Elway & Tebow: A Tale of 2 Games in KC

JOHN ELWAY 1998

 In 1998 the Denver Broncos were facing a very good Kansas City Chiefs team who had home field advantage throughout the playoffs in KC in the second round of the AFC Divisional Playoffs.

The game turned out to be a very tough defensive battle in which Elway went 10 for 19 for 170 yards. One of his pass plays went for 43 yards on a catch and carry so if not for that play Elway would have had just 127 passing yards for the day. You must remember that the Broncos had Ed McCaffrey, Rod Smith and Hall of Fame TE Shannon Sharpe on that team. In this game the leading Receiver was McCaffrey who had 3 catches for 56 yards.     

Terrell Davis was the star of game as he had been all season for the Broncos and ran for 101 yards and 2 TD’s. The final score was 14-10 Broncos and this led them to a Super Bowl winning season and only the 2nd Wildcard team in NFL history to accomplish such a feat.

TIM TEBOW 2011

Today in a game that couldn’t come close to matching neither the importance nor the talent level on both teams a similar scenario did unfold.

Tebow was a measly 2 for 8 for 69 yards. One pass completion was to Matt Willis for 13 yards the other a 56 yard pass to Eric Decker for a TD. Tebow had 9 rushes for 43 yards and 1 Rushing TD. Final score 17-10 Broncos.

Here's 3 stats about Tebow that'll get little ink but should. He's been sacked 14 times behind the 2nd youngest Offensive Line in the NFL and only has 1 Interception and 1 Fumble lost in the 4 games he’s started this season. 2 TO’s in 4 games is an incredible stat given the constant pressure he’s been under in the pocket and with all the rushing attempts he’s had thus far this season.

While it’s complete insanity to compare Tebow to Elway from a skills prospective the one important similarity here is that both QB’s didn’t play great games nor put up great stats but still lead their respective teams to victories.

Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno were both out of the game in the 1st quarter. So Lance Ball was pushed into service and had 30 carries for 96 yards. It wasn’t like Tebow had a solid running game to back him up in this one but it was enough with the help of a great defensive game plan.

The Defensive effort by the Broncos was the best of the season. Von Miller, Elvis Dumervil and company shut down the run and harassed Matt Cassel from the opening snap on. The only negative aspect of their performance was the 2 drops by DB’s that should have been easy INT’s. Given that the Broncos no matter what set of players they’ve had on past or current rosters have had a hell of a time beating the Chiefs at Arrowhead. It’s no small feat to beat the Chiefs at home no matter who they've have had on their team or who lined up for the Broncos.

I don’t know about you but winning is the only thing that matters, the only thing. When the 2011 season is over Owners, Coaches, Players and NFL Pundits are not going to look back at losses where the losing team or QB put up fantastic stats and lost. The only stat that matters is the win/loss stat and this one belongs in the W column and was rightfully deserved since it was another team win.

One finally irony to me is that all the NFL Talking Heads had the Eagles in the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season. Today with Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and a good TE in Brent Celek the Eagles lost to a Cardinals team with John Skeleton at QB, Beanie Wells at RB and of course the only great player on their offense Larry Fitzgerald at WR. The Cardinals have one of the worst defensive units in the NFL. So I don’t care if WR DeSean Jackson was in the lineup or not for the Eagles, this is game were they have no excuses because this is one they should have easily won.

The Broncos and Tebow are 4-5 and one game out of first place in the AFC West. The Eagles with what appears on the paper as a way better set of players on the offensive side of the ball are 3-6, 3 games out of 1st in the NFC East and tied for last with the Redskins.

I’ll take the ugly win all day long, over being an Eagles Fan that's for sure. I’m proud to be a Broncos Fan today and even more proud of the Broncos for winning a tough game on the road that many didn’t expect them to win.