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| John Elway celebrates with Gerald Wilhite after leading the Broncos to a win after trailing by 19 points in the 4th quarter against the Baltimore Colts. |
Hall-of-Fame quarterback John Elway is regarded as one of the greatest clutch quarterbacks in NFL history as he lead the Denver Broncos to 35 4th quarter comeback victories of the course of his 16-year career, with the first coming in his rookie season coming against the team that originally selected him in the 1983 NFL Draft.
The Baltimore Colts held the first pick in the 1983 NFL Draft after going 0-8-1 in the strike-shortened season and intended to select Elway with that #1 pick.
However, Elway did not want to play for the Colts as they had gone 19-52-1 over the past five seasons and were coached by Frank Kush, who had gained a reputation as a ruthless disclipinary during his tenure at Arizona State University.
Elway publicly threatened the Colts not to pick him #1 because if they did he would pursue a baseball career as he had been selected in the second round of the 1981 MLB Draft.
Despite the threat, on April 26, the Colts still picked Elway with the #1 pick and Elway reiterated that he would not play for Baltimore in a press conference later that day.
However, almost a week later, Elway got his wish, as he was traded to the Denver Broncos for offensive lineman Chris Hinton(who had been picked #4 by the Broncos in the draft), backup quarterback Mark Herrmann and a 1st-round pick in the 1984 NFL Draft.
The Colts would get a chance to get some retribution on Elway as the two teams met in Baltimore in the second week of the season.
Baltimore would get some revenge on Elway as he completed only nine of 21 passes for 106 yards and was sacked three times, but the Colts lost the game as Elway was pulled in favor of Steve DeBerg, who lead Denver to a 17-10 comeback victory as he scored the game-winning touchdown on a two-yard run with 29 seconds to play.
After a three-game losing streak, Elway would be lose the starting job to DeBerg, who directed the Broncos to four straight wins until he was injured in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Elway would be reinserted as the starter but continued to struggle as Denver lost the next two games he started, while defeating the Seahawks when Elway was sidelined with the flu.
Things finally seem to come together for Elway in a Week 14 game with the Cleveland Browns as he lead the Broncos to a 27-6 victory to push the Broncos' record to 8-6 going into their week 15 rematch with the Colts, who had lost six of their previous seven games, which this time would be played at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
If the Broncos could knock off the Colts and the Buffalo Bills lost to the San Francisco 49ers that same day, Denver would clinch its first playoff berth since 1979.
Both teams traded punts to start the game until Denver’s second drive of the game when on the first play of the drive, Elway connected with tight end John Sawyer for a 14-yard gain, only to have Sawyer fumble the ball, which was recovered by linebacker Barry Krauss, giving the Colts the ball at their own 35-yard-line.
Quarterback Mike Pagel lead the Colts to the Denver 24-yard-line when disaster nearly struck as he was almost intercepted by Broncos strong safety Dennis Smith, only to have Smith drop the potential interception, allowing for the Colts to get on the board with a 42-yard field goal by Raul Allegre to put Baltimore ahead 3-0 with 1:20 left in the first quarter.
After forcing the Broncos to go three-and-out on their next drive, the Colts took over at their own 28-yard-line and once again drove into Denver territory, thanks to a 30-yard pass from Pagel to Bernard Henry which gave Baltimore a 1st down at the Denver 43-yard-line.
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| Mike Pagel would be the Colts' starting quarterback for the 1983 season after Elway refused to go to Baltimore. |
However, the drive stalled when Pagel was almost picked off again, this time by cornerback Louis Wright on 3rd-and-6, setting up a 55-yard field goal by Allegre to increase the Colts’ lead to 6-0 with 10:55 to go in the second quarter.
Denver would go three-and-out again on their next drive, giving the ball back to the Colts, who took over at their 38-yard-line and once again drove to set up an Allegre field goal, this time from 41 yards out to make it 9-0 in favor of Baltimore with 7:23 to play before halftime.
Then after forcing another three-and-out, the Colts finally got in the end zone when Pagel found Henry on a long pass that Henry caught at the Broncos’ 14, then ran into the end zone untouched to complete the 40-yard touchdown to give Baltimore a 16-0 lead with 5:55 left in the first half.
The Broncos offense finally got going on their next drive as they got their first 1st down of the game when Elway connected with Sammy Winder for a 11-yard gain on the first play of the drive.
Three plays later, Elway hit Steve Watson for a 47-yard gain that gave the Broncos a 1st-and-10 at the Colts’ 11-yard-line.
But after an eight-yard run by Winder on 1st down, Elway fumbled the snap on 2nd down, which was recovered by Baltimore strong safety Jeff Delaney at the two-yard-line, stopping the Broncos’ only scoring opportunity of the first half as the Colts went into the halftime break with a 16-0 lead.
The Broncos got the ball to start the second half but after gaining a 1st down on the first play of the drive, the Broncos were forced to punt back to the Colts who drove 52 yards in 11 plays to set up Allegre’s fourth field goal of the game, this one from 26 yards out to give Baltimore a seemingly insurmountable 19-0 lead midway the third quarter.
While they could still win the game with three touchdowns, the deficit did seem insurmountable for the Broncos as through 2 ½ quarters of play, Denver had only gained 109 yards of offense and made only six 1st downs.
However with 3:24 left in the third quarter, Elway and the Broncos started to put together their best drive since late in the first half as they gained three downs to travel from their own 20-yard-line to the Colts’ 37-yard-line, until a pair of holding penalties pushed Denver back to their own 43 where they faced a 1st-and-30.
But Elway was able to complete back-to-back passes that gained a total of 24 yards to set up a 3rd-and-6 at the Baltimore 33 as the fourth quarter began.
That is when Elway was sacked and fumbled the ball which was recovered by the Colts, only to get a reprieve when Delaney was called for illegal contact, giving the Broncos an automatic 1st down at the Colts’ 28-yard-line.
The hit on Elway knocked him out of the game for two plays, stalling the drive as Elway’s 3rd down pass was incomplete setting up a 4th-and-6.
With no two-point conversion in the NFL in 1983, Denver head coach Dan Reeves had no choice to but go for it on 4th down and when Baltimore linebacker Greg Bracelin knocked down Elway’s pass, the Colts took over at their 24-yard-line with under 14 minutes to go and still holding a 19-0 lead.
The Broncos defense forced to the Colts on their ensuing possession, giving Elway and the Denver offense the ball back at their own 46, when running back Jesse Myles ran for 33 yards to give Denver a 1st down at the Baltimore 21-yard-line.
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| Elway would throw for 345 yards in the game, 128 of them in the 4th quarter alone. |
After two straight incomplete passes, Elway went to the end zone on 3rd down and found wide receiver Clint Simpson in the corner, who made the catch for the 21-yard touchdown to give the Broncos their first points of the game and cut the lead to 12 points at 19-7 with 10:52 to play.
The Colts responded to the touchdown by gaining a pair of 1st downs, including one on 3rd-and-20 when Broncos defensive end Barney Chavous was called for a late hit on Pagel.
However, the Denver defense would rise up three plays later Wright atoned for his dropped interception in the second quarter by picking off a deep pass and returning it 34 yards to give Elway and the Bronco offense the ball at the Baltimore 43-yard-line with 6:36 left in the game.
It took the Broncos five plays to get back into the end zone as Elway found Myles down the sidelines, who then ran over two Baltimore defenders at the goal line for a 26-yard touchdown that trimmed the lead to 19-14 with 4:54 remaining.
With the momentum now on the side of the Broncos, the Colts needed to put together a drive and try to run out the clock so they could escape Denver with a win.
The drive got off to a good start as Curtis Dickey ran for 29 yards to the Colts’ 41-yard-line on the first play of the drive, but a false start before the next play and gaining only four yards on the next two plays, forced a 3rd-and-11 where Pagel threw an incomplete pass, leading to a punt and giving the ball back to Denver who took over at their own 25-yard-line with three minutes to go and all three timeouts in their pocket.
The drive got off to an auspicious start with a holding penalty costing the Broncos nine yards, pushing them back to the 16 with a 1st-and-19.
That is when Elway connected with running back Gerald Willhite for five yards, then followed that up with a 18-yard completion to Watson, giving Denver a 1st down at their own 39.
After an incomplete pass on 1st down, Elway scrambled for 14 yards and another 1st down that put Denver in Colts territory at the Baltimore 47-yard-line right at the two-minute warning.
Then after an incomplete pass to Watson, Elway found Myles for 13 yards and a 1st down at the 34 when Denver called its first timeout with 1:31 to go.
After the timeout, Elway connected with Zach Thomas for eight yards, but misfired on his next passes, forcing a 4th-and-2 at the 26 with 52 seconds to play.
That is when Elway dropped back and found Wilhite, who missed his block of a blitzing safety, at the 16-yard-line, who made the catch and then scampered in for the go-ahead touchdown to give the Broncos their first lead of the game at 21-19 with 44 seconds left in the game.
Still, the Colts had a chance to win the game as they had all three timeouts and needed to get around the Broncos’ 40 for a potential go-ahead field goal, even though they were starting at their own 13-yard-line with 40 seconds to go.
The drive started with a nine-yard pass from Pagel to Henry but was followed by straight two incomplete passes, leading to a 4th-and-1 at the Colts’ 22-yard-line.
That is when Pagel connected with Tracy Porter for 11 yards for the 1st down where the Colts called timeout with 14 seconds to go.
Following the timeout, Pagel hit Henry for the eighth and final time of the game, this time for 20 yards that put Baltimore at the Denver’ 47-yard-line with six seconds left when the Colts called their last timeout.
With his kicker having already hit a 55-yard field goal earlier in the game and the thin air allowing for long kicks, Kush decided to send Allegre in and attempt a 64-yard field goal that not only would win the game, but would break Tom Dempsey’s record 63-yard field goal set in 1970.
But Allegre’s kick was short and the Broncos had come away with a 21-19 win that coupled with the Bills’ 23-10 loss to the 49ers, clinched a playoff berth for Denver.
The following week, the Colts broke their five-game losing streak with a 20-10 win over the Houston Oilers in what turned out to be the Colts’ last game in Baltimore as three months later,owner Jim Irsay would move the team to Indianapolis.
As for the Broncos, they would lose that same week 48-17 to the Kansas City Chiefs as Elway was picked off four times, leading Reeves to install DeBerg as the starter for their Wild Card game against the Seattle Seahawks, which they lost 31-7.
However, Elway would start 14 of the 16 games the following season as he led Denver to a 13-3 record and an AFC West championship, where he directed three more 4th quarter comeback wins.
Over the course of the next 14 years, Elway would lead the Broncos to 31 more 4th quarter comebacks, five Super Bowl appearances, and two world championships in his final two seasons.
So it is safe to say that Denver got the better end of the deal.
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