John Elway has become synonymous with the Super Bowl after making five appearances in the big game. The Hall of Fame quarterback has added another Super Bowl appearance on his resume as a Broncos executive.
Make no mistake. Elway’s impact on this proud franchise is all over it when it comes to Sunday’s Super Bowl appearance. He has turned this franchise around after inheriting a mess that was created by Josh McDaniels, who was overmatched as an executive and a head coach. It took three years for him to get the Broncos to the Super Bowl.
Elway’s most impressive mark came in his first season as an executive. The Broncos were able to overachieve with Tim Tebow’s help by making the playoffs. That was impressive in itself since the team was not any good. It was a group that had no direction. It was a group that was content with losing.
The first year of a new job has its highs and lows, and Elway was under the learning curve as an executive. Fortunately for him, everything went right.
Elway had it right in drafting Von Miller as his first try in the 2011 draft. The Broncos linebacker did well in his first season as a rookie by having 11.5 sacks. He improved upon his rookie season by having 18.5 sacks.
Part of building a good defense is getting linebackers who can get to the quarterback. It was what former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi stressed to Elway when the Broncos executive seeked wisdom from the general manager when he wanted to learn about building a team, and that was why Miller was drafted.
The important thing was getting a head coach. The Broncos needed a head coach who knew what he was doing after McDaniels was overmatched at his job. They needed a guy who knew how to get respect from his players. They needed a guy who knew how to handle adversity.
Fortunately for Elway, John Fox was available after he was fired by the Panthers in 2010. It was a perfect coup for the Broncos executive. The former great Broncos quarterback knows full well Fox was the right guy since he commanded respect. The Panthers players had nothing but great things to say about the former Panthers coach when he was fired. That was good enough for Elway to hire Fox.
Hiring a retread coach was the right move at the right time. Fox had success, and Elway needed a coach that had a good track record to help him on the job. It has worked well as the Broncos have been a playoff team under Fox’s watch. Now, they are in a position to win the Super Bowl.
The players play for Fox, and they swear by him. He has done a great job of handling high expectations these last two years. That’s not easy for any head coach, but the Broncos coach has embraced it well.
With the Broncos overachieving in Elway’s first year, it wasn’t enough. Being the competitor the Broncos executive was as a player, he wanted a championship. It’s the only goal for him. He knew he had to get an upgrade at quarterback. As good as Tebow was at quarterback in 2011, there was no way the Broncos executive was going to have the Gators quarterback to start in 2012. He knew the Broncos were not going to get by with a quarterback that had limited arm strength, especially with a tough schedule in 2012.
Elway was fortunate to find out Peyton Manning was available in the 2012 offseason. The Colts were going to release their quarterback with the idea they were drafting Andrew Luck in the 2012 draft. They wanted to start the rebuilding process with Luck.
The Broncos executive was ready to pounce on their opportunity, and no one could blame him. He knew Manning was his best chance of winning as a Super Bowl executive. So he went after the former Colts quarterback, and he had his guy. His presence itself was able to get the future Hall of Fame quarterback to say yes.
Elway had to get the coach, linebacker and quarterback right for him to have success. He is 3-for-3, and that’s why he is in the Super Bowl as an executive.
It seems the Broncos executive has that magic touch to get everything right. It was like that for him as a player.
Elway knows he was great as a quarterback to get that championship, but he will be the first to tell everyone that it takes luck to get success as an executive. He has certainly lived the good life as an executive.
There are many great players in sports that could not cut it as executive or as coach. That’s why there were questions whether or not Elway can be successful as executive. He had experienced running the Colorado Crush in Arena Football, but the NFL is different.
Elway has made it look easy even if he had some breaks.
No one can argue with the results when it comes to his work as an executive.
He is one game away of hoisting another Vince Lombardi trophy this Sunday.
Contact or follow Leslie Monteiro at @LightRodWriter.
Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
