 With one heartless move, Broncos executive John Elway reminded us why he has a much better brain for building a winning NFL roster than Mike Shanahan ever did. Sorry, Willis McGahee. You're gone from the Broncos. Cut. Thanks for the 1,930 yards rushing during two seasons in Denver, and sacrificing your health along the way. Nevertheless ... Turn in your playbook on the way out of town. Rather than let McGahee become a problem, Elway sent him packing Thursday, six weeks before the start of training camp. Right or wrong, the Broncos have seen enough of young running backs Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman to feel confident the best McGahee could have done for this team would be compete with Knowshon Moreno for No. 3 on the depth chart. McGahee is a two-time Pro Bowler with a $2.5 million salary. It would have been a waste of everybody's time and franchise owner Pat Bowlen's money if McGahee had a difficult time swallowing the prospect of a greatly reduced role in Denver's offense. "I wouldn't want to say anything that would be a detriment to his character. I have great, great respect for Willis McGahee. I think that may have been a hard pill. It is for anybody," Broncos coach John Fox said Thursday. Rather than wait for McGahee to become a problem, Elway eliminated it. And that is in sharp contrast to the way Shanahan often built a football roster. Shanny was a sucker for problem children, regularly collecting strays off the street, arrogantly thinking his coaching genius could bring out the best in cornerback Dale Carter, defensive tackle Daryl Gardener or receiver Javon Walker. The soft heart Shanahan exhibited in personnel decisions slowly undid the undeniable brilliance he brought to X's and O's in game plans that had won two championships for the Broncos. Remember when Josh McDaniels pulled on a hoodie and pretended to be New England coach Bill Belichick, the puppet master who pulls the strings for the Patriots? Well, Elway doesn't have to pretend. He makes cold, calculated football decisions and doesn't look back. Elway sold quarterback Peyton Manning on the idea of a comeback in Denver, but did it without committing a ton of guaranteed money. While Elway respected the talent of defensive end Elvis Dumervil, the Broncos pushed for a pay cut until Doom's pride and a lousy fax machine forced him to walk. When Belichick messed with Pro Bowl receiver Wes Welker, Elway pounced and stole away Tom Brady's best little buddy. While recovering from a torn knee ligament and a bone fracture that had kept him out of the Denver lineup down the stretch of a 13-3 regular season, McGahee stayed away from voluntary practices at the team's Dove Valley headquarters during the spring. Did that cost him, labeling McGahee as a malcontent the team needed to broom? "No," Fox said, "that has nothing to do with it." And I believe Fox. Even if McGahee had reported before the mandatory minicamp that began this week, his injury would have prevented him from taking repetitions from Ball and Hillman, who quickly earned the trust of Manning and the coaching staff. I think the Broncos will miss the heavy-duty toughness and streak of nastiness in McGahee, whose 235-pound frame seems to fit well with the physical running attack favored by Fox. But Elway and his staff believe Ball will add bulk over the course of the next 12 months. After surveying the feelings of team personnel, it's apparent to me the Broncos thought it would be unfair to expect a veteran of McGahee's stature to carry the ball three times a game and play a dozen snaps on special teams. There also was understandable doubt McGahee would be truly effective or worth anywhere near his $2.5 million salary in that diminished role. So, McGahee is gone. Ball and Hillman both have declared an ambition to be the No. 1 running back. There will be the prime training camp battle to watch. The Broncos had better hope McGahee doesn't line up in the backfield for San Diego or Oakland in 2013. But applaud Elway for this: He made a tough roster decision, and did not hesitate to keep pushing toward the team's ultimate goal. On the road to the Super Bowl, a sharp mind is a more valuable tool than a soft heart. Elway, Broncos Take Qs From Fans at KOA Event John Elway and a group of Broncos players answered fan questions at a KOA sponsor event that took place in the Broncos' locker room. Brandon Moree and Mike Morris DenverBroncos.com Jun 5, 2013 DENVER -- Seated on a stage in the Broncos locker room at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway – as well as a handful of Broncos players – took questions and had some chuckles with fans on Wednesday night at a sponsor appreciation event for 850 KOA, the Broncos' longtime radio partner. Linebacker Von Miller, guard Zane Beadles, defensive tackle Mitch Unrein, center J.D. Walton and punter Britton Colquitt represented the Broncos at the event, taking the stage after Elway had finished his Q&A session. The event gave those in attendance a chance to pick Elway's brain on everything ranging from how he's handling the lofty expectations for the upcoming season to the learning curve he's experienced as an NFL executive. Longtime Broncos play-by-play announcer Dave Logan, who asked football-related questions to Elway and the panel of players, hosted the event. Legendary Broncos wide receiver Ed McCaffrey, who serves as the Broncos color commentator on 850 KOA, was also present. After the Q&A session was complete, the players raffled off prizes and signed autographs for fans. The upcoming season will mark the 44th year that 850 KOA has provided radio coverage of Broncos football. Here are some of the highlights from the Q&A portion of the event: Logan asked John Elway about the expectations surrounding the 2013 season and Elway said, "I'm excited about the year. We've got a good football team but we've got to take it one step at a time. It scares me, in my position, when you look at it and you look at the intention, obviously everyone is talking about the Denver Broncos going to the Super Bowl. To me, I don't like counting those chickens before they hatch. So that's why it's important for as a team to keep the focus on where we are day by day by day." Logan later asked Elway what the learning curve had been like for him in his first two years as Executive Vice President of Football Operations. "I think there's a tremendous amount of interesting things. There's a lot of depth to this position -- the fact of learning about the salary cap and just the administrative side. The first two years have been a tremendous amount of work learning about the administrative side, who does what, not only in our building but who does what at the NFL and how would you get things done and how you migrate through all those different people to get questions answered." The players took to the stage to answer some questions. Logan had some fun with the players and asked J.D. Walton, who played at Baylor, to compare Robert Griffin III to Peyton Manning. "Both pretty fast, get out of the pocket," Walton said. "You ever kid Peyton about that?" Logan asked. "Heck no," Walton said with a laugh. "Do what you do and we'll be alright with that." Logan also had a laugh with Mitch Unrein while talking about the one and only touchdown reception of his NFL career, which came against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2012 season. "I turned around and saw that the ball was in the air and thought, 'Oh here we go!' It felt like five minutes the ball was in the air – it was really so and I was like, 'Don't drop it. Don't drop it. Don't drop it.' It hit my hands and I brought it in and I got about six steps in because I didn't know where I was in the endzone. I thought you had to get six in, in the NFL." Miller arrived later in the program and had this to say about getting to the next level in 2013. "For me the football part, playing football on the field, has always been fun. It's always come easy for me. It's the other stuff that's involved in it, just being a great football player, being a great teammate. I think I definitely need to cut down on the mental errors. In the NFL, everybody is good. So you've got to be able to play within a scheme and be consistent every single day." Mock Drafts No Joke to Elway In preparing for draft day, EVP of Football Ops. John Elway and the personnel staff go through a few practice runs. Stuart Zaas DenverBroncos.com Apr 22, 2013 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Any NFL-related website fans visit boasts several editions of mock drafts during the lead-up to the 2013 NFL Draft. Here on DenverBroncos.com, we compile several of those opinions every few weeks and even ventured as far as to do our own AFC West first-round mock. As it turns out, fans aren't the only ones who get a kick out of seeing who people think the Broncos will select. Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway said that he uses them as well in his pre-draft preparation. "It's kind of entertaining for me to look at the mock drafts because you can look at how many different people look at different players different ways," Elway said. "When you get to No. 28, some guys are going to say, 'I had him in the first round,' and some guy will say, 'I had him third round,' and some guys will say, 'I had him second round.'" The media's mock drafts show the countless possibilities for how the first round could play out. In addition to taking a glance at those predictions, the Broncos' personnel department holds a few mock drafts of its own to simulate scenarios that could occur during the actual draft. Elway said that having already gone through the thought process helps when a decision has to be made under the pressure of the draft's time limit. Whether it's a choice between several players that are still on the board or debating whether to make a draft-day trade, having run through the scenarios beforehand helps that decision-making process. "With 10 minutes, you've got to have an idea exactly what you might do in that situation and try to figure out who would be available, and if they were available, would we do it," Elway said. Over the next few days before the 2013 NFL Draft, Elway and his staff will start the mock-draft process. "We're going to do several of them the next two or three days, so we can try to get to those scenarios," Elway said. "Also get the scenarios with trading up or trading down. OK, we get there, these guys are available, we get a phone call from X, Y and Z, and they want it and this is what they're willing to give up. Is it something that we want to do?" So while fans look at the mock drafts for entertainment and a glimpse of which players might be next to wear the Broncos uniforms, the personnel department uses them like a walkthrough for a big game. "To me, the mocks are very important," Elway said. "It's like practice. That's why you practice. To me, to be able to practice — mocks are nothing but practice and trying to get a leg up on every different scenario that we possibly can." Elway, Broncos Thinking Several Moves Ahead While the Broncos plan to take the best player available with their draft picks, the front office is thinking about short- and long-term needs. Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com Apr 22, 2013 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- There are times when drafting for need and drafting the best player available mesh perfectly. One need look no further back than 2011, when the Broncos needed help all over the front seven -- particularly someone who could rush the passer with questions surrounding Elvis Dumervil, who was coming off a torn pectoral muscle. They got Von Miller, and the results have been splendid. Not every team will be that lucky in its draft spot this year as Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway and the Broncos were in 2011. That list starts with anyone that needs a quarterback, where first-round value isn't there. "It's not nearly as strong a class as it was last year," Elway said of the quarterbacks. "I'm just glad we're not in that market, let's put it that way." The Broncos sit in a wholly different position this year. Their list of obvious, short- term needs is scant. The one that appears the most pressing is for a pass-rushing defensive end in the wake of Elvis Dumervil's departure, but Elway indicated that might not be as pressing as it appears. "I feel pretty good about it," Elway said of the defensive line. "I think that Robert Ayers had a good year last year. He was coming on and he's the starter there at right end right now. I have faith that he is going to come in and have a good year." Still, depth is scarce at defensive end, and at the minimum, a rotational defensive end would help, since Derek Wolfe, last year's second-round pick, splits his time between end and tackle, and Jason Hunter, a first-teamer in training camp, signed with the Raiders in free agency. The value at defensive end appears strong, and a deep class grew deeper Saturday when Florida State defensive end Tank Carradine worked out and ran a 4.75-second 40-yard dash just five months after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, ending a season in which he averaged exactly one sack per game. The Broncos reportedly attended the workout, which Carradine delayed as long as possible to allow his knee to heal. Carradine, FSU teammate Bjoern Werner, Texas A&M's Damontre Moore, UCLA's Datone Jones, SMU's freakishly athletic but raw Margus Hunt and Texas' Alex Okafor are among the defensive ends that could be on the board at the 28th pick, while the potential defensive tackles there include North Carolina's Sylvester Williams, Ohio State's Johnathan Hankins, Georgia's Jonathan Jenkins and Purdue's Kawann Short. That group represents an array of skill sets and body types that is unusual for a draft class on the defensive line. "It really comes down to the flavor that you like," Elway said. "Is that going to be the best player available that we think is going to have the biggest impact on this football team? If there's a defensive end there that we feel fits that mode, then we'll pick one at 28. If not, we'll try to find the best football player." And that's where Elway and his staff go into long-range, executive mode. More important than filling a short-term hole is a finding a long-term starter with the first-round pick, a point he repeated Monday. "We want to find guys that are going to be 10-year guys, that are going to be good football players for the Denver Broncos for a long time. That's why it's so important," Elway said. "We can't make mistakes with that first-round pick. Because you've got to look at that guy as a guy that's going to be around that you're going to hang your hat on for a long time." They will also account for expiring contracts and whether they expect to retain players or not. One area this could come into play is on the offensive line, where three of the five projected starters are only under contract through this season. One of them, left tackle Ryan Clady, has yet to sign his franchise tender, which will only cover this season; the others -- center J.D. Walton and left guard Zane Beadles -- are playing out their first contracts signed after being drafted in 2010. "I think those are things that are brought up. Every different situation is brought up and where they fall," Elway said. "That's why it's important to go through these mocks, to try to get every different situation." Elway remains optimistic that a long-term deal will eventually be struck with Clady -- "it's not a big concern of mine," he said -- but with seven projected returning starters eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2014 (Clady, Beadles, Walton, Ayers, Wesley Woodyard, Eric Decker and Mike Adams), the Broncos will go into their draft room considering long-term implications, knowing they may need to groom replacements at key positions. Building a consistent, steady winner under the constraints of the salary cap necessitates such planning and player development. But the array of potential possibilities and contracts means that the Broncos can address almost any position -- really, anything but quarterback -- and fill a need. Those needs may not be obvious now, but some will be, and Elway knows the Broncos need to think several moves ahead. "Those are the types of things we have to discuss, and when we get there, we make those decisions," Elway said. Elway's Success as Executive Doesn't Surprise Ellis Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway has seen two division titles in his two seasons in his current role, to the surprise of no one in Dove Valley. Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com Apr 19, 2013 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Two seasons and two division titles later, it's easy to forget the degree of skepticism among some observers over the Broncos' hiring of John Elway as executive vice president of football operations. Rarely had so much power over a football team's future been placed in the hands of someone with so little NFL experience, whose primary asset on the surface appeared to be his name and his accomplishments as a player. But Elway had successfully parlayed his playing wealth into a substantial business portfolio and spent six years running an Arena Football League organization on a day-to-day basis. Those experiences ensured that neither Elway nor the Broncos went into their arrangement blind. Elway's success -- and that of the organization as a whole since his arrival -- doesn't surprise Team President Joe Ellis, who said Elway has done a "great job," but that his growth in his role has been "as I expected." "Somebody asked me, 'Are you surprised at how well he's doing?' My answer to that would be I'm surprised that people are surprised that he's doing that well, because he brings a lot to the table," Ellis said. "He brings leadership, competitive fire — he's one of the most competitive guys you know — wants to win in the worst way, a lot of intelligence, knowledge, and he brings an outside business perspective to it, which is very, very rare." Because Ellis and Owner Pat Bowlen trust Elway, they're free to focus on other aspects of the organization, leaving player procurement and contract issues -- like those involving left tackle Ryan Clady -- to Elway and his department. "I don't really meddle in that at all," Ellis said. "I'm eager to know what's going on, but they're doing their job shaping the roster. I will say this: John's really done a great job in his role here. He understands the vision of what we need to do this year to win and hold the roster together three years and for five years so that we can have sustained success." That is an advantage of having the "final say" authority over football operations resting in an executive like Elway -- or a general manager, as with many other teams -- as opposed to with the coach, which was the case during the Mike Shanahan and Josh McDaniels eras. An executive with final say is more likely to consider the long haul in his decisions. That leads to more patience with young players -- all but one of the Broncos' draft picks since 2011 are still with the organization -- and to individual selections like last year's second-round selection of quarterback Brock Osweiler. His chances of helping in 2012 were negligible, but his potential value to the franchise is massive if he develops well behind Peyton Manning; if he progresses as hoped, he can help prevent a painful post-Manning transition. Long-term salary-cap management and an unwillingness to pay above proper value has also helped Elway and his staff whip the Broncos' cap into shape. There were difficult decisions involved in reaching that point, but the Broncos have enough wiggle room to have a chance of keeping together a young core of two- to four-year veterans whose contracts will expire in the next three years. "He sticks to his plan," Ellis said. "He stays disciplined. Teams get in trouble in this league when they sway from their plan and sway from what is their discipline. I know Pat (Bowlen) feels very, very confident that John will not do that. We're lucky to have him here." Elway's long-term plans also extend to his own job, and Ellis expects him to become a mainstay in the big office overlooking the practice fields. "He's dug in," Ellis said. "I don't see him wavering with that at all. I think he's very good about delegating and listening, but also strong enough and confident enough in his knowledge and his opinions to have the courage of his convictions and make good decisions on behalf of the organization, as I said, short-term and long-term. I believe he's going to be here for a while." John Elway in for long haul according to Broncos' Joe Ellis Jeff Legwold The Denver Post April 19, 2013 Broncos president Joe Ellis, in a wide-ranging interview Friday, said the team's 2013 schedule, which includes five primetime appearances, means the team's profile is back where owner Pat Bowlen wants it. In a 31-minute question-and-answer session, Ellis covered a wide variety of topics, including the long-term future of John Elway, executive vice president of football operations. Ellis praised Elway's work ethic and discipline as an executive . "He's dug in," Ellis said. "I think he's going to be here for a while." Ellis said the team's marquee schedule is an indication of progress on the field in the wake of the 13-3 finish last season and the type of schedule the team would not have had a couple years ago. "To be the opening game of the 2013 season with somewhere north of 25 million people watching us, hopefully we put on a good show," Ellis said. Ellis also outlined improvement projects at Sports Authority Field at Mile High and the team's Dove Valley complex. At Dove Valley, the Broncos are replacing two of their fields and installing heating units under both to maintain the quality of playing surface in the winter months. "That's good for our players," said Ellis, who added the Broncos have plans for an indoor practice facility at Dove Valley in the future. There also are about $30 million in improvements underway at the stadium, with the focus of improving the gameday experience for those on hand. Included in the project are new high-definition video boards in the stadium, including what will be one of the biggest in the league - 8,800 square feet — at the South end of the stadium. TV monitors in the concourses also will be replaced by HD flat screens. The overall audio system throughout the stadium will be upgraded. Some upgrades will be made to the concourses throughout the stadium and windows in the suites will be replaced. "It's critical we do everything we can" to improve the fan experience in the stadium, Ellis said. The stadium improvements were not made with a Super Bowl bid in mind, Ellis said, but they would be necessary for the team and the city to formally put together a bid in the future. The Broncos and city of Denver have submitted an application to bid on hosting the Super Bowl for the 2018, 2019 or 2020 season. But Ellis said the bid process would not move forward until next February's Super Bowl goes at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — an outdoor, cold-weather Super Bowl test case. "We're going to see how things go in New York," Ellis said. "If that goes well, then Mr. Bowlen is hopeful, and we're hopeful, maybe we could get it together and submit a bid. But the question probably needs to be asked again in the second week of February." John Elway is 'dug in' Bill Williamson ESPN.com April 19, 2013 For those wondering if John Elway's role as the Denver Broncos' executive vice president of football operations is a short-term endeavor, stop. Denver president Joe Ellis said the legendary quarterback, who is entering his third season as the team's top football decision-maker, is not going anywhere. "He's dug in," Ellis told reporters Friday. "I went up and visited the draft meetings just to see the interaction and see how they were working in the room. They're in there early in the morning until early evening with a lot of conversation. John's listening, hearing everybody out. There's good dialogue between he and Coach Fox, back and forth, some of the assistant coaches, some of the personnel people. I run out of gas after about an hour and a half -- my attention span isn't quite as good as theirs when it comes to analyzing players over and over. But they're doing a lot of hard work. I don't see him wavering with that at all. I think he's very good about delegating and listening, but also strong enough and confident enough in his knowledge and his opinions to have the courage of his convictions and make good decisions on behalf of the organization, as I said, short-term and long-term. I believe he's going to be here for a while." Elway has been widely considered a smashing success since taking over as a rookie decision-maker two years ago. Denver has won the AFC West title in both of Elway's years with the team, and he is the primary reason why Peyton Manning signed with the team last year. Ellis said he has no doubts about Elway. "Somebody asked me, 'Are you surprised at how well he's doing?' My answer to that would be I'm surprised that people are surprised that he's doing that well, because he brings a lot to the table. He brings leadership, competitive fire -- he's one of the most competitive guys you know -- wants to win in the worst way, a lot of intelligence, knowledge, and he brings an outside business perspective to it, which is very, very rare. He's fully vested in the organization and the community. He understands all about the fans and how much this team means to them. He's disciplined. It's very, very noticeable in meeting with him and talking with him. He sticks to his plan. He stays disciplined. Teams get in trouble in this league when they sway from their plan and sway from what is their discipline. I know Pat (Bowlen) feels very, very confident that John will not do that. We're lucky to have him here." John Elway's Vision is Leading the Denver Broncos Joe Morrone Rant Sports March 25, 2013 If there is still anyone who believes that John Elway is not one of the best executives in the NFL, or any sport for that matter, they are not paying attention. That's a bold statement on the day after Elvis Dumervil spurned the Denver Broncos and left town, but that's a big reason why Elway is one of the best. He sets a budget for every position and every player, if the player demands more then the Broncos move on to the next player. If the player, Dumervil, in this case, moves on and then the Broncos quickly move on to plan B. The Broncos will not overpay for players and they will not mortgage their future by straying from their budget. As great as Dumervil was at times for the Broncos, he was making well beyond market value for his skill set. Elway attempted many times to correct that discrepancy while still hanging on to Dumervil, but through a variety of strange events it just wasn't going to happen. The Broncos set their budget, Dumervil moved on and the Elway moved on to the next step in the plan. Teams, including the Broncos under Mike Shanahan and Josh McDaniels, get into trouble because they blow out their budgets for players and positions that do not warrant it. Sometimes it's hard to see players like Dumervil go, but Elway has a plan that has one eye on the present and one on the future–it's how winning organizations are built. Despite the loss of Dumervil, the Broncos are turning heads this off-season. Elway and the Broncos have put together an incredible two weeks; they have addressed almost every need, kept their core players and maintained flexibility within the salary cap. Games are not won in March but the foundation for winning games in the fall is set in March, and what a foundation it is. There was a need for reinforcements on the offensive line, so the Broncos sign Louis Vasquez, who is considered to be the second best guard on the market. There was a need for depth at linebacker, so the Broncos sign Stewart Bradley who is also great on special teams. There was a need for a starting cornerback opposite of Champ Bailey, so the the Broncos sign Dominique Rodgers- Cromartie, who some personnel people believe was the best corner on the market. There was a need for a big defensive tackle, so the Broncos sign Terrance Knighton who played his best football under defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. Then when people started to think the Broncos have had a good couple of days but are probably done, they make one of the biggest splashes of the off-season. Elway goes after and gets the best slot receiver in football, Wes Welker, to go along with Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. Very few people saw that one coming and even fewer believed that Elway could pull it off. In addition to the free agents that have signed, Elway has re-signed two of the Broncos own in David Bruton and Kevin Vickerson. The Broncos have done all of this and remain about five or six million dollars under the cap. They are expected to use some of that money to sign former Indianapolis Colts defensive end, Dwight Freeney, who is not quite the player Dumervil is anymore but he doesn't have to be. He will be asked to play a role that will be perfect for him. Freeney won't have to play on running downs, and his only job will be to rush the quarterback, meaning he will be fresher as the season goes along. Once again, Elway sees a need, sets the budget and then fills the need. The real test of all this off-season work comes in the fall but this much we know, Elway has a plan and he believes in it. Why shouldn't he? The Broncos under his leadership have gone from the depths of 4-12 in 2010 to back-to-back division titles, and are the AFC favorite heading into 2013. It's safe to say that the plan is working. John Elway's vision helped restore Broncos' home-field edge, defense Mike Klis The Denver Post January 11, 2013 "What are some of the emphasis we have? We have to get better on defense — there is no question about that. I think the No. 1 way we do that is we have to get some continuity on the defensive side. We have to get some continuity where guys are under the same system year in and year out and can go out and play. No. 2, we need to win at home. We have lost our home-field advantage, and that is something we need to get back ... to protect our turf up here at 5,280 feet. I am looking forward to the challenge." — John Elway, at his introductory news conference as the new man in charge of the Broncos' football operations, Jan. 5, 2011 *** Two years later, the Broncos have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and a defense that ranked No. 2 in the NFL this season. The priorities set by the Broncos' new front-office boss were not unusual. Play better defense and protect the home turf might have been mentioned at many news conferences that formally presented a coach or executive. What bounced these words from front stage to back wall at the Broncos' team meeting room was that Elway played quarterback in the NFL. A quarterback who on Day One in Denver was proclaimed a savior, and who by his last day had justified the expectation. "John's smart enough to know that home-field advantage and a defense that you can pack and go anywhere is the secret in January," said Steve Young, an NFL analyst for ESPN and a former quarterback. "Even John Elway or Peyton Manning can have a bad game in January. And if that comes, and you have a defense that can hand the ball back to you enough, good quarterbacks can stop the bleeding." When the Broncos meet the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday in an AFC divisional- round playoff game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the temperature by the 2:30 p.m. kickoff is predicted to be 19 degrees. And fall from there. A cautionary statistic circulating this week: Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is 0-3 in the playoffs when the game-time temperature was less than 40 degrees. Those three games were on the road, of course. Not mentioned is how those games were played before Manning discovered the warming comforts of a gloved throwing hand, as he did in December. But even if Manning doesn't have one of his typical 300-yard, three-touchdown performances, the Broncos have to find a way to win anyway. "Offensively, you're probably going to have a bad day once in a while," Elway said this week from his upstairs office at the Broncos' Dove Valley headquarters. "But it's just like in basketball when your shots aren't falling. If you play good defense, you can pull it out." As a quarterback, Elway led the Broncos to five Super Bowls. He finished his 16- year playing career with NFL championships in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. The Broncos haven't played in the Super Bowl since. Two years ago this week, Elway was back to Day One again. And again he was asked to resurrect a franchise that was about as far from the Super Bowl as the Broncos had been since they started calling it the Super Bowl. The No. 2 draft pick, after all, is awarded to the NFL team with the second-worst record. And yet as Elway addressed a room full of media and a Rocky Mountain region of Broncos fans, he didn't mention needing a franchise quarterback. He said nothing about improving a meager running game, bringing in a new set of receiver weapons or fortifying the team's offensive line. The former quarterback wanted a better defense because a better defense is the best way to feed into the monster that is home-field advantage. "I just remember as a quarterback, how tough it was playing in those loud stadiums at Kansas City and Pittsburgh in the playoffs," Elway said. Silent count speaks volumes Know where the Broncos' home-field advantage exceeds all others? When they're ahead by two scores in the second half. That's when the altitude really goes to work. That's when Cleveland Browns all-pro offensive tackle Joe Thomas doesn't quite come off the ball as he did in the first half. That's when the Broncos' secondary becomes amused at how Drew Brees' New Orleans Saints receivers rotate out because of fatigue from running route after route after route. "Dan Reeves once said that when the Broncos were losing, no one mentioned the altitude," said Tom Jackson, a star Broncos linebacker during the Orange Crush era and a longtime ESPN analyst. "And as soon as we started winning, people started telling us how hard it was to breathe here." An offensive touchdown may draw applause. But a defensive sack incites bedlam. The fans are taught, by Manning's down-waving arms, to stay quiet when the offense has the ball. But they are exhorted, by the Denver defenders' up-waving arms, to cut loose when the other team's quarterback is trying to operate. "They have to use the silent count," said Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil. "(Offensive) tackles move when they see you move. With the crowd noise, that can be the difference between a quarterback hit and a sack-forced fumble." Led by Dumervil, Von Miller and Derek Wolfe, the Broncos tied for the league lead with 52 sacks this season. "I still believe in the end what wins championships is being able to stop people," Jackson said. "But with the rule changes and the evolution of the game to throwing the ball, there is such a lack of defense in this league that you find that the four or five teams that really have one, it's unusual now." Denver's No. 2 defensive ranking is up 30 spots from where it was when Elway took charge two years ago. The Broncos' 7-1 record at Sports Authority Field this season is their best home performance since 2005. Fox has a defensive résumé Note to the NFL teams who are considering Rick Dennison for their head coaching job: Elway liked him. When Elway was about to make his first head coaching hire for the Broncos a week after he took his executive role, he strongly considered hiring his former teammate, now the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans. Dennison's Texans will play the New England Patriots on Sunday in Fox- borough, Mass., in the other AFC divisional-round game. But Elway really liked John Fox too. There were many reasons Fox became the choice, perhaps none more than his coaching background was on the defensive side of the ball. "The lack of consistency we had on the defensive side of the ball was ridiculous," said Elway, referring to the Broncos' annual hiring of a defensive coordinator. "We had to go defense with our head coach because, then, even if we did lose a defensive coordinator, Foxy would still be here to keep consistency." A promise made at the lectern is one thing. See the political campaigns every four years and what these politicians actually get done while in office. But Elway has walked the walk. The Broncos' head coach for 28 of their previous 30 years had been groomed on the offensive side (Reeves, Mike Shanahan and Josh McDaniels). The former quarterback turned front- office boss decided it was time to bring in a defensive guy. Then, in Elway's first two drafts, he went defensive player with his first pick in each. Miller was the No. 2 pick in 2011. Wolfe was the No. 36 selection in 2012. "Ernie Accorsi told me if you want to build a winning team, you need two things," Elway said in reference to his personal mentor as an NFL executive. "One, you had better get a quarterback, and then you had better get a guy who can knock down the quarterback. We got the guy who could knock down the quarterback the first year. And then we got Peyton." But Elway learned through his experience, just as Manning discovered in the past decade or so, that the Super Bowl can't be won on quarterback play alone. Manning has largely been without equal as an NFL quarterback during his 15-year career. Yet he has won only one Super Bowl. His previous team, the Indianapolis Colts, tried to get by for many years with a soft defense. Elway set out to give Manning something better. Elway had faith in Manning miracle Nancy Gay FoxSports.com January 10, 2013 ENGLEWOOD, COLO. When John Elway set off last March in hot pursuit of the NFL's most spectacular free-agent talent since Reggie White, he never considered Peyton Manning in a Denver Broncos uniform to be a gamble. Not even a calculated risk. To be precise, when Manning leads the AFC's No. 1-seeded team (13-3) into Saturday's divisional playoff game against the fourth-seeded Baltimore Ravens (10-6) at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, this is exactly what the Broncos envisioned. Not only would Peyton Manning be fine, but he also would be great. And yes, Elway has to admit, it feels good to be right about that. "Yeah, I do. I'm proud of that," says Elway, the Broncos' executive vice president for football operations, letting out a huge laugh. He'd bet the house that Manning — coveted by many but ultimately wooed to Denver — would beat the odds stacked against a 36-year-old quarterback idled the entire 2011 season by a neck injury, nerve damage, spinal fusion surgery and a grueling rehabilitation process that literally spanned taking baby steps from a hospital bed to a full-playbook return and starting every game in 2012. "In my mind, the upside (to signing Manning) far outweighed where we were," Elway says. By the numbers, Manning's first season with the Broncos and his 15th in the NFL has been remarkable: He set single-season franchise records in nearly every major passing category, including completions (400), completion percentage (68.6), passing yards (4,659 — second-highest total in his career), touchdown passes (37) and passer rating (105.8). From a medical perspective, Manning's return from a career-threatening injury, at his age, after previous neck operations and the 2011 fusion surgery, has been astonishing. "With a single-level fusion, a player can return to play in the NFL without undue risk. What makes Peyton's story unique is the nerve damage that he suffered," says FOXSports.com medical expert Dr. Mark Adickes, a former NFL offensive lineman who played on the Redskins' Super Bowl XXVI championship team and is now an orthopedic surgeon at the Memorial Hermann Hospital Sports Medicine Institute in Houston. "What makes Manning's story special is that he recovered to a degree that his performance remains at the elite level we have grown accustomed to seeing throughout his career," Adickes says. "What makes his story almost unbelievable is that he has accomplished all of this at 36 years of age." Manning speaks of this journey in terms of check points. There was the clandestine trip to Denver in summer 2011 during the NFL lockout, when Manning — cut off from the Colts training staff and doctors and unsure how much his latest neck injury had affected his throwing arm — huddled with his college teammate, Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, for a private workout. Manning needed to know. His grip was weak. His triceps muscle had deteriorated. Nerve damage affected his touch. Manning threw a pass to Helton in the Rockies' batting cage and it went straight into the ground. His worst fear had been realized. Today? Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas posted a career-high 1,434 receiving yards and caught 10 touchdown passes in 2012. Third-year receiver Eric Decker set career highs in receptions (85), receiving yards (1,064) and receiving touchdowns. Two other Broncos receivers, Manning's former Colts teammates Brandon Stokley and Jacob Tamme, each had 500 or more receiving yards this season. Reflecting on how far he's come from this time last year, from watching his brother Eli win the Super Bowl to vying for his own second Super Bowl ring, Manning charts his personal check points of recovery as accurately as he conducts the Broncos offense. "I remember opening day (this season) against Pittsburgh; I remember one year ago I was in a hospital bed watching opening day (2011), so that's a little reminder there of how far I've come," Manning says. "And certainly the month of December (2011), that's when I first got cleared to start throwing. "And I was really kind of, I was allowed to walk as part of my rehab for October and November (2011)." This was not a solo effort. Manning enlisted a massive team to bring him back, and he's effusive in his gratitude to this group of believers. Among his stalwarts: Manning's wife, Ashley, and Eli, who caught his weakened, feeble passes at his lowest point when he could not complete this throwing motion. And Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who was Manning's coach at Tennessee and offered the quarterback a place to stay and to rebuild himself on the Duke campus after the spinal-fusion repair. There is Stokley, another Colts' injury castoff sidelined by what he considered a career-ending torn quadriceps last year. Stokley pulled himself off his couch and out of retirement last February when his buddy Peyton called, asking a favor. Manning promised Stokley, a huge Duke fan, tickets to the Duke-North Carolina basketball game if he would come to Durham, N.C. and play some catch. Two guys, passing and catching, on a Duke practice field. Manning threw with strength and relative ease. Stokley surprised himself by running freely. NFL teams seized on that Duke video workout, and Elway saw a Peyton Manning who was well on his way to a comeback. "The doctors always thought that his neck would be as strong as it's ever been," says Elway, who was told the only real concern was whether Manning's nerve damage would heal. "They didn't know exactly at what speed (the neck) was going to come back. And then obviously, farther down the arm, to what extent it would come back. "But at that point in time when we first met with him, Peyton felt pretty good about where he was." But would he survive the beatings an NFL quarterback endures every game? That question was answered in the Broncos' third preseason game against San Francisco, when Manning — coming off a 17-point first quarter playing with the first team — sustained a hard shot to his upper chest, near his right shoulder He hit the turf, and hard. That first hit. Another check point. "It was a little nerve-wracking, yeah," Elway concedes. "But it also had to be a heck of a lot more nerve-wracking for Peyton. Obviously, he wanted to take that first hit." Manning bounced up and hurried to the huddle. "First one, he got a standing ovation when he got up," Stokley remembered with a huge smile. Elway adds: "That's because we'd talked about it for five months, that he was going to take that hit. So when he finally did, that was out of the way." In the Broncos offense, Manning has worked with offensive coordinator Mike McCoy to incorporate the fast-tempo style the quarterback employed in his 14-year career with the Colts, along with the protection schemes and routes unique to Denver's scheme. He practiced long hours during training camp with Thomas and Decker, so each would know the other's whereabouts on the field at all times. "The first thing he said when he got here was, 'Listen I want to learn your guys' system,' " McCoy recalls. Together, they compared the schemes and strengths of each playing style and found a happy medium that works. Manning is not the same as before the fusion surgery, and he's honest about that. In the final weeks of the regular season, the quarterback who had played almost every NFL home game in a dome began wearing a leather glove on his throwing hand for the first time, as winter gripped the Mile High stadium he now calls home. That's because his grip, well, it needs a hand. "I certainly don't think I would have to wear the glove had I not been injured last year," Manning says. "It's part of my injury, some things that I've had to adjust. I've been pretty consistent in letting you guys know that all year long, that I'm in a different body, some things are different for me. So I've had to adjust." His teammates only see the extraordinary quarterback and leader they had admired and respected for as long as they can remember. "I just know I've never seen a player like him," 12-time Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey says. "I just knew if he came back healthy, he would be just as great as he ever was. Nothing really surprises me about how good he is." That's the thing about Peyton Manning. He's so good, we take him for granted. He's so good, he makes even improbable comebacks look like part of the plan. "Nothing happened to his brain," Bailey says. "C'mon! It was just his neck." Elway's latest comeback comes from front office Eddie Pells Associated Press January 9, 2013 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The craggy lines in his face cut a little deeper. That trademark hitch in his step is a bit more pronounced. These days, when John Elway scans the field looking to make the perfect move for the Broncos, he is viewing not from under center but from a second-floor office that overlooks the practice field. At 52, the man who engineered The Drive and so many other great comebacks during a Hall of Fame career is producing yet another one — maybe the most important he's been part of. He is resurrecting Pat Bowlen's franchise, turning it from an out-of-touch, losing laughingstock back into a fan-friendly Super Bowl contender. Whether the Broncos make it to New Orleans or not this season, Elway has already accomplished the first mission simply by coming back to run Denver's front office. "The first order of business, in my mind, was to connect back to our fans," he told The Associated Press in an interview from his office, a jar of jelly beans on the desk, a magnetic Broncos depth chart hanging on the wall. On Saturday, the Broncos play Baltimore in the AFC divisional round. They are on an 11-game winning streak and favored to go to the Super Bowl for the first time since Elway hoisted the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the 1998 season. "Somehow, we lost that connection," Elway said. "At least, it had never been like that since I'd been here. The disconnect was there, you could feel it. The fans didn't feel like they were part of the organization." Though it was Denver's magical 1977 "Orange Crush" Super Bowl team that sparked Broncomania, it was Elway's arrival six seasons later that turned the relationship between team and fans into a much more personal affair. As the best player coming out of college, Elway was headed to the Baltimore Colts, who held the first pick in the draft. He balked, and the impression was he would end up only where he wanted to go. The Broncos came up with the goods for a trade and Elway said 'yes' to Denver. Over the next 16 years — including 47 game-saving drives, three Super Bowl losses, countless other heartbreaks and close calls and, then, finally, two titles — No. 7 and the city of Denver became interconnected. Elway chose Denver. Denver loved him back. As the era of free agency began and the game became more of a business, Elway was a Bronco all the way, one of those increasingly rare instances of a player who spent his entire career with one team. And after he rode off into the sunset following the second title, things weren't quite the same for the team or the player. "I wanted to see how it would be when I got away from it for a while," Elway said. He bought car dealerships, got into the restaurant business. He enjoyed success with both, but had trouble staying away from his first love, the game he learned under the guiding hand of his father, Jack, a longtime college head coach before becoming a scout for the Broncos in the 1990s. "I'm used to having a scoreboard," Elway said, "and there's a scoreboard in football every week." He bought a stake in Denver's Arena League team, which gave him some much-needed practice in how to be involved in football without being on the field. "That was really hard for me the first two or three years, not being able to get my hands on the ball," he said. But there was no more helpless feeling than being a Broncos alum with no way to help. From afar, Elway watched as his old team went on a slow, steady decline — at the low point, a disgrace with a 4-12 record. Every quarterback that came through the facility dealt with the same theme: He was playing John Elway's old position. But there would never be another Elway. All the quarterbacks, one way or another, proved that mantra correct. It reached a critical point when the Broncos hired Josh McDaniels as head coach and McDaniels identified himself as the only NFL personnel man who felt Tim Tebow was worth a first-round draft pick. The 2010 season in Denver was marred by losing and the McDaniels videotaping scandal. But the biggest question hovering over this franchise was why McDaniels drafted Tebow if he didn't want to play him? McDaniels never really answered that one. And while the Broncos never saw their string of consecutive sellouts, dating to 1970, jeopardized, the number of empty seats at the stadium, the lustiness of the boos from the fans who did attend, and the discontent that grew on the radio shows and internet sites were impossible to ignore. "Certainly, there was the idea out there that they not only had to restore themselves competitively, but their image needed massive repair work," said Sandy Clough, a longtime veteran of Denver sports talk radio. In stepped Elway, who quickly established a direct line with fans through the team website and a Twitter account. He also was quick to point out two facts: —He was smart enough to know what he didn't know —The only acceptable goal for the Broncos was winning the Super Bowl. The second part used to go unsaid in Denver but had gotten lost somewhere amid the turmoil. Shortly after his hiring, on Jan. 5, 2011, a series of dominoes started falling. Elway hired coach John Fox, who had already shown his penchant for turnarounds in Carolina. After a 1-4 start in 2011, Fox put Tebow in the lineup and, with a mix of guts, comebacks and luck, Tebow guided the Broncos to the playoffs, albeit with an 8-8 record. Elway acknowledged how remarkable Tebow's performances were, but steadfastly refused to anoint him as the quarterback of the future. A surgically repaired Peyton Manning became available and Elway put the Broncos in the mix to sign him. Then he moved Denver to the front by finding an instant connection with the veteran quarterback. After signing Manning, Elway made the corresponding decision to part with Tebow — a tough decision, but medicine Tebow fans could swallow more easily knowing who it was coming from. "The revisionist history is that, 'Oh, anybody could've done that,'" Clough said. "I don't agree that anybody could've done that. I think only he could've pulled that off the way he did it. He's the only guy who could've withstood the kind of criticism and wrath ... for deigning to be at all critical of Tebow." Elway's deft handling of the Manning-Tebow maneuver has, all by itself, made him a top candidate for executive of the year in the NFL. It has also overshadowed other moves that have played big parts in Denver's quick return to competitiveness. His first move was keeping veteran cornerback Champ Bailey, then a free agent. He also drafted Von Miller, who has 29 ½ sacks over his first two years. This season, Elway signed veterans Keith Brooking, Dan Koppen, Trindon Holliday, Brandon Stokley, Jim Leonhard — all important cogs in a 13-3 team. "He'd been a part of a lot of championship teams, a lot of Super Bowl teams and winners, so he understands what a football player looks like," Fox said. Elway also understands what a city looks like when it loves its football team — and what it looks like when it doesn't. These days, the love is back, courtesy of No. 7, of course. "The goal here, with Pat Bowlen, has always been that he wants a Super Bowl champion," Elway said. "What everyone needed to remember is that that's still the goal." John Elway is Hands Down The Executive of the Year Joe Marrone RantSports.com January 5, 2013 The NFL playoffs begin today and the Denver Broncos will be watching like the rest of us as they enjoy their bye week. With no game this weekend, it's a great time to reflect and Broncos Public Relations guru Patrick Smyth provided two factoids worth reflecting on. John Elway has done a great job rebuilding the Broncos in his first two seasons; there have been countless articles that have documented that fact but the numbers provided by Smyth on Saturday are astonishing. Since 1966, basically the Super Bowl era, Elway is the first General Manager/Vice President of Football Operations to lead a team to a four-win improvement in each of his first two seasons. When Elway took over in January of 2011; the Broncos were 4-12 and at their lowest point since the 1960's. The Broncos went 8-8 in 2011, won the AFC West and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild card playoff game. That may have been enough of an accomplishment for some people to live off of for two or three years but Elway is about one thing, championships and 8-8 was not going to cut it. He saw a chance in acquiring Peyton Manning to turn the Broncos into contenders and he took it. Now the Broncos sit at 13-3 with the number one-seed in the AFC, and it is Elway who is the architect of that incredible turnaround. If you listen to the four-letter network and other national pundits; a lot of them would tell you that the signing of Manning was the only thing Elway has done. There's no doubt that the signing of Manning is the crown jewel in Elway's executive resume but it's lazy journalism to point to that as the only thing Elway has done. Here's another fact for you; of the 33 players who have started a game for the Broncos this season, 23 of them were acquired by Elway. He's done that in less than two years; he has built this team almost from scratch. Everyone knows about the big moves with Manning, the drafting of Von Miller but it's the secondary moves that have been the most impressive. Elway hired John Fox and received a fair amount of criticism for that hire, but Fox was the perfect coach for the Broncos. Elway knew he needed to fix the locker room and he needed a coach who could do that, and change the culture. Fox is respected and well-liked among the players. It's also important to note that Elway and Fox work extremely well together, and having your personnel guy on the same page with the head coach is huge. In Elway's first two drafts; no fewer than ten of his picks are contributing on a regular basis including four starters. That starter number would be five if safety Quinton Carter was not on injured reserve. Some of the players Elway has drafted include: Miller, Orlando Franklin, Rahim Moore, Carter, Derek Wolfe, Ronnie Hillman, Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan. For a team with a recent history of terrible drafts; that two under Elway have been outstanding. In free agency, Elway's work is just as impressive. He signed running back, Willis McGahee when people thought he was done. He also signed guys like safety Mike Adams, center Dan Koppen, fullback Jacob Hester, linebacker Keith Brooking, safety Jim Leonhard, defensive tackle Justin Bannan and too many more to list. All of those players have made major contributions to the Broncos success this season and they were all signed by Elway. There are a lot of guys who have made a career out of being an executive in the NFL and few of them, actually none of them, have accomplished what Elway has in his first two seasons. He would tell you that the job is not done because the only thing he cares about are Vince Lombardi Trophies. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but John Elway is the Executive of the Year! The numbers back it up. Kiszla: John Elway deserves to be NFL executive of the year Mark Kiszla The Denver Post December 20, 2012 NFL records are meant to be broken by John Elway. A quarter century after winning MVP as a quarterback, Elway is slower and grayer. He's also in position to be the first MVP in league history to later be named executive of the year. Which award might look cooler in Elway's trophy case? A grimace crossed Elway's face. Oops, I thought. Stupid question. "You always wish you could be 25 years old and playing football. You always wish that. Nothing compares to playing quarterback," said Elway, leaning back in his chair at his Dove Valley office, where an $18 million gamble on quarterback Peyton Manning made the Broncos an unexpected contender for the Super Bowl during Elway's second season as executive vice president of football operations in Denver. "But because I can't play, this job is the next best thing." Who is more essential to the success of the Broncos? A) Manning, a leading MVP candidate in 2012. B) Elway, architect of Denver's football renaissance. It's no contest. The answer is A. How do we know? No less an authority than Elway told me so. "The most important people in football are the ones who play. The players are the ones who make it happen on the field. I'm just trying to put the puzzle together outside the lines," Elway said. "Front-office people and coaches who have success in the NFL understand it's the players who make everything happen." At age 52, Elway has mastered a lesson of ego and franchise management that many former superstars never do. I'm not sure Michael Jordan ever will understand the basketball world no longer revolves around him. Elway is the face of sports in Colorado. But the Broncos are Manning's team. The boss is wise enough to know the difference. When Elway walked in on the mess left by Josh McDaniels in January 2011, conventional wisdom was the team would require three, maybe even five years to regain elite status. We should have known better. As a quarterback, Elway never needed more a few ticks on the clock to mount a miracle comeback. And he knew the shortcut to success. "The key thing for every NFL team, and I believe this whole-heartedly, is you need a quarterback," Elway said. That's why Tim Tebow had to go. Tebow was an inspiration, a winner and a role model. But he was no NFL quarterback. "A great quarterback makes up for so many other voids on your football team, because you've got that guy who touches the ball every snap. And, if you don't have that guy, those other weaknesses are more exposed," Elway said. "When Peyton Manning decided to come to Denver, it was huge for us. It made everybody in this organization more confident. He made every other player better. He gave every player the hope that now we could compete for a world championship. Peyton Manning came here with a chip on his shoulder. If anybody could make this deal work for us, it was Peyton Manning." The Broncos, of course, own an 11-3 record for reasons more intricate than Manning. The defense has been reworked on every level, from rookie defensive end Derek Wolfe to veteran middle linebacker Keith Brooking to the steadying influence of free-agent safety Mike Adams. Elway does not worry new defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio might be hired away as a head coach after only a single season, because he would much rather employ a coach that everybody wants than a coach nobody wants. But the influence of Manning on the Broncos far exceeds his sterling 103.5 quarterback rating, 4,016 passing yards and 31 touchdowns. The arrival of Manning declared to every Denver player that it was indeed Super Bowl or bust. There was No Plan B and no reason to defer dreams. That's why Elway deserves to be executive of the year. He gave a franchise living on a prayer a genuine reason to believe it could win it all. "As I player, all I wanted was the hope instilled by the people at the top of the organization. I wanted the hope they were going to give me the very best chance to compete to win a world championship," Elway said. "When you have the hope of competing for the Super Bowl, the level of everybody's play increases. It didn't guarantee we were going to win the Super Bowl. But if you have that hope, you play better, you enjoy the job more, the nicks and pains seem to heal quicker, and the hard work is not as hard." Paige: Broncos' John Elway should be NFL's executive of the year Woody Paige The Denver Post November 25, 2012 John Elway must be voted NFL executive of 2012 — by acclimation. Yet, astonishingly, two years ago this week, influential voices inside and outside the franchise believed owner Pat Bowlen would be making a monumental mistake to bring back the most heralded player in team history. They considered it a desperate act of foolishness and failure. Instead, with Elway as the dynamic executive vice president of football operations (and de facto general manager), the Broncos will win back-to-back AFC West titles for the first time since 1986 and 1987 (and only the second time ever). And they have a chance at a seventh Super Bowl (five with Elway at quarterback). The Broncos will win their eighth game Sunday, 31-13. Elway has returned a farcical franchise to the proud place it held from 1977-98. Before writing a column in late November 2010, demanding that the Broncos create the position exec VP, football operations, and hire the exiled Elway, I asked several influential executives with the Broncos and other NFL teams, and in the Denver sports community, what they thought. The response was unanimously negative. "Elway? No way," a minority owner of a pro sports team told me bluntly. A man of authority with the Broncos said: "Truthfully, that's not happening. John has no experience as an NFL executive." An NFL official said: "Don't hitch your wagon to that idea. Dan Marino was named to the same job with the Dolphins in 2004 ... and lasted just three weeks." Another person with close connections to the Broncos said: "It would be a disaster for Pat. He can't bring in John after the (Josh) McDaniels mess. John likes to play golf and wants to enjoy retirement. He wouldn't commit to the job. You don't even put him in a figurehead (role)." I wrote the column anyway. Elway had told me in an interview on his 50th birthday in June 2010 of his desire to return to the NFL with the Broncos — and how he had recently reconnected with the team in an advisory capacity. When I asked McDaniels and Joe Ellis what Elway's role would be, the coach-dictator said John would attend some practices, and the chief operating officer said the Hall of Fame quarterback would promote the Broncos' game in London. He was an insignificant marketing tool. In London, while spending an evening with Elway before the staggering Broncos played the 49ers, I asked him what was wrong with the team. "You got an hour?" he said seriously. A day later, the Broncos' chief videographer surreptitiously taped a segment of the 49ers' practice, which would hasten the downfall of McDaniels and the disgrace of the Broncos. On Dec. 7, McDaniels was fired, and Bowlen and Elway met for dinner at Elway's in Cherry Creek. They celebrated with champagne. Elway's takeover officially was announced Jan. 5, 2011. The Broncos won a playoff game last season. This year they could officially clinch a playoff berth the first Sunday in December. The league's offensive and defensive players of the year could be Peyton Manning and Von Miller, and Elway primarily was responsible for bringing both to Denver. This is amazing: During Elway's regime, 35 of the Broncos' 53 active players have been added, and 13 now are starters. All three quarterbacks are new this year. Four tight ends, two wide receivers, four offensive linemen and three running backs have come in 2011-12, along with five defensive linemen, five linebackers and seven defensive backs, the returner and the long snapper. Elway hired coach John Fox, and Jack Del Rio has become defensive coordinator. Elway elevated Matt Russell to director of player personnel and hired Keith Kidd as director of pro personnel and Mike Sullivan as salary-cap specialist and director of football administration. Bowlen hired Elway. It wasn't a catastrophe; it was a godsend. Sporting News announces the annual executive of the year award, given since 1955, after the Super Bowl. Elway would become the first man selected as the league's MVP and the NFL's top executive. Elway would join an impressive list, including George Halas, Al Davis, George Young (four times), Art, Dan and Art Rooney II, and Eddie LeBaron, the only other former quarterback to be chosen. As a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee, I formally presented in 2004 the nomination for the Broncos' all-time greatest player. I stood and gave the shortest speech in the group's 41 years of meetings. I state the same three words to Sporting News electors as they are polled for the exec of the year: Gentlemen, John Elway. The response should be unanimously positive. Elway still on a Rocky Mountain high Elway could have lived out his retirement, raking in money and enjoying the life of this city's biggest celebrity, athletic or otherwise. Instead, he has chosen to get back into the football life. Lindsay H. Jones USA TODAY Sports November 14, 2012 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Drive through the streets of Denver, and John Elway is seemingly everywhere. His name adorns decals on the back of Chevrolets purchased at his three local dealerships. The Cherry Creek steakhouse that bears his name the place to be seen for after-work drinks. His face is on billboards, his voice on radio commercials. Elway could have lived out his retirement here, raking in money and enjoying the life of this city's biggest celebrity, athletic or otherwise. Instead, he has chosen to get back into the football life, with early mornings and late nights in the office and frequent scouting trips to small college towns. In his second year at the helm of Denver Broncos' front office, he is proving to be as equally adept at building and running a team as he was in playing for one. "I've never wanted to disappoint anybody that's entrusted a position on me, whether it was as a player, or the role I'm in now. That's the challenge, and that's what makes me tick – that I want to be good at it." Elway told USA TODAY Sports. "When I got this job and heard the criticism of, 'Oh he's not ready' it was something I was used to, and I used it as an incentive to be able to be good at what I do." In the 22 months since he was hired as executive vice president of football operations, Elway has taken the Broncos from the franchise's lowest point following their 4-12 season under Josh McDaniels and re-crafted the Broncos' roster to fit his vision . Of the 31 players who have started for the Broncos this season, 23 were drafted, signed or re-signed by Elway. "In a very short period of time, it's become pretty evident how talented we are on the football field," said veteran linebacker Keith Brooking, who signed with the Broncos in August. "He's done a great job of that." Elway pulled off the biggest coup of the offseason when he convinced superstar quarterback Peyton Manning to sign with the Broncos. He then traded away popular quarterback Tim Tebow to the Jets for a pair of late-round draft picks. Elway said he believes moving on from Tebow to a more traditional quarterback was the right move. "I believe that there are Tebow fans, and there are Broncos fans," he said. "My responsibility is to the Broncos fans, and my responsibility is to (owner) Pat Bowlen and what he wants to do, and that's win championships. " Manning appreciated Elway's perspective on how to win as a quarterback in his late 30s when the two met in March. Once Manning became a Bronco, their conversations continued, and Manning said he has seen Elway take input on personnel moves from everyone to assistant coaches and even players. "Sometimes people don't want to hear anyone else's thoughts, but John listened," Manning said. "He's got to make the call, but I think if John hears a good idea, and he agrees, he's going to move on it. To me, that's working together as a team." Risking his legacy Eight months later, Dove Valley largely drama-free for the first time in years, and the Broncos, at 6-3, seem destined for the playoffs. A win Sunday against San Diego would give Denver a three-game lead in the AFC West before Thanksgiving. Those two moves only reinforced that Elway's return to the Broncos was far more than a public relations move for a franchise that had seemingly lost its way. "My reputation probably had something to do with it. With where the organization was at that time, it needed a little boost, and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it also. And then I lacked experience at that level, so they were taking a big step with me, a risk with me," Elway said. Indeed, the move was a gamble – both for the Broncos, and for Elway, who risked damaging his pristine legacy in this city. "It was huge, and I respect that. He didn't have to do this, but he's a competitive guy. He didn't do it because he needed the money," Broncos coach John Fox said. "There is no doubt that he put himself out there. There is a lot of criticism that comes with this position, and I have great respect for that." Elway, despite his Hall of Fame career as a player, had spent more than a decade largely disassociated from the Broncos. He bought an Arena League team, the Colorado Crush, and served as CEO for six years, but had no scouting or management experience at the NFL level. His experience with the Crush taught Elway that he wanted a bigger role with the Broncos, even though throughout the 2000s he was unsure if that opportunity would ever come. Longtime coach Mike Shanahan was fired in 2008, and McDaniels' disastrous tenure lasted only 28 games. For Bowlen and team president Joe Ellis, hiring Elway was an easy decision, even if the move wasn't widely viewed as a slam dunk . "He has tremendous knowledge and understanding of football, the NFL and what the Denver Broncos represented in our community. It was a deep resume, and people over looked that," Ellis said. "They'll say he hadn't earned it, hadn't paid his dues. I heard that. Trust me, he was ready to do this job." Certainly the failures of other players-turned-executives hurt Elway's cause. Dan Marino, Elway's quarterbacking peer, lasted only two weeks in charge of the Dolphins. Matt Millen became a punch line as general manager of the Detroit Lions. Michael Jordan never came close to matching his playing success in his management endeavors. So why would Elway be more like Ozzie Newsome, with the Baltimore Ravens, or Jerry West with the Los Angeles Lakers, than Millen ? Ernie Accorsi was the general manager of the Cleveland Browns for part of Newsome's Hall of Fame playing career, and hired him as a scout in 1991. Ellis asked Accorsi to talk to Elway after Elway accepted the Broncos' job, and Accorsi said it was apparent to him that Elway and Newsome had plenty in common . "Certain players that play with their eyes open. They don't have tunnel vision. Ozzie used to evaluate my drafts when he was a player. John must have done that, too," Accorsi said. "John, with all his fame, probably had a bigger obstacle to overcome. He had to convince people that in his own right he could be a good general manager. Those PR moves don't last very long after the press conference is over. It turns out they knew exactly what they were doing." Building trust Elway's first move was to hire a head coach to replace McDaniels. In Fox, Elway chose a man who appeared to be the opposite of the young and notoriously prickly McDaniels : Fox had nine years of head coaching experience, and a reputation of being a coach players loved to play for. They clicked immediately, and the partnership appears to be flourishing. Fox gives his input on personnel matters; Elway offers opinions on what he called "conceptual" football ideas, but they largely let each other run their areas of the organization without interference. Much of the rest of the Broncos staff has remained intact, though the team fired general manager Brian Xanders just after the 2012 draft. With Elway growing comfortable in his role, the elevation of Matt Russell to director of player personnel and the addition of Mike Sullivan to oversee contract negotiations and the salary cap, Xanders became expendable. Now, there is little question that the current Broncos team is a reflection of Elway. He scouts for players he would have liked to share a locker room, guys he would like to play with on offense or hated playing against on defense. After about six weeks on the job, he made his first significant player decision when he re-signed cornerback Champ Bailey just before he was set to hit the market. "Players had to start understanding that we were going to keep the guys that were loyal to this organization and were great players. They had to start having some trust in us as a front office that we were going to start doing the right thing and keeping the right guys. Champ was the guy," Elway said. " The guy that we could hang our hat on and start building around him." Manning is the headliner on Elway's crop of players, but plenty of other under-the- radar signings have made important contributions, from re-signing linebacker Wesley Woodyard in March (he now leads the team in tackling); signing free agent center Dan Koppen in mid-September (he now starts after J.D. Walton suffered a broken ankle); signing Brooking, 36, during training camp (he unseated starter Joe Mays in October); and claiming kick returner Trindon Holliday off waivers from Houston in October (he scored in each of the previous two games). The job hasn't come without hasn't been without criticism, especially late last season, when Elway repeatedly declined to endorse Tebow as the Broncos' long- term solution at quarterback. Other personnel moves failed, notably the signing of defensive tackle Ty Warren, who played only five snaps in two seasons because of injuries, yet collected $5.5 million. His first draft of 2011 appears to be a success, with No. 2 pick Von Miller emerging as one of the league's best defensive players, and three others from that class currently starting. He was criticized for moving out of the first round in 2012 to select defensive lineman Derek Wolfe and quarterback Brock Osweiler in the second round. Wolfe has started every game, but Osweiler (at least the Broncos are hoping) won't contribute for years. " We want to build something that's going to be solid and be competitive year in and year out," Elway said. "If you look at the good teams and what they've done, they've stacked drafts, and that's really what the goal is: Stack drafts, add smart players through free agency and keep getting better." John Elway plays it cool with Broncos Amalie Benjamin The Boston Globe October 4, 2012 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The anxiety was high. The Broncos were in the process of trying to make a move that would alter their team, their culture, their ability to compete at the top of the National Football League. Days were ticking away, and Peyton Manning was dangling. There was misinformation and confusion and nervous energy. There were questions inside the organization and out. Not, though, from John Elway. "Just the coolness and the calm, collected nature that he had through that, I think it showed real leadership and real stability," said Broncos president Joe Ellis. "The rest of us were on pins and needles. Obviously, when you have the opportunity to get a player of that magnitude, it's exciting. You want it to happen as soon as it can. "But John kept his cool, kept everybody calm and level throughout the process." This would be a signature move, a move that ended the Tim Tebow era in Denver and began the Manning era. It harkened back to Elway's days on the football field, his gunslinger reputation, his fortitude in big moments. And though others in the organization caution that he's not that way in the front office, that he's more calculated than anything, Elway isn't entirely sure he agrees. Brought in as the Broncos' executive vice president of football operations in January 2011, the former Denver quarterback sees that in himself in some ways, in some situations, in places where others might take the safer path. "I think that you have to take some chances to be great at whatever you do," Elway said. "I think you always have to take some chances, at times maybe stick your neck out there. "But you also have to stick with what you believe in and believe that that's the right direction. If you look at people that have been great at whatever occupation that they're in, I think they're all risk takers to a certain extent." Learning by doing The point is to win. That's the point for any executive, of any team. But Elway knows better than most what it means to win a Super Bowl in this city. He is not the first legendary player to take on a front-office role. There are mixed results, from the success of Ozzie Newsome with the Ravens to the failure of Michael Jordan with the Wizards, from Isiah Thomas to Larry Bird. "The overall broad depth of knowledge and skill set was fully developed and it was a natural progression for him," Ellis said. "He was willing to work. He was willing to put in the hours and put in the time and put himself on the line with big decisions, and not be scared to do that and not worry about the effect it might have on his life. "It's a full-time job, and it comes with pressure and expectations. And he's not in any way, shape, or form afraid of it." Perhaps because he's done it before, though certainly on a lower level. He spent eight years as the owner and CEO of the Colorado Crush, an Arena Football League franchise that won a championship on his watch. He has business experience and a business degree from Stanford, though there was wariness from outside the organization about his credentials, at least when he was hired. He continues to learn, to pay attention to those in the organization with more experience. From all accounts, Elway does not rely on his bold-faced name, his Hall of Fame stature. "He's a real good listener; he's one of the group," Ellis said. "He's not trying to overshadow anyone or be overbearing because of his presence and his personality and who he is. He's a team player inside this building and, from that, I think comes a willingness to learn and listen." He knows, in effect, what he doesn't know. "I've been in football my whole life; my dad was a coach," Elway said. "So obviously I have my own views on different things. But there's so much more to it, especially in this position, to be able to watch and see how other people operate." Taking charge There already have been signature moves. Not only did Elway convince Manning to take up residence with the Broncos, but he re-signed Champ Bailey to a contract with a bit of hometown discount, an outcome that was far from a foregone conclusion. Elway's presence mattered in that signing, as it has in so many of the football moves over the last two years. "With his track record, anything he touches seems like it succeeds," Bailey said. "It was no question that I wanted to be here when he took over because I know what type of winner he is." Bailey wanted to be part of that. Manning wanted to be part of that. And so the Broncos have gotten what they dreamed of from Elway. They got an executive who inspires his players, who makes players want to play for him and for his team. He brings, as Ellis said, "leadership at the very top. I think that that was something we were just missing in terms of our football team. We were missing that at the time that we brought him on." When Elway rejoined the Broncos, the team was coming off a 4-12 season, the one in which now-Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was fired after 12 games. Since then, the Broncos have witnessed the rise of Tebow, an overtime playoff win over the Steelers, and the acquisition of Manning. They also witness an executive with the ability to make a calculated decision about what was best for his franchise, about what was most likely to get his franchise to another Super Bowl. To Elway, that wasn't Tebow. It was Manning. "[Elway] might lack some of the experience as far as some of the rules and the financials and all those things, but I think the most important asset is he knows what a championship player looks like and what kind of players we want to bring into this organization and the direction we want it to go," coach John Fox said. The Broncos have seen Elway take charge, take risks, take over. It's what they saw from him as a player. As Fox said, "He's not afraid to make tough decisions. He's not afraid to do the things it takes to win a championship. If that's your definition of a gunslinger, I'd say yes." Ellis said, "At the end of the day, he goes with what he believes is a decision that will be in the best interests of our football team. And that's all it came down to for him. He stuck to his guns, and here we are." The Shutdown Corner Interview: John Elway Doug Farrar Shutdown Corner September 15, 2012 In the Pantheon of great NFL quarterbacks, John Elway's name is always going to come up on the short list. From 1983 through 1998 for the Denver Broncos, Elway defined a team and a town as few players ever have. Now, as the team's executive vice president of football operations, Elway was able to bring Peyton Manning, another member of that Pantheon, to the Mile High City in hope that more Lombardi Trophies could be won by Elway's favorite team. So far, so good -- Manning looked masterful in the Broncos' 31-19 opening win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, completing 19 of 26 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns. Manning, never known as the most mobile of quarterbacks, even ran for a first down on a seven-yard play -- perhaps Manning's tribute to his formerly more mobile new boss. We recently spoke to Elway about his longtime team, his new quarterback, and his involvement in Dove's "Journey to Comfort" campaign. Shutdown Corner: It was obviously a big triumph for your team, the opening- week win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Peyton Manning playing the way he did. I spoke with his dad this week, and we discussed the struggle Peyton went through to come back. You persevered a lot through your career -- the Super Bowl losses, the feud with Dan Reeves -- so you're a survivor. You've been through it. What were your impressions, watching Manning, knowing what he went through, and then seeing him play like that? John Elway: Yeah, no question. I was just so proud, not only of Peyton, but the whole football team. To be dead-honest with you, knowing what I knew about Peyton, and the time I'd spent with him before he came here and just knowing what kind of guy he is -- that's what gave me so much confidence. The fact that he wanted to come back and play football, and play football well ... anytime you challenge a guy like Peyton Manning, you know he's going to succeed. Because he has that willpower and the will to work. I felt that when he was released by Indianapolis -- it's still surprising that he was released, though I understand -- it also put a chip on his shoulder. Not that he needed to work even harder, but he really wanted to prove that it wasn't the right move. So, whenever you challenge a guy with the ability and the work ethic that Peyton has, you're going to see good things come out of it. SC: From a quarterback perspective, are there things he can do that you couldn't? How are you different? JE: You know, I think we just had different styles. His game is probably a bit more cerebral than my game was, especially early in my career. The older I got, the more cerebral I became -- you lose some of your athletic ability. I was more a mover and a scrambler, and he's more of a pocket guy. But i think the mentality, as far as a quarterback's concerned -- no matter how you get it done, it's your competitive nature and how bad you want to win. I think we're very similar there. SC: There's a new guy in the NFL out of Stanford, your alma mater -- Andrew Luck. You've most likely heard of him. What are your thoughts on his overall makeup and skillset? JE: I think he's going to have a great career. He had it all coming out of college - - not only the physical side, but the maturity on the mental side. He's smart, he ran that whole offense at Stanford under [Jim] Harbaugh, and I think he's going to have a tremendous career. He's going to get better with each start, and he's going to get better as his team gets better around him. SC: Mike Shanahan, one of the guys most crucial in your development, now has a new quarterback in Robert Griffin III. I've seen Shanahan offenses with mobile quarterbacks like you and Jake Plummer, but the system he's set up for Griffin might be the most diverse he's ever done. What were your thoughts about that first game? JE: That's where Mike is so good -- Xs-and-Os-wise, offensively, I don't know that there's anyone better. He did a tremendous job with a rookie quarterback going into that first game, and how the Redskins brought RGIII through the preseason. Starting him in that first game against New Orleans, they did a great job of putting him in situations that quarterbacks can handle. They did a great job of keeping him in things he was comfortable with, they didn't make him make plays that were difficult for any quarterback, and they created situations in which he was able to flourish. A lot of those quick screens, together with the read option they ran to take advantage of Robert's mobility, they did a tremendous job with the game plan. And then, with Robert playing the way he did, I thought it was great. SC: It was a bit similar to the way [Denver Broncos offensive coordinator] Mike McCoy handled Tim Tebow when he started mid-season for your team last year. You don't force an NFL game plan on a system college quarterback -- you merge your concepts with what he does well. The Panthers did the same thing with Cam Newton. It seems that there's a greater understanding of the need to meet those quarterbacks halfway. JE: To me, it s a sign of a great football coach. They can adjust what they do to get the most out of anyone playing any position. In that case, as you said, with the quarterback position, what McCoy did last year with Tim in adjusting the offense to what Tim was best at -- same thing at Carolina with Cam. To be able to get the most out of an athlete, you do have to meet him halfway. What they did with Cam, and what we did with Tim, it's a compliment to those coaches. SC: Your current position in running the Denver Broncos -- you don't need to do this. You're obviously doing it because you love football, and it's certainly not ceremonial. What is your day-to-day? Take me through what John Elway does every day at Dove Valley. JE: I'm in charge of football operations, so I oversee all decisions on the football side. I'm heavily involved in personnel -- once we get involved in the season, with the draft and free agency, I make the final decisions on all those things. [Head coach] John [Fox] runs the football team on the field, and I'm here to try and supplement that team the best I can. To give us the best 53 guys during the season, and then we go into the offseason and improve the team through free agency and the draft. So, I'm really most involved on the personnel side. But then again, I'm responsible for anything on the football operations side. SC: John Fox obviously has a great deal of experience and success as a head coach -- what is your relationship like? What does he bring to the organization? JE: Number one, he brings great experience. Number two, his ability to motivate these guys -- he has an unreal knack, having spent a year-and-a-half around him, to get these guys playing hard. He allows his coaches to coach, and he really focuses on getting the most out of his players. He has a relationship with the players where we can, week in and week out ... they play hard. That's one of the hardest things to do in this league; to get that consistency out of the players. And that's his strong point. SC: You father, Jack Elway, was obviously a football lifer as a coach. Do you see yourself doing this when you're 70? JE: I don't know -- I'm enjoying it at this point in time, and I'm happy with the progress we've made. 70 years old? Probably not. I signed a four-year deal, so I know I'll finish that. As we get closer to it, we'll see where we are, and whether I'll continue after that. But I really am enjoying what I'm doing, and I really am working with a lot of good guys here. The longer I'm in it -- and it will be two years in January -- it seems to be more fun in that more time is spent on football, rather than learning all the systems within the organization and the league. I'm enjoying it more and more all the time. SC: Which quarterback playing today reminds you most of you? JE: Ben Roethlisberger. I wasn't really his size -- he's a really big guy, but after watching him play last week, he did a tremendous job of buying time and making plays on third-and-long situations. I think he's probably the one who most resembles the way I used to play. That's the way I look at it. SC: About the involvement with Dove -- the commercials were great, especially the one about your walk. Do you get a lot of people imitating that? JE: The two guys I can think of the most is ... Brett Favre did it all the time, and he was actually pretty good at it, and Jim Harbaugh also did it all the time. I went down to the Orange Bowl a couple years ago, and [Harbaugh] had to show me how he could do my walk. So, yeah -- it came around quite a bit as we talked about it in the commercial. SC: Jeff Fisher has attributed his football success to the power of his mustache, and it made me wonder if every successful individual in the NFL has that one totem. Would you attribute some or all of your great football feats to your unique walk? JE: [Laughs] I'm not so sure, but you know, I've walked that way my whole life, so there's no question it had something to do with it. SC: Could be something with the throwing mechanics -- it allowed you to do things nobody else could. JE: That's right -- it had to tie in somewhere. Maybe it gave me the football body to help me stay healthy for 16 years. SC: I can't let you go without asking you a Tebow question -- I think it's in my contract. Do you think he can succeed in the NFL as a pure quarterback, without all the systemic crutches in place to sort of prop him up? JE: I'm not going to answer that question, because I don't know. I think that when you look at what we used him for, he was very successful. He's a competitor, and he's still young. So, being in the right situation, Tim Tebow's going to be able to help a football team. Remembering Elway's summer of baseball Doug Williams Special to ESPN.com September 6, 2012 Long before "The Drive" and those two Super Bowl victories, there were the throws from right field. Thirty years after John Elway played his one and only season of minor league baseball for the Oneonta Yankees in 1982, his manager still recalls the way the future Hall of Fame quarterback would make baserunners pay for challenging his arm. Ken Berry, a former Gold Glove outfielder who managed Oneonta that season, remembers one throw in particular. "Ball went to the fence in right field, and it was a pretty deep right field, and the guy was trying for a triple," Berry says. "And [Elway] picked the ball up and turned, took just a short crow hop and threw it all the way in the air right to the third baseman. The ball got there about 20 feet before the guy did. It was the kind of throw you see guys make when they charge the ball, and they've got their feet going underneath them, and they really drive off and release it, and it's on a line and very accurate. "Well this, he just picked it up and turned and threw it. So I knew I was looking at something special." Special indeed, but it would be in a football helmet that Elway would achieve greatness. Although Elway hit .318 in 42 games that season for Oneonta, he went back to Stanford that fall for his senior season and became the No. 1 overall pick of the 1983 NFL draft, launching a stellar 16-year football career. Berry and some of Elway's teammates in Oneonta insist he could have been a major league outfielder -- perhaps even a very good one -- but nobody doubts that Elway made the right choice in going with football over baseball. After watching Elway play some televised games for Stanford that fall after his summer in Oneonta, Berry says, "It was pretty easy to see that football should be his sport." *** After being drafted by the New York Yankees in June 1981 in the second round and collecting $140,000 from George Steinbrenner to sign, Elway went to the Yankees' minor league complex for a week of training during his spring break from Stanford. It was there -- with Steinbrenner watching -- that he wowed the Boss. According to a story in Yankees Magazine in 2011, the left-handed-hitting Elway dropped a perfect bunt on his first pitch in the batting cage, hit a liner to left on the second pitch and then hit a ball over the right-field fence on pitch No. 3 -- all just as a Yankees coach had asked him to do. Suddenly, Steinbrenner thought he had the next baseball superstar. "Right then I knew," Steinbrenner said at the time. "He will be a great outfielder for me, in the great tradition of Mantle, Maris, DiMaggio and all the others." It didn't quite play out that way, however, as the next Mantle started out 2-for-22 that June for Oneonta, a member of the short-season Class A New York-Penn League. Although Elway had been a standout high school player -- batting .551 and .491 his junior and senior seasons before being drafted by the Royals in the 18th round in 1979 -- he was rusty and raw. He hadn't played since his sophomore season at Stanford (when he hit .361) and had to adjust to using a wooden bat. It took awhile to find his swing -- he said extra sessions with Berry helped -- but soon he fell into his groove. That summer he not only batted better than .300 but hit four home runs, drove in 25, scored 26, stole 13 bases and walked more than he struck out (28 to 25) with a .432 on-base percentage. He was on a team with some good prospects, including future major league pitchers Jim Deshaies, Tim Birtsas and Jim Corsi, as well as first baseman Orestes Destrade. Despite the fact that Elway was a national name, already had been the Pac-10 player of the year in 1980 and was about to become a very rich young man -- coveted by the NFL with the leverage of a baseball contract with the Yankees to use as a bargaining chip -- his teammates that season say he was just one of the guys. Even with media dropping in from all over the country to talk to the wonder-boy quarterback who was playing baseball, Berry says Elway was "real low-key" and a leader who other players looked up to. "He didn't flaunt it or anything," says Berry, who now lives in Topeka, Kan. "He just fit right in with everybody and didn't make a big deal about who he was or what he was there for." Says Deshaies, who pitched 12 years in the majors: "He was real good about not big-leaguing people. Obviously there was a lot of attention everywhere we went. Bud Greenspan came to town to do a piece on him and followed him around for a couple of days. … You know, as you would expect, guys were taking shots at him, teammates were trying to get his goat a little bit, but he played along. He was real good." Obviously, says Deshaies, a few more fans would show up to Oneonta games because of the curiosity factor. They wanted to see a Heisman Trophy candidate "more than the rest of us," he says. Deshaies remembers how Elway was one of about a dozen players who roomed in a frat house not far from the ballpark that summer, and they all had fun. "We went out and threw the football around a little in the street," he says, "so that was kinda neat." Elway, now the Denver Broncos' executive vice president of football operations, politely declined a recent interview request to discuss his one-year baseball career -- something about being busy putting an NFL team together -- but said he talked about that topic at length for Yankees Magazine last year. In that story, he recalled the minor league lifestyle and how he adapted to it as the summer wore on, getting to the park at 4 p.m. each day, staying up late, sleeping in and spending almost every waking hour with his teammates. "I enjoyed traveling on the buses, and we went to a local pizza parlor for dinner and a few beers after every home game, and that was always a great time," he told the magazine. "None of us had cars, so we walked to the park every day. We walked to the pizza parlor after the games and walked home after that. It was a great experience for me." Birtsas, who had been the Yankees' top pick that June, was tagged to room with Elway for a few games on the road when he first arrived, and said Elway was totally "down to earth" but carried himself the way many great athletes do. "He wasn't arrogant at all," Birtsas says. "He was confident, and you've got to have that confidence. But no, he didn't think he was better than anybody else." Although Elway took baseball seriously -- he worked and played hard -- Deshaies says he never got the impression Elway was going to turn his back on football. "I think he had his mind set on football all along. I think it was a nice, lucrative summer job for him," he says, laughing. "George [Steinbrenner] probably thought he could convince him to play baseball. Or he certainly wanted to be the guy that had him. … But John basically told us he was going to play football." *** One of Berry's tasks was to rate every player on his team for the Yankees' organization. He projected Elway as a guy who could become a future major league right fielder, had a "way, way above-average arm" and could probably hit 15 home runs a season -- or more if he polished his swing. His teammates saw a 6-foot-3, 205-pound 22-year-old who could do just about anything, the type of athlete who could excel at baseball and football, become a scratch golfer or beat you in basketball or tennis. He often bunted for base hits, Deshaies says, and had surprising speed. He hit doubles and covered the outfield. He was a big guy who could "play the little man's game," Deshaies says. "People don't talk about it, but he could run," says Birtsas, now in real estate and development in Michigan. "He could get from home plate to first in a hurry." To Birtsas, Elway was a bit like a future teammate on the Reds, outfielder Paul O'Neill. He could do anything well. Plus, Birtsas says, he had that intangible quality that he showed so often as a Broncos quarterback: taking over games. "He's a winner, you know?" he says. "It's like those guys that are dangerous. Kirk Gibson might have hit .270 for his career, but I wouldn't want to face him in the ninth inning. Like that." Late in the year, Elway had to leave before the playoffs to go back to Stanford for his senior season. The outfielder called up from Paintsville, Ky., to replace him was Dan Pasqua, who went on to play 10 big league seasons. Although Pasqua and Elway never played together, Pasqua said his new teammates were still talking about Elway's "great, raw tools" when he arrived. The arm, of course, was the one thing that stood out to everyone. Later, receivers in the NFL would bear the mark of the "Elway Cross" -- the point of the football on their chests -- left by passes that rocketed right through their hands. Birtsas still talks about Elway's "unbelievable arm strength" and the throws he could make to home or third. "He probably had the potential to have an arm like Roberto Clemente," Birtsas says. "He had that kind of an arm. It was a gift. I know that he worked hard and he worked out and I'm sure he lifted weights, but a lot of that was just flat-out natural talent." Birtsas believes Elway "would have been in the big leagues in two years" if he'd stuck with baseball. By the end of his baseball summer, Elway, too, believed that sport was a realistic option. "Finishing the season the way I did gave me a lot of confidence that I could play baseball at a high level," he told Yankees Magazine. "I was going right into my senior football season, and I was really looking forward to that. "But baseball had become a viable option for me that summer. I enjoyed playing baseball every day, and I was confident because I had some success. I left there thinking, 'I don't know what's going to happen, but this is something I would definitely be happy doing for a long time.'" Wearing pinstripes in Yankee Stadium, however, wasn't in his future. Today, a 1982 mint-condition baseball card of Elway, showing the young outfielder on one knee, a bat balanced on his leg and a smile on his face under an Oneonta cap, will fetch about $400 on eBay. To Elway, though, that summer of '82 was priceless. He says he was proud he was a Yankee and says he still reminisces about playing ball, hanging with his teammates, the late-night pizza and the fact he probably could have played in the big leagues. Said Elway last year: "I think about that all the time, even though my football career turned out the way it did." KOA Q&A – Elway, Part Two By Mike Rice DenverBroncos.com June 18, 2012 The Broncos recently finished their OTAs (organized team activities) and now they are off until training camp begins in late July. Leading up to training camp, we are bringing you a series of conversations 850 KOA has had with various Broncos personnel. This time, part two with Broncos' Executive Vice President John Elway (JE). 850 KOA: What do you think this offense will look like this season? Will it look like what Broncos fans saw when they watched the Colts? Will it be a combination of different personnel groups? JE: I think there's a misconception out there a little about Peyton in that they (the Colts) didn't run the football in Indianapolis. When they were successful in Indianapolis, they ran the football. What we're looking for is balance. When we won the championships back in the 90's, we had balance. Willis McGahee had a great year last year. (Mario) Fannin, the young kid we signed as a free agent last year out of Auburn, is coming back off a knee injury in camp. (He) looks good. And then (Ronnie) Hillman, who we drafted in the third round, is a guy that has big-play ability. I think you're still going to see good balance. I think the misconception is that Peyton throws the ball all the time but when they were winning and doing well, they were top 12 in the league in rushing. 850 KOA: But what kind of personnel will the Broncos use? JE: I think we're going to have it all. The bottom line is in short yardage, especially short yardage goal line, you need a fullback to lead it up in there. You don't want to put a linebacker or another guard back there. That's why we made the trade for (Chris) Gronkowski. The more diverse we are and the more personnel packages we have offensively, the better off we're going to be because they (defenses) have to prepare for that many different things. We're going to go more '21,' which is two backs, than Peyton has done in the past but it gives us the ability to be better in short yardage and goal line situations. 850 KOA: You had the chance to talk with Peyton during OTA practices. What do you talk about when you're together and is it different than talking with other quarterbacks? JE: With Peyton's background and where he's coming from and what he's done in the NFL already, it's a treat to be able to watch him practice day in and day out. You realize once you're around him why he's been as successful as he is. He's a guy that's a grinder on the small things, which really matter. He's also a guy that gets along with his teammates and gains that respect. He has done a tremendous job and walking in, not saying, 'I'm Peyton Manning,' but (instead taking the approach of) I'm going to blend in and we're all going to get to know each other before I put my foot down and say, 'Ok, we've got to do it.' You saw little signs of that at times during OTAs. He's been very aware of the people and the need to get to know his teammates. (When he and I talk), I'm interested to see what he's looking at and the little things that he sees because of what he's done and been successful with, plus the background I had with Mike (Shanahan) and what we did when we had success. To be able to talk about little things like that, talk about football, but also talk big picture things—quarterbacking and how to handle different situations—are always great conversations. 850 KOA: Wide receiver Brandon Stokley told us that Manning wants precision from his receivers. He wants them to be where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there. Between Ed McCaffrey, Rod Smith and Shannon Sharpe, who did you bark at the most? JE: Sharpe without a doubt. You could bark at Sharpe because Sharpe (thought he) was always open. (I'd say to him), 'You're making me look bad if you raise your hands and you're open and I'm looking at another side so don't do that to me.' Yeah, I'd bark at Sharpe but we all got along so well and it was always a great relationship. You look at the guys we have in Demaryius (Thomas) and Eric (Decker), two young guys, very talented guys, who are going to learn a tremendous amount. Demaryius had a good year the last half of last year but is still so young and so talented. Peyton is going to be huge for him in teaching him where he's supposed to be as a wideout and the trust it takes for a quarterback to have that the receiver is going to be where he's supposed to be. Those things are not only what Peyton does between the lines on game day but also in practice. We'll have another Q&A next week. Feel free to post your thought about where the Broncos stand as we the countdown to training camp continues. Thanks for reading. Role models for John Elway the exec: Dad, Ozzie and Ted Jim Corbett USA Today June 14, 2012 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – John Elway sits behind a massive desk inside his second-floor Dove Valley office, sipping coffee, engulfed by mementoes of a Hall-of-Fame playing career and a rising hope of capturing more Super Bowl championships - this time as one of the league's unheralded team builders. On Father's Day this Sunday, the second-year vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos will feel a surge of pride that he's made his late father proud as a personnel man. Jack Elway was a long-time college head coach and spent five years as the Broncos' director of pro scouting before he died at age 69 in April, 2001. The 51-year-old son breaks into that famous wide-toothed smile when asked how his dad would have been pleased to see him not only land a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Peyton Manning, but also build the Broncos the old fashioned way — through savvy scouting and drafting. Back in January, 2011, some league observers surmised Elway's return to the franchise he led to back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1997-98 seasons to cap a 16-year playing career was strictly a ceremonial exercise. No way says Elway, who burns to win a Super Bowl every bit as badly as a team executive as he did when upsetting Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers in his Super Bowl XXXII triumph. Elway shared his Super Bowl-winning vision with Manning when the free- agent quarterback made Denver his first visit because of his friendship with Elway. "I didn't come back to the NFL because I needed the money. I came back because I wanted to get the Broncos in position to win a world championship," Elway told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday "Peyton's on the same page. Especially in the twilight of his career like he is, the focus all goes to that and forget about everything else — it's all about trying to win world championships. Because as a quarterback, that's the legacy. "I would love to be able to put the people on the field around Peyton to give him that opportunity.'' He's off to a good start. Elway and coach John Fox drafted Defensive Rookie of the Year Von Miller with the second overall pick in 2011. The pass-rusher extraordinaire was the highlight a strong first draft class. Denver's eight rookies that saw playing time on offense or defense combined to play in 44.9% of the Broncos' plays, ranking the group second in the league behind the Cincinnati Bengals. Elway's 2011 rookie haul also included starting right tackle Orlando Franklin and safeties Quinton Carter and Rahim Moore. Just as Elway had favorite quarterbacks he studied while growing up in Southern California, he has his favorite personnel role models beyond his dad, namely Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome and Packers GM Ted Thompson. "You look at those guys, Ozzie and Ted and the success they've had, plus they're really good people,'' Elway said. "The Ravens are known as a big physical football team that plays good defense. That's reflected in how they draft. I respect the heck out of that philosophy they have. And they stick to that philosophy. "Ted does the same thing. And he made one of the toughest moves anybody has ever had to make. When you have a Hall of Fame quarterback (Favre) and you draft a quarterback (Aaron Rodgers) — to be able to be a guy who's taken that criticism (for trading Favre) and stood strong … Ted's proven to be right.'' And give Elway credit for hiring the right head coach in John Fox after the Broncos were reeling from a 4-16 implosion in the final 20 games of the Josh McDaniels' fiasco of 2009-2010. "Starting with John Fox, that's one of his specialties is team building,'' Elway said. "With where we were, John was a perfect fit for the Broncos because of his outgoing personality. He's laid back, but he creates excitement, and a bond where guys want to play for him. "We had to turn that around from the previous regime, because there weren't a lot of guys excited about football.'' There's certainly excitement now with Peyton Mania and the much-needed free-agent additions of cornerbacks Tracy Porter, Drayton Florence and safety Mike Adams, who will be coached by new defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. And of course, Elway is excited he made what he thinks is a winning gamble on Manning, who is coming off four neck surgeries, the last of which caused him to miss the entire 2011 season. Prior to that, Manning didn't miss a game in his first 13 seasons. "It's all about the opportunity to get a lot better in a hurry,'' Elway said. "We did all the homework we could possibly do on Peyton. "Plus, we're getting a Hall of Famer with a chip on his shoulder.'' And there's the Hall of Famer sitting behind that big, battleship of a desk, also with a chip on his shoulder and intent on disproving anyone doubting his personnel acumen or intentions. OTA Q&A – Elway, Part One Mike Rice DenverBroncos.com June 12, 2012 The Broncos are currently in the midst of their OTAs (organized team activities) in preparation for the 2012 season. The Broncos' mini-camp this week caps the OTAs and will be the team's final workouts before training camp begins in July. Leading up to training camp, we'll bring you some conversations that 850 KOA had with various members of the Broncos. Recently, 850 KOA had the chance to talk with Broncos' Executive Vice President of Football Operations, John Elway (JE). 850 KOA: Are things quieting down a little before training camp starts? JE: They are. Now that we've got Ty Warren re-done, which we're excited about, we're winding down. Mini-camp is (coming up). We had a good 10 OTAs (to) get everybody together, get everybody knowing each other and then finish with the mini-camp. From that point on, the players are done. The coaches and everybody will take some time off and get ready for camp. 850 KOA: The Broncos have been as busy as any team in the NFL over the past three months. You've rebuilt your offense. You've rebuilt the back end of your defense. Does it feel like you've been extraordinarily active? JE: Yeah, it's been a busy spring. But any time it's constructive like we feel like it has been, we're excited about where we are. You never know what you have until you get out there. Obviously in OTAs we're just in helmets and we're not in pads but it's good to get there and see everybody running around. I mentioned this to Peyton the other day. Defensively, we're doing a good job. Offensively, we had blitz periods and those types of things and had a tough time getting people open. (I told Peyton) there are two issues here. Either we're a lot better on the back end, which I think we are, or we're having a tough time getting open. But it's been good. We're real excited about the back end with (Drayton) Florence, Tracy Porter and (Omar) Bolden coming in, Mike Adams at the safety position plus Rahim (Moore) and Quinton Carter, two young safeties we drafted last year. They've had a real good spring. It's exciting to see what we have going on. 850 KOA: As you began to prepare for the 2012 season, when did it sink in to you that you had to do something about the back end of the defense? JE: When you look at the opportunities we had, especially at the end of last year, we really struggled against teams that spread us out, that went empty (backfield). New England. Detroit killed us early in the year. When they spread us out, we struggled. Tracy (Porter) was out there, we explored a lot of different corners. We were fortunate to land him in free agency. 850 KOA: What did you like most about Tracy Porter? JE: He's an athlete and he's young. He's got big-play ability and he's a good cover guy. He can play inside or outside, which is important in the back end. He has that flexibility and he has some youth. We were aging back there. We flirted with Asante Samuel and tried to work something there. Then Drayton Florence came available and we were able to land him. We really liked him last year when he was a free agent and signed a one-year deal with the Bills. We're excited about the experience and the physicality that he brings. We've got the depth back there now. When we got spread out last year, we knew we had to get some more people back there. 850 KOA: This offseason, it looked like you operated under the theme of improving the pass offense and the pass defense. As you were preparing for a role like you have in the NFL, how long have you had that vision that you know what the priorities are in the NFL today and those priorities are basically in the air? JE: It starts with the quarterback and that's the bottom line. I think things started really rolling for us in the Peyton sweepstakes and we were able to land Peyton. That really started the ball rolling for us and not because I played the position but I just understand how important it is to have a guy in that position that can do the things that Peyton Manning can do. Plus it attracts everybody else because everybody feels like they have a chance to win. It gives you the credibility, number one, and the chance right away to compete for a world championship (because) you've got that guy in that position. We saw that. The people that we signed migrated to Peyton and it lifts everybody else up on our football team. Next time, we invite you to check out part two with John Elway. We'll have his thoughts on what he thinks the Broncos' offense will look like this season, what personnel groups the Broncos might use, what Peyton Manning brings to the organization and more. Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts about the Broncos and where you think they stand as training camp gets closer. Sincerely, Mike JOHN ELWAY QUICKLY REVERSING BRONCOS' FORTUNES By Arnie Stapleton Associated Press December 20, 2011 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — A year ago, John Elway agreed to another comeback with his beloved Denver Broncos shortly after the ouster of Josh McDaniels, whom many felt had doomed the franchise to mediocrity for years to come. The Hall of Famer has pulled all the right strings in rapidly reversing the team's fortunes. And for all those fans worried that the Broncos' boss isn't completely sold on Tim Tebow and might put the unorthodox quarterback on the trading block this winter, relax. Elway said the city's new comeback king is here to stay. In an interview with The Associated Press, Elway gave his strongest indication yet that he believes Tebow can morph from a scrambling quarterback into a pocket passer, which suggests he won't be spending a high draft pick on another QB in April. "Tim Tebow's not going anywhere," Elway said. "I mean, he's going to be a Bronco and we're going to do everything we can and hopefully he's that guy." Elway, who led Denver to five Super Bowls and two titles during his playing career, reiterated his intention to work with Tebow during the offseason, something he couldn't do last offseason because of the NFL lockout. It's the latest example of Elway's efforts to resurrect a franchise that has mostly foundered since he retired in 1999, shortly after winning his second straight Super Bowl. The AFC West-leading Broncos (8-6), who have already doubled their win total from last year, are relevant again under their new chief of football operations, who wasted no time in putting his mark back on the organization. In short order, Elway empowered general manager Brian Xanders, hired coach John Fox, intercepted star cornerback Champ Bailey on his way out of town, lured tailback Willis McGahee to Denver, re-signed kicker Matt Prater, drafted pass-rusher Von Miller, traded receiver Brandon Lloyd and endorsed the quarterback switch that put Tebow on the field and Kyle Orton on the waiver wire. After starting the season in the middle of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes talk, the Broncos are instead shooting for their first playoff berth since the 2005 season behind Tebow, who's won seven of his nine starts, four of them via the kind of fourth-quarter comebacks that marked Elway's storied career. Elway brought back a winning attitude, and his management style, in which he seeks input from those around him, has changed the culture at Dove Valley from the autocratic regimes of McDaniels and, before him, Mike Shanahan. "I think that if you look at where we were a year ago at this time, it was probably the lowest point in Pat's ownership," Elway said, referring to owner Pat Bowlen. "One of the things that we thought was everybody needed kind of a little bit of football rehab. I mean, you're 6-22, there's a negative feeling about football. That's why John (Fox) was a perfect fit for us, because of his enthusiasm, his energy." Elway needed to learn the ropes of being an NFL executive, so he has constantly sought others' advice in steering the Broncos while giving his colleagues more say, especially on personnel matters. "I've always felt the more input you have, the more discussions you have on certain things, the chances are you're going to make the right decisions," Elway said. "And I think the culture now is it's not only teamwork downstairs but it's teamwork upstairs, too." One of the first things Elway did was reach out to Bailey, the perennial Pro Bowl cornerback who was headed for unrestricted free agency after McDaniels had pulled an extension offer off the table just as he was about to sign it last season. Elway said he doesn't think Denver's defensive turnaround would have been possible without Bailey, who's provided stellar play, locker room leadership and stability to a team with its sixth defensive coordinator in six seasons. To the surprise of many, Elway, the greatest offensive player in franchise history, believed the blueprint for winning again was to focus on defense. Trying to outpace everyone just wasn't going to work, he said. "I think that you have to have a special guy to outscore everybody, and if you look at where we were with Kyle, we didn't have the Tom Bradys or the Peyton Mannings or the Drew Breeses, those are the guys that outscore everybody, and there's three or four of those guys in the league and they're very difficult to find," Elway said. He said he didn't want to overburden Tebow, who was being groomed for his shot under center. "The best way for Tim to develop was to be good on the defensive side and take our time with him on the offensive side," Elway said. "And that wouldn't dump all the pressure on him and say, 'Here you go, in your second year you need to go out and score 35 points a game.' "And then I also thought, having gone to the games, that we had lost a lot of the home-field advantage, and I remember that when I played here, we had a great home-field advantage. But it was usually because we were so good on defense." As for Orton, Elway sympathized with him for being under the microscope with so many No. 15 jerseys in the crowd and a city clamoring for Tebow even when things were going well. Elway tried to deal Orton as soon as the lockout ended, but he couldn't find a trade partner and Orton won the starting job in camp with his firm grasp of the offense, precise passing and good decision-making. Those traits suddenly abandoned him during the Broncos' 1-4 start, leading to his benching and eventual release. Orton was claimed by Kansas City, saving the Broncos about $2.5 million, but Orton will get the chance to beat his old team when the Chiefs visit Denver for the regular season finale. Elway said one of his biggest challenges has been adjusting to the 24/7 news cycle fed by social media and he again expressed remorse for a comment he made last month on his weekly radio show that was misconstrued as criticism of Tebow. After Tebow had improved to 4-1 as the starter, host Gary Miller asked Elway on 102.3 FM in Denver if he was "any closer to feeling if you have your quarterback on this team?" Elway paused and answered, "No." He then pointed out that Tebow had to do better on third downs and improve as a passer. "I think that comment was probably a little bit too blunt," Elway said. "Because I think the big picture with Tim is we've got to see the whole body of work. And so really what you want to see with him is the improvement that's going to happen over time. "Because, he's done what we knew he could do and where we've seen his progress is what he does within the pocket. What we've said, and I said it when I first got here, was we know Tim's a great player and what we've got to do is make him a great quarterback, and what I've learned is you've got to be able to win from within the pocket." Tebow has indeed begun showing improvement in the pocket over the last few weeks as he gets more playing time and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy adds more plays to his menu. Tebow's famous work ethic will help him hone his craft, said Elway, who seems to be rooting for him as much as the quarterback's legions of fans. "We want it to happen because of the competitor he is and what type of person he is and how he represents not only himself but represents the Broncos and the city," Elway said. "People have been watching him, so he's a draw. But that's where some time in the offseason (helps) and it comes down to timing and throwing. "Do I think he'll get there? Yeah, I do." Elway embarking on different type of drive By Bill Williamson EPSN.com March 2, 2011 Two vehicles sat in an otherwise empty employee parking lot on a quiet Sunday in February at the Broncos' suburban Denver headquarters. One of the cars belonged to the most recognized person in the state of Colorado. It was fitting. John Elway became famous for his Sunday work for the Denver Broncos over the course of a 16-year Hall of Fame career. Now, 12 years after retiring as one of the best quarterbacks to play the game, Elway is embarking on another career, aimed at making the Broncos relevant and showing that legends can make the transition from the field to the front office. Elway was hired as vice president of football operations by long-time friend and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen days after Denver ended a disastrous 2010 season in which it went 4-12. It was Denver's lowest win total since it went 2-7 in a strike- shortened 1982 season the year before Elway came to town. Many league observers thought the Elway hiring was a publicity stunt to help draw attention away from the disastrous two-year Josh McDaniels era that alienated much of the team's deep-rooted fan base. Elway, however, has been working to get into this position for years, including a successful tenure as the leader of Denver's championship Arena League team that he and Bowlen ran. In the two months since Elway has been in charge, he has led the way on the hiring of respected new coach John Fox, led the team's scouting contingent at both the Senior Bowl and NFL combine and spearheaded the key re-signing of star cornerback Champ Bailey. In between, Elway's face has been pressed against a television screen, watching film of Denver's roster as well as free agent and draft prospects. "He is all in. This is not a public relations move," Fox said. "He is burning the midnight oil, he is working hard and he is very willing to learn … He understands what a football player looks like. Standing in the huddle and doing the things that he did as a team leader, as a football player at the quarterback position -- I think he understands what a football player looks like. I have been very impressed. He has a great willingness to learn the things he does not know, but he knows football and I am confident." One of the primary reasons the McDaniels regime ended quickly was because the young coach often acted alone in key decisions, many of which ended up being mistakes. Elway has the final say on all decisions. He is quarterbacking a three-man group that includes Fox and general manager Brian Xanders. Elway is trying to do what many former superstars have tried and failed at -- recapturing the same magic in a business suit that he had while wearing a jersey. Elway said he'd like to pave the way for future stars in the front office by having success in this new endeavor. "I would hope so," a relaxed, still in-playing-shape Elway said at the combine last week. "I think it is a matter of being in the right place at the right time and also having the qualifications to be able to do it. I think that if I had not been -- obviously, [I was] a little bit inexperienced -- but if I had not been through the Arena Football League for six years, I am not sure that I would be standing here. Looking back through what I have been through in the month and a half that I have been back, what I learned in the Arena Football League has been invaluable. I am glad I did that and the experience I gained there has helped me tremendously so far." This job is in Elway's blood. He is not the son of a Hall of Fame quarterback, but the son of a respected talent evaluator. Elway's father Jack was a respected Broncos scout after he retired as the head coach at San José State and Stanford. In the time between Elway's 1999 retirement and his father's death in the spring of 2001, the two often talked about prospects and the art of scouting. Elway said he has felt his father's influence this winter. "It was good for me just to be able to see him watch different guys and get his opinion on different guys and see if I was seeing the same types of things that he was seeing," Elway said. "There are guys that are still playing that back then -- he was a big Drew Brees fan back then -- those types of things that stick in my mind and different guys that he was talking about. And, I would ask him, 'What did you see?' And the thing was the competitiveness [of the player], and that is what I remember him saying about guys that are competitors -- especially about Drew. So, that is one thing that stuck in my mind." Elway realizes people expect him to be a great evaluator of quarterback talent. But he said he is actually more comfortable scouting defensive players, especially pass- rushers and defensive backs. Those were the players that Elway studied as a player and he knows what he is looking for in those positions. That's a lucky break for the Broncos, who have the No. 2 overall pick in the April draft. Denver, which was last in the NFL in total defense and points allowed in 2010, is expected to draft mostly on the defensive side of the ball. Elway said he will lean heavily on his staff, but his influence will be felt. Xanders said the arrangement is working well so far. "We all communicate well," Xanders said. "John knows what he doesn't know." Elway's last boss in Denver thinks the Stanford graduate, who was known for being one of the most clutch players in NFL history, is the right man to lead the Broncos in this desperate time. "John is a football person, obviously his dad was a great football coach," said Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, who won Super Bowls with Elway in Elway's final two seasons as a player. "I had a chance to be with John a lot of years both as an assistant and a head football coach. Obviously he's very passionate, very bright, very organized. I know he's biting at the bit to prove to people that he can get the Broncos back to where they used to be and I know he can get the job done." Whether or not Elway is successful, it won't be because of lack of effort. The first two months of Elway's new foray have shown he's willing to work at his new trade. "It's a lot of work," Elway said. "But it's fun and it's going to be worth it." Elway: 'I love the Broncos,' want to return franchise to glory The Associated Press January 5, 2011 Hall of Famer John Elway is embarking on another comeback. The beloved quarterback, who led the Denver Broncos to five Super Bowl appearances and back-to-back championships before retiring in 1999, returned to the team's Dove Valley headquarters Wednesday to begin restoring its tarnished image and bringing back its winning ways. Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said he expects his new chief football executive to lead the franchise to more Super Bowls and joked this time that Elway can tell him: "This one's for Pat!" "I can't think of a better job and a better guy to do that job than John Elway, and I look forward to great things in the future," said Bowlen, who famously declared, "This one's for John!" following the Broncos' upset of the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. "I think John will return this team to a very high level of competitiveness," Bowlen said. "I think we'll win some more Super Bowls." Elway, who retired with an NFL-record 47 comeback drives, said he was ready for this enormous challenge. "I do not know everything about this job, but I cannot wait to learn as much as I can about the job," he said. "I am thrilled to be back with the Broncos, I am thrilled to be back in football. I get on the football field and it makes my heart pump." Elway's first task is leading the search for a new coach to replace Josh McDaniels, whose 22-month misadventure left the Broncos embarrassed and in need of a major makeover. "Why am I here? I love the Broncos," Elway said. "I understand what the Broncos are all about. They are about the integrity, about the winning and about the things that you do and how you handle yourself." Elway has interviews set up with three coaching candidates so far and hopes to talk Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh into applying, too. Elway will meet with Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey in Atlanta on Friday night, then fly back to Denver to interview New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and Broncos interim head coach Eric Studesville on Sunday. The Denver Post reported that New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams also is on Elway's list. Studesville went 1-3 after being promoted from running backs coach upon McDaniels' Dec. 6 ouster. Elway, 50, said he feels like a rookie all over again, but he insisted he should get up to speed quickly based on his experience growing up as the son of a football coach, playing for 16 seasons in the NFL and running an arena league team for six seasons. "I know what I don't know," Elway said, promising to surround himself with a good team in Denver like the one he led to Super Bowl titles following the 1997 and '98 seasons. Elway said he already has sought the advice of former NFL executive Ernie Accorsi, who drafted him in Baltimore -- and traded him to Denver -- and was Cleveland's GM when Elway engineered "The Drive" in the 1987 AFC championship game to beat the Browns. "So, thank God there was no animosity and he took my call," said Elway, who plans to keep an open line with Accorsi as he settles into his new gig. Not many great players have made successful transitions to the front office -- think Dan Marino and Matt Millen -- but Elway said that didn't give him pause. "No. Because I'm not them," Elway said. "And I know what I want to do and I want to compete and I want to be the best that I can in this. I don't believe in 'I can't.'" Elway was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He also led the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush to a championship in 2005 as its co-owner and chief executive officer. Elway's title is executive vice president of football operations in the Broncos' reshaped front office, and chief operating officer Joe Ellis becomes team president. Brian Xanders goes from the general manager in name only to one who's empowered in the new organizational chart. Elway said he didn't consider anyone else for the GM job, saying he trusts Xanders, who was basically relegated to consultant status under McDaniels. "It turned into a one-man show there," Elway said, noting he doesn't hold the current state of the roster against Xanders. "Brian is a guy where I appreciate what he did: He respected the chain of command." One of the biggest questions facing the franchise is whether or not Tim Tebow, who supplanted starter Kyle Orton for the final three games, is the quarterback of the future. "Tim Tebow is a darn good football player," Elway said. "What we have to make him is a darn good quarterback, and that is what we have to figure out." Elway said he'll leave it up to the next coach to decide if Tebow is the starting quarterback -- adding, however: "I don't believe that anyone is going to come over and say, 'I don't want Tim Tebow.' If they do, then maybe they are not the right guy for the job." Elway also said he'd love to have star cornerback Champ Bailey back next season, but he wasn't sure the team's budget would allow that. Elway sounded like he believed he'd be looking for a replacement in the draft or free agency for right tackle Ryan Harris, who stabilized the offensive line and protected Tebow's blind side but will be a free agent. The Broncos are coming off the worst season in their 51-year history, a 4-12 debacle that exposed McDaniels' many personnel blunders and was marked by a videotaping scandal that cast them as cheaters. Elway said he was hurt, as were many fans, by the video violation. "That brand is about integrity and doing things the right way," Elway said, motioning toward the Broncos' logo. "So I don't know for sure, but I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. ... Pat never wants that to happen again. I think he trusts me being in this position and being involved on the football side to make sure that that never happens." Elway sees one of his primary tasks as reconnecting the Broncos with their disenchanted fan base. Mike Shanahan was fired in January 2009 after a run of mediocrity, and McDaniels was plucked from Bill Belichick's staff in New England, but his reign was marred by personnel miscalculations that led to a one-dimensional offense and a dismal defense that ranked last in the league. The Broncos have just six picks in April's draft, although half of them are among the top 50 selections, including the No. 2 overall pick. The Broncos have won only one playoff game since Elway retired in 1999 following his second consecutive Super Bowl title, and they haven't reached the postseason in five years. "This is a mountain that I am ready to climb," Elway said. Broncos bringing back Elway not just a PR move Broncos' comeback front and center By Mike Klis The Denver Post January 2, 2011 Nicknames usually spawn from admiration and affection, and around these parts John Elway has received more than most. There is only one "No. 7" in the Rocky Mountain region. Nestled between Hollywood and the Mississippi, "The Duke" refers not to movie star John Wayne. "Captain Comeback" must have appealed to Elway's competitive pride. "The Drive," "The Helicopter" and "This One's for John!" are forever part of his legacy. In a couple more days, people walking the halls at Broncos headquarters will have another name for Elway: Boss. The Broncos and owner Pat Bowlen are expected to call a news conference around midweek to announce when we reach an agreement with John Elway, Pat is very confident that John's intelligence, his leadership, business savvy, his knowledge of the game, and competitive fire — plus the respect that everyone in this building will have for him — will make us better right away," said Joe Ellis, the Broncos' chief operating officer. Take this seriously, Broncos fans. Elway is not rejoining the organization with the idea of extending a glad hand. This is not an image-enhancing tactic, even if it is a nice byproduct for an organization that could use a shot or two of integrity after the unfortunate Josh McDaniels' era. Elway will have an upstairs office at the Paul D. Bowlen Memorial Broncos Centre, and he will show up every day. There's no need to punch a clock because high- ranking management officials never count their endless hours. His title — vice president of football operations — will be the same one Mike Shanahan carried on top of his head coaching position. On top of everybody else. Remember all that power Shanahan held at Dove Valley from 1995-2008? Starting with the New Year, a new decade, the Broncos will enter a new era. Elway will be in charge. "I'm not going to get too far into that now," Elway said Friday on his radio show on 87.7 FM The Ticket. "Hopefully, we get something done (this week). We'll get that all settled. There is a process that has to be followed. If you understand, I don't want to say too much about it right now." Overcoming the Millen effect Might as well get this out of the way: There are people who don't believe Elway will succeed as the Broncos' football boss. Matt Millen did no favors for former star players attempting the transition from main floor locker room to upstairs office. Neither did Dan Marino, Elway's quarterback mate from the draft class of 1983. "I've been around John a long time, and there's nothing he can't do," said Bubby Brister, Elway's backup quarterback in the back-to-back Super Bowl championship seasons of 1997-98. "They couldn't have picked a better person. He can evaluate. He knows football, he knows people. He's been in the business world and knows that. I felt like when he got out of football, he should have gone right back in there. He could have helped Mike (Shanahan). Heck, he is the Denver Broncos. He can handle it." But there were glowing testimonials for Bart Starr, too, before he became the Green Bay Packers' head coach. Nine seasons and 24 more losses than wins later, Green Bay booed the legendary Starr out of town. So what makes Elway different from so many other stars who have failed in coaching or management positions? "It's something that's been on his to-do list forever," former teammate Karl Mecklenberg said. "It's not like the team came to him and said, 'We need your help, we need you to be a figurehead.' When he came to Mr. Bowlen before, Mr. Bowlen made sure he ran him through that whole Arena (Football League) thing. Mr. Bowlen had John run the Crush, and he learned the ropes there. "It's about time. They need something. I don't know if a guy in the front office is necessarily the answer. But I think John will figure it out." Besides his experience with the Colorado Crush, which won the AFL title in its third season of 2005, Elway is the son of the late Jack Elway, a longtime college coach, who finished his career with the Broncos as one of Bowlen's most trusted consultants. As John Elway waited until he felt the timing was right to join the Broncos, he turned his golf hobby into a serious passion. Although he became a scratch golfer, Elway is ready to put away the clubs. He may keep his bag in the trunk. But it's not like he's going to show up to work at 11 wearing a sweater vest and visor. "I kind of felt like I plateaued at that level, anyway," Elway said about his golf game. "I love the game of football. That's what I'm excited about. The game is something that's in my blood. It's been there forever. I got involved in the Arena League because I wanted to be close to football and learn that front-office side. It was a great learning experience for me. It got me a chance to be close to the game, even though it was obviously a very different game at a different level. The competitive side of it is definitely the lure." Getting down to brass tacks Once Broncos general manager Brian Xanders helps get Elway up to speed on the team's roster, the free-agent market and the draft market, ol' No. 7 will start making the calls. Xanders will report to Elway. The new head coach will report to the man who helped hire him. "He has true leadership skills, mental toughness. I can tell that," Xanders said. "And he's going to hold everybody accountable. I think it's a great opportunity for him to oversee the whole football operations of the Denver Broncos, because he knows the expectations of the fans and the organization. And he's going to try and lead us there." Understand, this is not a mere public relations move. This is the Broncos in their most worrisome state since posting a 2-7 record in the strike season of 1982 — otherwise known as the Year Before Elway. This is the 4-11 Broncos once again calling "Captain Comeback" to the rescue. "It is not a PR move," Ellis said. "That would be a waste of John's time and our time and the fans' time. Because we need to win. "He'll roll up his sleeves and do his job. I've had enough meetings with him to know that. This isn't about him. This is about the Denver Broncos and this community and our fans, and us getting better as quickly as we can." 1 of 2 Is another comeback in Elway's future? By Tom Hoffarth Los Angeles Daily News Posted: 01/16/2009 12:30:00 AM MST When John Elway admits that his secret dream job is not to be an ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor but to own an NFL franchise in Los Angeles, the Granada Hills (Calif.) High gym full of students, current players, band members, alumni, friends and even Elway's mom, Janet, erupts in applause so loud that . . . Oops, it's probably not such a secret anymore. It's Rick Reilly's fault. Those who weren't up to speed on the Pro Football Hall of Famer, who already co- owns the Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League, now know what doesn't have to be whispered. As part of the soft launch of Reilly's newest project called "Homecoming," this one- hour sit-down with Elway (6 p.m. tonight, ESPN2) was taped in October on the campus where the greatest member of the Granada Hills' class of 1979 spent his sophomore through senior years. The full launch of the TV series won't be until April, when Reilly has more time to line up more athletes willing to return to their athletic roots, be surrounded by those who helped them along the way, and share revealing and sometimes emotional stories of the ups and downs of their personal and professional journeys. A "Homecoming" episode Reilly did with Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton aired last week. Reilly calls it a sports version of the old Ralph Edwards show, "This Is Your Life," with a touch of "Inside the Actors Studio." "It's exactly the way I'd go about doing a 10-page story for Sports Illustrated — researching for two weeks, talking to maybe 40 people on everything they knew about the person, and then going through his life stage by stage," said Reilly, who launched his multipurpose ESPN career last June after 22 years at Sports Illustrated and a run before that as a beat reporter and columnist for The Denver Post and the Los Angeles Times. "It comes out like a magazine piece in front of a TV audience, and hopefully it reaches people." Here, former Granada Hills High teammates such as receivers Chris Sutton and Scott Marshall explained how Elway — this "twerp" — ended up as one of their best friends for life. Elway's high school coach for football and baseball, Darrell Stroh, drove in from Arizona to add perspective. So did former Stanford coach Paul Wiggin, making it here from Northern California. 2 of 2 "John Elway never lost a game (at Stanford); we just ran out of time," Wiggin said. Elway's high school career began in Pullman, Wash., as a quarterback in a single- wing offense. The family moved to the Valley when Elway's father, Jack, landed the head football coaching job at Cal State Northridge. John Elway admits on the show that as he was trying to choose a college, one coach tried to bribe him with a car and said he would "have an affair with my mom." The crowded gym comes to a hushed silence, until Elway admits it was his late dad, who would become the San Jose State coach, making that offer. But Elway was ultimately swayed by the chance at getting a Stanford education and playing against Pac-10 Conference opponents. During this "Homecoming" episode, Reilly also takes Elway back to the Granada Hills football field to see if he could still do things like hit the crossbar in the end zone with a pass from about 20 yards out (he used to be able to do it from a much farther distance), or re- create a drop kick like the one he did in a blowout victory over Birmingham High some 30 years ago. They also visit his old family home, only to find a man living there who, oddly, isn't too keen on letting them enter. Instead, they go around to the back, where Elway revisits the sliding glass door where he used to sneak in late at night and explains how he used to dive into the pool. Reilly, who lives both in Denver and Hermosa Beach, Calif., and has known Elway for about 25 years, also discovered one thing that didn't make the show: As a kid, Elway used to hide behind the brick wall in the backyard with his friends and pelt moving objects with oranges off a nearby tree. "Can you imagine getting pumped with an orange thrown by John Elway?" Reilly said. "How big would the dent in your car be? You'd have immediately fresh- squeezed O.J." And more joke fodder comparing him to a slow-moving white Bronco. New left knee gives Elway no limits - The Denver Post Page 1 of 2 sports NFL Hall of Famer can walk 18 holes without pain, and his game has improved. His handicap is at zero heading into today's first round at Green Valley New left knee gives Ranch. Elway no limits "It's gone down since I had the surgery. It's been nice just to be able to walk the full 18 and feel pretty good," said Elway, who made the cut in 2001 when the event was in Vail. By Adrian Dater Before the surgery, Elway was one of the best The Denver Post "celebrity" golfers in the country. He has Article Last Updated: 07/23/2008 11:01:00 PM MDT Colorado Open Watch video of John Elway talking about his golf game and competing in the Colorado Open 10 top-10 finishes in an annual celebrity tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev., including a tie for second in 1999. Former Broncos quarterback John Elway says his goal for the Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch is to make That raises the question: Since he played pro the cut for weekend play. (Photo baseball (minor leagues in the New York Yankees courtesy of Tahoe Daily Tribune) system) and pro football, does Elway think he could have made it as a PGA golfer if he had put his youthful mind to it? "No," said the 48-year-old Elway. "The older I get, the more I've figured out that I really don't have the mental capacity as good as the great players of golf. A new knee has taken away the physical handicaps When you play football, your foot's to the metal all for John Elway and lowered his handicap on a golf the time. It's very difficult to be as patient as it takes course. in golf." That's a big reason he will play in the Colorado But Elway, like many former pro athletes, loves golf Open this weekend for the first time since 2001. because it is one of the few things that gives him a competitive rush. Still, don't start expecting Elway to Since undergoing replacement surgery on his left make a run at the PGA Tour or even the Champions knee last year, the former Broncos quarterback and Advertisement http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_9977121 7/24/2008 New left knee gives Elway no limits - The Denver Post Page 2 of 2 Tour, which is for pros 50 and older. "The confidence level I have playing golf is not nearly what I had in football," Elway said. "So it is a little bit of a different feeling for me in that the butterflies never seem to go away in golf, but after you get hit one time in football they go away. As an athlete, you never lose those competitive juices, so that's why I appreciate so much the invite to be able to play." Elway said his goal for the Colorado Open was to make the cut and play the final two rounds over the weekend. "I try not to set my goals too high," he said. "The cut is the most realistic thing I can hope for." After Elway said that, a tournament official looked to the heavens and said, "Yes, please!" Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or email@example.com Advertisement http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_9977121 7/24/2008
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