Elway still the Broncos leader....

[HOF-ELWAY-7]

Peyton is the leader on the field but when it comes to leading the franchise, Elway's the man.



NEWARK, N.J. -- Looking back, John Elway said "tirade" might be too strong of a word to describe his appearance at an August team meeting. But it was critical, honest, unflinching and a push toward the Denver Broncos' appearance in Super Bowl XLVIII. And with the buzz of Super Bowl media swirling behind him, Elway acknowledged that something needed to be said to the players during the meeting.


"[It] was just one of those things where you think something needs to be said at that time," said Elway, the Broncos' executive vice president of football operations. "We want this team to have a mindset that want to be world champions." Sunday will be the second time the Broncos have faced the Seattle Seahawks this season. The first time was in the second game of the preseason, when an obviously cranked up Seahawks team manhandled a turnover-prone Broncos team in a 40-10 victory at CenturyLink Field. In the days that followed, Elway appeared in a team meeting to hit the reset button. "What I said was if you want to win a world championship, you don't go anywhere and lose 40-10," Elway said. "To me, it seemed like some people thought it was OK, so I made sure to say it wasn't OK. At least I didn't think it was OK." There were moments in the August game when Denver's offense was sharp, and Peyton Manning finished his two quarters of work 11-of-16 passing for 163 yards and a touchdown.
But tight end Julius Thomas lost a fumble to end a potential scoring drive for the Broncos and running back Ronnie Hillman fumbled into the Seahawks' end zone, and Brandon Browner scooped the ball up and returned it 106 yards for a touchdown. Rookie Montee Ball missed a blitz pick-up that led to Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner delivering the biggest hit Manning has received in his time with Denver. The Seahawks also scored on four of their five possessions in the opening half, in addition to Browner's return.


It all bubbled over for Elway.


"To me it's just that if you want to be a world champion, and you have that mindset, you don't go anywhere, any time and lose 40-10 the way we lost that game," Elway said. "If you get beat sometimes, you get beat, but you don't go out and get embarrassed, not the way we did in that game. "I just didn't want it to sit there and have people believe it was OK, because it wasn't OK." All season long, the Broncos players have talked about Elway's presence at the team's practice complex. Elway doesn't often speak to the team (he also addressed a team meeting before the Broncos left for the Super Bowl to talk about his experiences in the title game as a player) but pictures of his playing career, including those taken after two Super Bowl wins, adorn the walls of the complex. "He's John Elway. You can't live here or work here and not know what he means to this team and this city," linebacker Wesley Woodyard said. "Whenever he talks, of course you're going to listen."

 

[DownSetHutch]

Wow man, that is awesome! What a great move by Elway. And look how important it may turn out to be. If we win, I have no doubt that some players will be pointing to that meeting/speech as a sort of turning point or key moment in the season. I know damn well that it impacted the team and galvanized them.

Elway is the man!

 

[TDs3nOut]

To the extent that Elway's talk to the team back in August played a role in the success that it's had this season, hopefully his most recent talk does the same. I absolutely love it that Johnny Bronco has played such a prominent role in restoring the team to its place as one of the best in the league. I can't imagine that Broncos fans would prefer anyone else to have done that.

I did find it funny, however, that Elway placed so much emphasis on the preseason loss to Seattle, since the significance of that game has been discussed on the boards quite a bit over the past eight or nine days.

 

[iknowftbll]

To the extent that Elway's talk to the team back in August played a role in the success that it's had this season, hopefully his most recent talk does the same. I absolutely love it that Johnny Bronco has played such a prominent role in restoring the team to its place as one of the best in the league. I can't imagine that Broncos fans would prefer anyone else to have done that.

I did find it funny, however, that Elway placed so much emphasis on the preseason loss to Seattle, since the significance of that game has been discussed on the boards quite a bit over the past eight or nine days.

I agree, that is really funny. The irrelevance of that game was argued both ways between fans of both clubs, and a few Seahawks fans have referred to it as they shape their expectations for the Super Bowl. (To be fair, the smart ones write it off, and there are plenty of them who do.)

At any rate, irrelevant or not, I'm glad Elway took the opportunity to light a fire beneath the team's collective ass. The Broncos did play sloppy and made a lot of mistakes in that game. Even if the game doesn't count in the record books, Elway is right: Champion quality teams don't play like that, regardless of the context.

I'm sure Elway expects a much different result this time.

 

[Morpheus]

To the extent that Elway's talk to the team back in August played a role in the success that it's had this season, hopefully his most recent talk does the same. I absolutely love it that Johnny Bronco has played such a prominent role in restoring the team to its place as one of the best in the league. I can't imagine that Broncos fans would prefer anyone else to have done that.

I did find it funny, however, that Elway placed so much emphasis on the preseason loss to Seattle, since the significance of that game has been discussed on the boards quite a bit over the past eight or nine days.

I think he was addressing the mindset and effort players put into that game.

He wanted to make sure they knew that even though it was only preseason, it was not an acceptable effort.

 

[TDs3nOut]

I think he was addressing the mindset and effort players put into that game.

He wanted to make sure they knew that even though it was only preseason, it was not an acceptable effort.

No doubt. I just found it funny, since some Seattle fans have pointed to that game as evidence that Seattle is the better team, while some Denver fans have pointed out that it was merely a preseason game.

 

[WalkerBoh]

No doubt. I just found it funny, since some Seattle fans have pointed to that game as evidence that Seattle is the better team, while some Denver fans have pointed out that it was merely a preseason game.

Only a football moron would point to that game as evidence that Seattle's the better team.

Of course, we'll find out for sure in about 5 days.