“It’s going to be a different feel. They can develop the home-field advantage in the new stadium as long as we don’t have too many people upstairs sipping wine. … As long as the wine sippers are cheering and yelling, we’ll be OK.” – John Elway, circa 2001, on the Broncos’ move to Invesco Field from Mile High Stadium
The wine has aged well, but the Broncos haven’t.
As they launch their fifth season at Invesco Field at Mile High, the Performers Formerly Known as World Champions remain in search of their first playoff win of the post-Elway era.
Used to be that people talked about the Broncos in mythical terms. They even had a phrase for their dominance in the altitude – the Mile High Mystique.
Now that six seasons and three playoff losses – by an average of almost 25 points a game – have passed, it’s Mile High time to ask the question: Is the Mystique past its peak? As in, will Denver ever again be a no-man’s land for opposing teams?
“When you say Mile High Mystique, you’re talking about the great years we had at Mile High Stadium,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. “We won two Super Bowls playing there, and obviously we haven’t won one in the new stadium. When we do, everybody will say, ‘Oh, the Mystique is there.’ The bottom line is you’ve got to win championships. If you don’t, there are always going to be question marks about your home-field advantage.”
Translation: There’s nothing magical about Denver. The altitude and the rumble of the seats at Mile High certainly didn’t hurt, but in the end, it was the Broncos’ players who made Colorado a dead end for NFL teams.
Missing star power
It wasn’t just Elway who came and went. The Broncos back in the day had a handful of other Hall of Fame-caliber players, too. Gary Zimmerman. Terrell Davis. Shannon Sharpe. It’s hardly surprising players of their caliber haven’t come along to replace them.
“You look at the Super Bowl teams and it was a tough act to follow,” Broncos Ring of Famer Randy Gradishar said. “Expectations are high because that’s what people are used to, but the reality is it’s probably not going to happen. I don’t think there’s going to be another John Elway era. There are only a few guys in NFL history who’ve had those kinds of gifts and talents.
“Mike is trying to create that kind of atmosphere again, that memory of what Mile High Stadium was for opposing teams, but it’s going to be hard. The NFL is different now with free agency and money and all those issues.”
Much has been made of the staid nature of Invesco compared to the raw passion of Mile High Stadium. The Broncos’ players laugh at the notion a quieter stadium has equated to a lessened home-field advantage. It comes down to putting the Bronco before the cart, says Rod Smith. Success at home through the years hasn’t started with raucous crowds.
“You win football games, the stadium is going to be loud,” Smith said. “I don’t care where you play. You can play at Cherry Creek High School. If you’re winning games, people don’t want to come and play you. People talk about the thin air and the crowd and all that stuff. That’s part of it, but it doesn’t win games. It’s up to us. Our team knows if you get eight home games and win those eight, the chances of you making it to the next level, to postseason play, are real high.”
Therein lies the problem. The Broncos always have been an exceptionally good team at home – they have the NFL’s best home record over a 30-year span – but mediocre at best on the road. Even Elway, the winningest quarterback in NFL history, had a losing record away from Mile High Stadium.
It starts at home
What Elway did better than any quarterback of his era was win at home. It’s no coincidence that the Broncos won all eight of their home games in each of their back-to-back Super Bowl seasons of 1997 and 1998. Their best home record since is 6-2, which they’ve compiled four times.
Three of those four seasons ended in the same ugly fashion – with blowout playoff losses on the road. They lost by 18 at Baltimore to end their 2000 season and by a combined 56 points at Indianapolis to end their past two seasons. The Broncos in their history are 11-2 in home playoff games and 5-12 – including 2-4 in Super Bowls – on the road.
The key is to win the AFC West, which the Broncos haven’t done since Elway’s retirement. That would get them at least one home playoff game and possibly home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann says the Broncos in that scenario could make it back to another Super Bowl.
“No, they’ve just got to get a home game, for crying out loud,” said Theismann, when asked if he felt the Broncos’ Mile High Mystique had eroded. “They keep traveling to Indy, and nobody is going to win there. This football team has as good a shot as anyone else, but they’ve got to win their own division.”
Said Broncos center Tom Nalen, a veteran of both Super Bowl victories: “We have to get home field. Then you can get some momentum going in the playoffs. It’s tough going into another place in the playoffs. You’re not comfortable. You’ve got a short week and you’ve got to deal with the crowd noise.”
The Broncos lost no more than one home game in five of their six Super Bowl seasons. One home loss can mean the difference between winning the division and finishing second, between winning a home playoff game and losing one on the road.
“People have a hard time realizing the difference between a playoff team and a championship team,” Shanahan said. “It’s very special when you can put a championship team on the field. It’s a fine line between a playoff team and a championship team. We know how close it is. It’s the little things you do that can separate you and make you a championship team. That’s what we’re working on.”
Twenty NFL teams have won a playoff game more recently than the Broncos, who find themselves stuck in perpetual purgatory. They’re not good enough to make something happen in the playoffs, but they’re just good enough to constantly draft in the latter stages of the first round. The Broncos during the Shanahan era are the only NFL team not to have at least one pick among the first 10 selections.
Squeezed by the salary cap and unable to grab a franchise-caliber player early in the draft, the Broncos’ records have leveled off from their glory years. They were 9-7 in 2002 and 10-6 in 2003 and 2004. The Broncos have finished second in the West for two years running.
Hurting ways
Why haven’t they been better? Lots of reasons. The Broncos in recent years have been hurt almost as much by the presence of punters Micah Knorr and Jason Baker as they have by the absence of Elway.
The Broncos’ special teams, thanks in large part to the absence of an NFL-caliber punter, have been nothing short of awful. The Broncos began 49 drives last season inside their 20-yard line, more than any other team in the league. The Chargers, who won the AFC West, began an NFL-low 27 drives inside their 20.
Then you have the red-zone factor. The Broncos last season ranked 28th in the league in converting touchdowns inside the opposing team’s 20-yard line. And, of course, there’s the turnover factor. The Broncos in their final four seasons at Mile High forced 131 turnovers. In their first four seasons at Invesco, the number is 99.
One of the reasons for the falloff in turnovers has been an inconsistent pass rush, no thanks to a patchwork defensive line filled with other teams’ castoffs. The Broncos have been middle of the pack in sacks since moving to Invesco.
Finally, there’s the secondary, which has been shaky at times despite the Broncos’ use of several high draft picks. How big an issue was the secondary during the offseason past? Shanahan used each of his top three draft picks, a second- and two third-rounders, on cornerbacks.
Add up the issues confronting the Broncos in recent years and you have too many weaknesses to win a division, much less a Super Bowl. The Broncos have attempted to address their shortcomings. Now we’ll see if they have enough to reclaim their home-field advantage in the playoffs and make another Super Bowl run.
“Trust me, I would never have thought we wouldn’t have won a playoff game since John retired, but we’ve had some very good football teams,” Smith said. “Our team last year was very good, but we found a way to shoot ourselves in the foot again. The bottom line is the entire season can come down to a few plays and we haven’t been making them.
“We’ve got to find a way to do it this season.”
Jim Armstrong can be reached at 303-820-5452 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
