BOSTON — By the Boston University Bridge, the serene, soothing Head of the Charles Regatta is being raced out ahead, but my eyes are being drawn to the still, serene stadium on campus.
Back there, at Nickerson Field, where the Boston Braves once played baseball (before the franchise was moved) and where Boston University once played football (before the sport was dropped), the American Football League was born.
By the Boston University Bridge and the Charles River, the Broncos and the Patriots played the old AFL’s first game on the night of Sept. 9, 1960. Denver beat Boston 13-10 as Gene Mingo — who never played college football, was a U.S. Navy veteran, begged the Broncos for a tryout and made the team — became the first black kicker in pro football and ran back a punt for the first touchdown in league history.
The Broncos and the Patriots play again tonight.
It won’t be rowing, and it won’t be at Nickerson Field, but it will be very big for the Broncos and the Patriots, but aren’t they all?
The Broncos have a chance to go up two games — again — over the Chargers (who lost Sunday), and the Patriots have to win to stay a game within the Bills (which beat San Diego on Sunday).
John Lynch spent time with both teams in camp, but will play for neither. Each could use him. The one in Denver should have re-signed him. The Patriots’ offense could use Tom Brady. The Broncos’ defense could use the entire Brady Bunch.
The Pats and the Broncs have played 41 times. I’ve seen 22, and all seemed to have featured something weird. This very big game will be no different. You know, the Broncos know, the Patriots know, Mike Shanahan knows, Bill Belichick knows that nobody knows who will win.
But this fact is most interesting: The Broncos have won 16 of the past 19. Is that a typographical error? No. Since Shanahan took over the Broncos in 1995, they have won nine of 12. Since Belichick took over in 2000, the Patriots have won only two of seven.
Doesn’t seem right. The Patriots have been tractors, the Broncos trailers.
But there are courses for horses, and teams for Broncos.
Return to 1960. The Broncos beat the (Boston) Patriots twice that season, but won only two other games.
Another series win worth remembering for old-schoolers is a regular-season game in Denver in 1979. The Broncos totally dominated the Patriots in the first half and led 38-0. A storm dumped about a thousand inches of snow on the field, but what was amazing was nobody left Mile High Stadium. (Today, if there’s a sprinkle at the stadium, the club level seat-holders disappear inside, and the third-deckers go home, no matter the score.) After the players of both sides agreed privately to stay inbounds to keep the clock running, the Broncos won 45-10.
Three years ago, the Broncos beat the Patriots in a playoff game, and Champ Bailey intercepted a Brady pass in the end zone and returned an NFL-record 100 yards. He was caught at the 1-yard line and fumbled out of bounds.
In January 1987, the Broncos also beat the Patriots in a playoff game, 22-17.
When the Broncos were pummeling New England here in 1996, Shannon Sharpe grabbed a sideline phone and was heard to say: “Mr. President, call in the National Guard! Send as many men as you can spare! Because we are killing the Patriots! They need emergency help!” Sharpe got himself a nice TV career.
On Monday night, Sept. 29, 1980, the Broncos lost here to the Patriots, 23-14, after Fred Steinfort attempted a 72-yard field goal on a free kick at the end of the first half. He was short by 20 yards. Before, during and afterward, Patriots fans (who had consumed some alcohol waiting for the 9 p.m. start) became rather frisky. The NFL decided there would be no more Monday night games at Foxborough for a while, as in more than two decades.
The Broncos won at Gillette (14-Blade Safety Razor?) Stadium on a Sunday night in 2006, 17-7. Now they meet for the fifth time on a Monday night.
The Patriots and the Broncos have each scored 40 or more points in three games, and the Broncos, in one 16-game stretch in the series, scored 30 or more points in nine games.
So a final score of 51-40 is possible. A low point total is more probable, and it likely won’t be real close. Only three games since the first in 1960 have been settled by three points or fewer. (In 1999, New England edged the Broncos 24-23.)
Although the Patriots’ quarterback is a sand castle and doesn’t have a stronger arm than John Elway, New England will barely (Gillette) edge Denver, just as Yale edged Nereus of Amsterdam in the club women’s eights. But who knows?
Woody Paige: 303-954-1295 wpaige@denverpost.com
