ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—John Elway loves how 35-year-old offensive coordinator Adam Gase kept Denver’s high-octane offense floored all season but quickly put the brakes on his own football future with the Broncos in the midst of a Super Bowl run.
The Broncos’ executive vice president said Thursday that he hopes Gase stays in Denver beyond this season even though he granted requests from other teams to interview his hot-shot assistant for their head coaching vacancies.
Gase told both the Vikings and Browns that he wouldn’t interview until after the Broncos’ season is over.
“To me that was ‘studly’ because I like guys that are committed to what they’re doing, committed to the Denver Broncos,” Elway said. “So I couldn’t be more proud of that decision. It tells you a lot about the guy.”
The Vikings have since hired Mike Zimmer as their head coach, although the Browns appear to be waiting to interview Gase, whose aggressive approach helped the Broncos score an NFL record 606 points this season.
Working with Gase, Peyton Manning set NFL records by throwing for 55 TDs and 5,447 yards.
“I wish I could have played for him,” said Elway, a Hall of Fame quarterback who led Denver to Super Bowl wins following the 1997 and ’98 seasons and returned to the lead the team’s front office in 2011.
Gase was promoted from quarterbacks coach last year when Mike McCoy left to take the San Diego Chargers’ head coaching job and the first thing he talked about was being more aggressive and running a more up-tempo offense to capitalize on Manning’s multitude of talented targets and Denver’s mile-high altitude.
The Broncos responded by becoming the highest-scoring team (37.9-point average) in the Super Bowl era and posted their second straight 13-3 season. They atoned for their playoff loss to Baltimore last year by beating San Diego last week, setting up Sunday’s AFC title game against New England.
Five Broncos—Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas, Knowshon Moreno, Eric Decker and Wes Welker, caught 60 or more passes and scored at least 10 touchdowns.
That made Gase a hot head coaching candidate, although he hasn’t said publicly whether he finds the Browns’ job intriguing or would rather stay with Manning and continue honing his credentials.
“He’s done a tremendous job,” Elway said. “He’s had a great year and he’s just got such a great feel, and he’s a hard worker and he’s very bright. I hope he stays.”
Gase hopes he doesn’t have to even think about his future until after the Super Bowl next month.
Asked why he put off interviews until the Broncos’ season is over, Gase said, “I just felt like I was all in for what we were doing here. I just didn’t want to stand in front of players and say one thing and do something else. So, I felt like it was the most important thing for what we needed to do for this team.”
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