When the Colorado Crush plays the Kansas City Brigade today at Kemper Arena, team owner John Elway will meet a former Broncos teammate and they can compare Super Bowl rings.
Neil Smith played on Broncos teams that beat Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXII and Atlanta in Super Bowl XXXIII.
Smith is back in football this year as a member of the Brigade ownership.
Elway and Smith played against each other when the Brigade co-owner played for the Kansas City Chiefs.
“When I played against John, he always brought my game to another level,” Smith said in an interview with the Arena Football League office. “Then, after all those years of hating him, I finally joined him and I saw that he was an elite individual. It never crossed my mind that we would be going against each other again.”
This time, Elway and Smith will face each other from a safer distance. The Crush needs a victory to clinch a playoff spot. Four games remain in the regular season after today’s game.
“To be in a position to secure a playoff spot this early is an unusual thing,” Crush coach Mike Dailey said. “And it only has happened because of the change in format of going to two conferences. We just can’t think about only a playoff spot because there’s so much more involved down the road.”
If the Crush earns the American Conference’s top seed for the playoffs, it could have home-field advantage at the Pepsi Center.
The Crush could have a big defensive edge against the Brigade, which moved from New Orleans after the Superdome suffered damage from Hurricane Katrina.
“I think we’re underrated a little bit as a defensive unit,” Crush defensive specialist Rashad Floyd said. “We all complement each other. Arena football is one of the ultimate team sports. It’s kind of like hockey. Everybody has to do his job and anytime we’re all doing our jobs – the players up front, the linebackers, the coaches – we do all right. Back where I am, Delvin Hughley and Ahmad Hawkins make the other team work.”
Floyd, who has been named defensive player of the week the past two weeks, compares quarterback John Dutton and receiver Damian Harrell to the fabled NFL passing team of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.
“We want to get them the ball as many times as we can,” Floyd said. “We know they know how to score points.”
Crush/today
Who: Colorado Crush (8-3) at Kansas City Brigade (2-9)
What: Arena Football League
When: 11 a.m.
Where: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Mo.
TV/radio: KUSA-9/KHOW 630 AM
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
