It’s just a flesh wound.
The most hilarious scene in the Broadway musical “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” which begins a run in Denver on Tuesday night, could have been based on the relationship between Mike Shanahan and Al Davis.
In Act 2, good and wise King Arthur (think Shanahan) confronts the hardened, arrogant, self-righteous Black Knight (think Davis).
During their duel of swords and sorts, the king cuts off the knight’s arm. “‘Tis but a scratch,” the knight scoffs. Arthur chops off his other arm. “I’ve had worse.” The knight begins kicking the king. Arthur cuts off his leg. “The Black Knight always triumphs.” Arthur chops off his other leg.
“All right, I suppose we’ll call it a draw,” concludes The Black Knight.
In a dozen seasons, Shanahan’s Broncos have beaten Davis’ Raiders in 19 of 24 games. After taking over as the Broncos’ head coach in 1995, Shanahan won 11 of his first 12 against the Raiders. The Broncos have prevailed in seven of the past eight.
The Broncos have cut off all the Raiders’ body parts.
To which Davis would say: “We remain the team of the decades. All right, we’ll call it a win for us. It’s only a flesh wound.”
Payback is … well, you know.
Davis hired Shanahan – “unfortunately,” the Raiders’ owner later claimed – as his (youthful) head coach in 1988, then fired him after four games in 1989 and refused to pay $250,000 in severance.
Shanahan hasn’t forgiven and forgotten, or forsaken his vow to bring shame on The Black Knight.
But Davis now is a tired, old man, and the Raiders are an awful team, and neither is worthy of Shanahan’s anguish. He must worry more now about the Three C’s – Chargers, Colts, Cheaters.
Today, Denver 45, Oakland 7.
Yesterday, Davis and the Raiders probably cost Dan Reeves, then Wade Phillips, their jobs and probably helped Shanahan get his current post. Davis and the Raiders were among the primary suspects for Lou Saban losing his job and Red Miller doing well immediately in his.
When Saban was coach of the Broncos from 1967-71, he lost every game to the Raiders (0-9). The first was 51-0. John Ralston was 3-6-1 against Oakland.
In 1977, rookie coach Red Miller whipped the Raiders in Oakland 30-7, and nudged John Madden et Al and al in the AFC championship game, 20-17. The Redhead also whacked the Raiders twice in 1978, but lost the next four and was replaced in the ownership change.
Reeves was 10-13 overall vs. the Raiders from 1981-92 after winning his debut (pre-Elway) 9-7 against Oakland. With John Elway, he took two in 1984, 1986 and 1987, but lost the only one in 1982 (a strike season) and lost both in 1985 (two overtime games), 1988, 1990 and 1991. In his last five seasons, Reeves was 2-8 against the active Al-led Raiders.
If he had knocked off the Raiders twice in 1991, the Broncos would have ended the regular season 14-2 and had the home-field advantage in the AFC championship game. They likely would have defeated the Bills in Denver instead of being nudged in Buffalo, and gone to the Super Bowl for a fourth time under Reeves – and maybe won. He wouldn’t have been fired after the 1992 season.
Phillips was 0-5 against the Raiders in two seasons. If he had beaten them once in the 1993 regular season, the Broncos would have hosted the playoff game against the Raiders. Instead, they were blown away in L.A. The following year, the Broncos had a 7-9 record, and two victories over the Raiders might have saved Phillips (although Pat Bowlen was determined to hire Shanahan).
Shanahan’s first season would have been uglier than 8-8 without the sweep over the Raiders (who returned to Oakland from Los Angeles).
If the Broncos hadn’t scorched the Raiders in their second meeting in 1997, they would have been forced to play the first postseason game in Jacksonville (the team that upset them the previous year in the playoffs), and who knows if the Broncos could have won four straight on the road to take the Super Bowl?
The two victories over Oakland in 1998 were partially responsible for the Broncos playing the AFC championship game at home against the New York Jets. The Broncos went on to win their second Super Bowl.
If they had been 0-2 rather than 2-0 against the Raiders in 2000 and 2003 and 0-2 instead of 1-1 in 2004, they wouldn’t have made the playoffs.
And without the sweep last season, the Broncos’ record would have been 8-8 or 7-9, and Shanahan might not be so secure.
The success of Shanahan against the Raiders and the decline and fall of Davis and his Raiders are prominent reasons the Broncos have been an NFL power since 1977.
Al Davis, the arch-enemy for 44 years, belongs on the Broncos’ Wall of Fame.
King Arthur and all of this Colorado Camelot owe much to The Black Knight and the Land of Oak.
Staff writer Woody Paige can be reached at 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com.
