For the first six games of the season, the Broncos were labeled the NFL’s most imperfect undefeated team largely because of an offense that struggled to find a rhythm — and the end zone.
But on a Sunday night dedicated to longtime owner Pat Bowlen, the Broncos unveiled a new look: a balanced offense that overwhelmed previously unbeaten Green Bay 29-10. Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson revived the running game with a combined 161 yards and three touchdowns, tight ends were once again part of the passing game, and the Peyton Manning of old returned to outshine his younger counterpart, Aaron Rodgers. Manning had his most impressive game of the season, throwing for 340 yards.
“Anytime you’re putting your owner in the Ring of Fame, you have to win,” Manning said. “It’s kind of a rule, right?”
The Broncos’ defense, the star of the first six weeks, once again was stifling, shutting down Rodgers, who was 14-of-22 for 77 yards, the lowest total of any start in his career.
“We knew coming in this was a big measuring stick for us,” said linebacker DeMarcus Ware. “Everybody took that to heart and stepped up to the challenge.”
The result: a 7-0 start and a fitting end to a week-long celebration of Bowlen’s ownership. After the game, Annabel Bowlen accepted the game ball on her husband’s behalf.
Following are sights and sounds from the big night.
* * *
“Sunday Night” is for Pat. Without Bowlen, there would be no Lombardi Trophies gleaming from the Broncos’ headquarters. The six Super Bowl appearances likely wouldn’t be listed in the history books. And the 307 regular-season wins for the Broncos likely would have never happened.
There would be no remembrance of the 1997 team on Sunday and no pregame and halftime ceremonies to sing Bowlen’s praises as he became the 28th member of the Ring of Fame.
There would also be no “Sunday Night Football” on NBC.
Bowlen, who helped negotiate the NFL’s $18 billion television contract in 1998 and was chair of the NFL’s Broadcast Committee from 2001-06, also helped to ensure Sunday night would be the night for the NFL.
Earlier this week, the SNF crew, with sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentator Cris Collinsworth rolled into Denver to broadcast its first primetime matchup between teams with 6-0 records or better. And Dick Ebersol, the former head of NBC sports, watched from a suite as his friend and cohort in making “Sunday Night Football” possible was honored.
“We’re not naive and we’re not going to say this is like every other game,” Tafoya said. “Because there is a lot going on with this game. There is so much meat on the bone with this game, and then there’s Mr. Bowlen, whom everyone loves.”
* * *
He did what with a cheesehead?
Darryl Brock had committed sacrilege. To his family, at least. The 19-year-old from Fond du Lac, Wis., spray-painted a Green Bay Packer cheesehead orange and blue.
“It was hard to see,” said Jessica Bruss, his aunt.
Still, Jessica and Bryan Bruss drove their nephew 18 hours to see his favorite team, the Broncos, play the Packers. They left Wisconsin Saturday morning and drove straight to Denver. They dropped an undisclosed chunk of money (four figures) on tickets.
Brock became a Broncos fan because of his mother. Sometimes, it’s hard to be the lone guy wearing orange and blue in Packers Country, he said. So he was thrilled to be standing outside Sports Authority Field wearing a No. 58 Von Miller jersey.
“He’s always been a Broncos fan, and we wanted to give him this experience,” Jessica Bruss said.
* * *
The NBC “Sunday Night Football” bus boasted a long line of fans waiting for a chance to get a peek inside. Galeth Bolanos of Denver was hired by a marketing company to work with the bus crew for the weekend. Bolanos was thrilled to have the gig, but he had to temper his Broncos enthusiasm because “Sunday Night Football” is nonpartisan.
“With Packers fans, I’m being neutral,” he said. “In my heart, I’m a Broncos fan.”
Broncos orange and blue was everywhere in the parking lot before the game, but Green Bay fans made themselves known, too.
Chrystal Rhea, a Wisconsin native who lives in Denver, organized a Packers tailgate party outside the stadium, and word spread among the Green Bay faithful in Denver who were fired up for a rare chance to see their team in their new hometown.
“This is like a Super Bowl for us,” Rhea said. “This only happens every eight years. We’re going all out.”
Rhea was decked head to toe in yellow and green. She wore a silver belt like those worn by WWE champions, except she had glued a Packers logo on it and attached Rodgers name to it.
“This is the highlight of my year,” she said.
* * *
It all started in mid-May, when the Broncos’ selection committee unanimously elected Bowlen as the 28th member of the Ring of Fame. The invitations were mailed, and the franchise went to work to arrange a week-long festival in Bowlen’s honor.
“We just want to get everything right — for the fans and Mr. B,” apEO Joe Ellis said before the game.
More than 40 members of the 1997 Super Bowl team, the one that gave Bowlen his first Lombardi Trophy with a victory over the Packers, as well as nearly 20 members of the Ring of Fame were flown in from across the country. The family atmosphere many have spoken of with the Broncos has extended beyond their playing days.
On Sunday, many of the special invitees played golf before arriving at Sports Authority Field.
The team paid for the reunion, typical of a Bowlen event.
“That’s the way Pat was,” Ellis said. “One of his great characteristics — a generous guy.”
* * *
It was nearly four hours before kickoff, but the air was filled with excitement outside Sports Authority Field. For 12-year-old Ysias Lucero, it was hard to contain his emotions as his hero walked toward the stadium.
It was Manning, and the Broncos quarterback reached for the football Ysias was holding. Manning signed the ball.
“I was shaking,” Ysias said, showing the ball to his father. “I said, ‘Thank you.’ “
The Lucero family, all Broncos fans, traveled Sunday from Albuquerque for the big game. Win or lose, though, Ysias had a treasure to take home.
* * *
Jim Saccomano, the Broncos’ former vice president of corporate communications, sat in the press box of Sports Authority Field on Sunday afternoon, his arms crossed and head down, smiling as he thought back over his three decades of working for Bowlen. The diamond-encrusted, oversized Super Bowl ring, an accessory Saccomano wore all week in honor of his boss, hugged his right ring finger and gave him reason to occasionally look down to make sure it was still there and still shining.
Saccomano paused before retelling some of his favorite moments. He remembered the time Bowlen pushed a cart of turkeys through the locker room on Thanksgiving Day, placing one in each of the players’ lockers. And the time, Bowlen arranged for donations to groups with the stipulation that no advertising or mention of his contribution be mentioned.
“He always believed, you do the right thing, you give and you shut up about it,” Saccomano recalled.
