DENVER — Thank goodness it was minus-11 degrees for three straight days.
There was a pregame show, the first half of a game, a halftime show, the second half. A postgame show followed by a click and a pregame show. Then the first half, the halftime show, second half, the post and pregame show.
Three straight days of playoff games, pregame, halftime and postgame shows. There’s only so many dresser drawers to wean and straighten. What else was there to do?
I should have been in a press box watching one of those games. But no, for the eighth consecutive year, the playoffs went on without the Denver Broncos. Only the Jets have gone through a longer postseason drought.
As it was getting harder and harder to recall the Broncos were once postseason regulars, it was somewhat comforting to look back on some of the team’s postseason records and moments.
Welcome to Broncos’ trivia, the postseason edition.
Get eight to 9 correct and you are the type of football fan who doesn’t need the minus-11 excuse to watch three days of pregame, halftime, postgame shows along with six playoff games. Six or more right answers and you have at least three Broncos jerseys hanging in that closet you put off straightening until next weekend, when there’s only four playoff games over two days. Answer four to five correctly and you might have spent your weekend, heaven forbid, in the mountains watching football between ski runs. Those with three or fewer correct answers are the types who did something productive this weekend, like watch the kid at the club volleyball or basketball tournaments.
1. Who was the first quarterback to play with the Broncos who won an NFL Championship?
A. Frank Tripucka
B. John Elway
C. George Shaw
D. Tobin Rote
E. Jacky Lee
2. This was the only Broncos head coach who received a 10-year contract.
A. Mike Shanahan (1995)
B. Lou Saban
C. Mike Shanahan (1999)
D. Red Miller
E. Sean Payton
3. This player has the highest rushing average in Broncos’ postseason history (minimum 15 carries):
A. Terrell Davis
B. C.J. Anderson
C. Tim Tebow
D. Derek Loville
E. John Elway
4. This quarterback has the highest career postseason passer rating in Broncos history (minimum 20 pass attempts):
A. Tim Tebow
B. Peyton Manning
C. John Elway
D. Steve DeBerg
E. Jake Plummer
5. This player has the most postseason interceptions in Broncos history:
A. Champ Bailey
B. Tyrone Braxton
C. Darrien Gordon
D. Randy Gradishar
E. Chris Harris Jr.
6. In back-to-back 2003-04 Wild Card playoff games against the Broncos, Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning completed a combined 49 of 59 for 835 yards, 9 touchdowns, 1 interception and a 151.3 passer rating in 49-24 and 41-10 romps.
Which Bronco defender came up with the interception?
A. Champ Bailey
B. Kelly Herndon
C. John Lynch
D. Kenoy Kennedy
E. Lenny Walls
7. This player has the most postseason receptions in Broncos history:
A. Vance Johnson
B. Terrell Davis
C. Rod Smith
D. Shannon Sharpe
E. Demaryius Thomas
8. The Broncos had four sacks on Elvis Grbac in a 1997 second-round, 14-10 playoff win at Kansas City. Which Denver defender had two sacks?
A. Neil Smith
B. Alfred Williams
C. Maa Tanuvasa
D. Smith and Williams
E. Williams and Tanuvasa
9. This player had the most playoff kickoff returns in Broncos history:
A. Ken Bell
B. Trindon Holliday
C. Vaughn Hebron
D. Glyn Milburn
E. Rick Upchurch
ANSWERS
1. C and D. George Shaw and Tobin Rote
I’ll count Shaw, who was Johnny Unitas’ backup for the Baltimore Colts, who beat the New York Giants for the 1958 NFL Championship in what has been dubiously dubbed as the Greatest Game Ever Played.
Shaw played his eighth and final season for the Broncos in 1962. He started one game, completed just 9 of 25 with no touchdowns and 4 interceptions, yet the Broncos smoked the Oakland Raiders, 44-7. (In those days, there was some thought that if a quarterback didn’t throw two interceptions in a game, he wasn’t aggressive enough.)
But the better answer is Rote. It was not Bobby Layne but Rote who led the Detroit Lions to the 1957 NFL Championship. Layne broke his ankle in game 11 of that season and Rote started in a game 12 win against the Bears that put the Lions in the postseason, then led Detroit past the 49ers, 31-27 in the NFL Divisional Round, and threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns in a 59-14 win against the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Championship Game.
Over the next 64 seasons, the Lions would win just one postseason game – a 38-6 route of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1991 Wild Card round – before they beat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night in the first round. Those Cowboys then won three of the next four Super Bowls.
Rote retired after the 1964 season when he played for the Chargers in the AFL, sat out the entire 1965 and was lured out of retirement by Broncos’ interim head coach Ray Malavasi four weeks into the 1966 season. Rote appeared in three games for a total of 5 minutes, completed 3 of 8 passes, and was cut.
I won’t count Jacky Lee, who started three games in both the 1960 and ’61 seasons for the AFL-champion Houston Oilers, and later went a combined 2-9 for the Broncos in 1964-65. He doesn’t count because this question pertained to the NFL Championship, not the AFL.
2. B. Lou Saban
Prior to the 1967 season, the Broncos to great fanfare hired Saban as their new head coach, giving him an eye-popping 10-year contract worth a then-astounding $50,000 a year. Saban had led the Buffalo Bills to AFL championships in 1964-65, then moved on to coach one year at the University of Maryland before he was lured back to the AFL and the Broncos by Phipps’ brothers, Gerald and Allan.
Saban never had a winning season, much less guide the Broncos to the playoffs, in his five years in Denver.
Shanahan was given a seven-year contract worth a total of about $7 million when he was first hired by Pat Bowlen in 1995. Shanahan had a few more extensions and was fired following the 2008 season with three years and $21 million left on his contract. He heads all Broncos’ coaches with 8 postseason wins and two Super Bowl titles. His protégé, Gary Kubiak, is 3-0 as Broncos’ head coach in postseason history with one Super Bowl title. Dan Reeves was 7-6 in the postseason for the Broncos with three Super Bowl defeats.
3. D. Derek Loville
Terrell Davis’ backup in 1997-99 rushed for 6.1 yards per carry – 152 yards on 25 attempts – in the 1997-98 postseasons. Davis was next with 5.6 yards per carry – 1,140 yards off 204 attempts from 1996-98.
4. A. Tim Tebow
The hard-running, passing-challenged left had a 90.0 passer rating in his two 2011 postseason games, thanks in part to throwing for a whopping 452 yards off just 19 completions. Manning was next with an 85.0 rating. He had 309 pass attempts in eight postseason games.
5. C. Darrien Gordon
He was only with the Broncos two seasons, but they were the 1997-98 Super Bowl title seasons when he had 5 interceptions for 156 return yards, another team postseason record. Cornerback-safety Braxton and linebacker Bob Swenson are tied for second with three postseason picks.
Gordon is also the Broncos’ all-time top punt returner with 162 yards. Because he only played two years with team, Gordon in my opinion was the most underrated player from those Broncos’ back-to-back Super Bowl championship teams.
6. B. Kelly Herndon
The Colts were up 14-0 after the first quarter and Manning had moved to third and goal at the 3 early in the second quarter when he was picked off by Herndon in the end zone. Manning rallied, finishing with 458 yards passing and four touchdowns in the Colts’ 49-24 route.
7. E. Demaryius Thomas
The late great receiver had 53 catches in 10 postseason games, including a then Super Bowl-record 13 receptions in the 43-8 loss to Seattle to finish off the 2013 season. Rod Smith was next with 49 receptions in 13 postseason games.
8. D. Neil Smith and Alfred Williams
Smith, the former Chief, and Williams, currently a Denver sports-talk radio star, each had two sacks in the hard-fought defensive game. Smith and Williams each had 8.5 sacks during the 1997 regular season so this game put them to double digits for the season.
9. A. Ken Bell
Sure the bad hop kickoff by the Browns’ Mark Moseley got by Bell before he recovered at his own 1 ½-yard line to set up the famed Drive. But that was just one of a team-record 21 postseason kickoff returns Bell made from 1986-89. Vaughn Hebron was next with 20 kickoff returns.
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