It should have been the final piece of poetry for John Elway’s wondrous career, not like Michael Jordan’s last shot in Utah, not that big or that permanent since there is still another Super Bowl to be won for Elway. It would have been more like Ted Williams’ home run in his last time at bat at Fenway, a final reminder of what Elway did and what he was and what he meant.
On fourth down, the game secure, Elway took the snap from center Tom Nalen, dropped back to pass as he has for 16 years, and let the ball fly toward the south end zone, toward the South Stands of Mile High Stadium, the notorious South Stands where the most rabid and most loyal of Broncos fans encamp on game day.
Denver receiver Ed McCaffrey stretched, reached, got a hand, three fingers maybe, on the football and that was it. The ball clattered to the painted end-zone turf without conscience or a sense of the appropriate.
“Aw,” said Elway, “I really didn’t need another one (touchdown pass). But I guess it would have been special. My fault. I overthrew him a little bit.”
Elway slapped his hands together in brief regret, walked slowly down the 40-yard line, accepting hugs and back slaps from his teammates. It could be the last time he steps onto the field of his dreams, except that he took one final lap of gratitude around the place, blowing kisses, holding up the fifth AFC championship trophy in his tenure, pointing to it, pointing to the Denver fans.
“This was for them,” Elway said, sounding not at all sappy and looking only slightly teary. “I got to look into their eyes and let them know that.”
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No one left the place until Elway did, finally disappearing under those South Stands to the Bronco locker room. He tossed his brand-new AFC title cap toward a fan. It fell incomplete as well as his last pass.
“I love you,” Elway told the fans at the amplified trophy presentation ceremony, and I’m thinking, wouldn’t this have been the way for Jordan to leave, for any great athlete, as a matter of fact? Jordan will not get to make that final connection to Chicago.
Elway, like most of the world, had watched Jordan’s retirement procedure, so dry and formal and orderly.
“I didn’t make any connection between him and my situation,” Elway said. “What I thought was how I wished Jordan wasn’t leaving. I looked at what he had done and how successful he had been. I didn’t want him to retire. I wanted him to play more.”
Though this was certainly not Elway’s greatest championship game (“Maybe the ugliest,” he said), it was typical in that he won from behind. From 0-10 down to the Jets in the third quarter, Elway produced the next 23 points, the key play typically inspired.
After a blocked punt had let the Jets score from the Denver 1 and Elway having been outquarterbacked by Vinny Testaverde, Elway found a way to make the play of the game out of a foul-up.
“Me and Eddie (McCaffrey) were lined up on the wrong side, both of us,” said wide receiver Rod Smith. “John didn’t panic. He saw that and just told us to run each other’s routes. That’s John’s leadership. He brought us back on a busted play.”
Elway threw 47 yards to McCaffrey, took the Broncos in on an 11-yard pass to Howard Griffith two plays later, and when the ensuing wind-blown kickoff landed back in the Broncos’ hands, the 10 points the Broncos were down were recovered in 3 minutes.
“After that,” Elway said, “momentum just seemed to be on our side.”
Well, momentum and the Denver defense, which caused four fumbles and intercepted Testaverde twice.
No one was really ready to see Elway for the final time in the House that John Made Obsolete. There will be a new stadium next door in two years. How similar to Jordan and the United Center. Except that Elway will never play in the new park.
“I will not make a decision,” Elway said, “until sometime down the line. Certainly no decision before the Super Bowl.”
They brought their painted bed sheets and accepted commercial placards that could never offer enough thanks or enough tribute for Elway.
“One more year, one more year,” they chanted, now that one more game was secure.
In a couple of years those same folks may get a chance to vote for Elway for Congress, the most interesting option he is considering. Elway may do TV, as old coaches and quarterbacks tend to do. Or he could coach.
“I’ve never been away from football,” Elway said. “I might not know how to react. In six months, maybe I’ll break out in hives and have to get back.
“I’ll always think I have a lot of football left in me. But whether I can play it is the question.”
I’m guessing he still has one more game in him.