Bell: John Elway, Broncos reap reward of hiring Gary Kubiak
DENVER — As he held court in the corner of a festive postgame locker room Sunday night, drenched in the reality of yet another trip to the Super Bowl, John Elway looked and sounded every bit like the proud papa who knew better.
The most beloved Denver Broncos quarterback, now 55, still has a youthful, athletic glow about him as he carries on with his front office duties and maintains that he’s aged 20 years over the past five weeks. Imagine his emotions during the tense ending of an AFC title game that was saved by Denver's defense.
And never mind all of those dramatic finishes Elway orchestrated back in the day.
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“It is a lot more nerve-wracking watching in the booth than it is playing,” he said. “When you’re out there (playing), you aren’t thinking about nearly as many things.”
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As the Broncos' chief football executive, Elway’s job now is to wield the power, make the key decisions and set the course for the franchise — then sweat it out on game day to see if he’s pushed the right buttons.
Job well done, Elway.
With the Broncos headed to a record-tying eighth Super Bowl – seven of which Elway has participated in as player or executive — it’s apparent that No. 7 threw the equivalent of a deep, cross-field, throwback touchdown strike when he “parted ways” with coach John Fox last winter and replaced him with his former backup and assistant coach, Gary Kubiak.
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“The bottom line is I know Gary, and he knows what it takes, and he has done a tremendous job this year with the team,” Elway said. “When he came in here, he had won a lot of football games. And to be able to come in and get us back to the Super Bowl has been tremendous. There is not a better guy for the job.”
A lot of heads turned in NBA circles over the weekend, when the Cleveland Cavaliers — who advanced to the NBA Finals last season with an injury-depleted lineup and currently hold the best record in the Eastern Conference — fired coach David Blatt and promoted assistant Tyronn Lue. The explanation from the Cavs is similar to what Elway expressed a little over a year ago when he dumped (err, mutually parted with) Fox, who had guided the team to four consecutive AFC West titles. Elway was embarrassed when the Broncos were bounced at home by the Indianapolis Colts in last season's divisional playoffs — another big-game defeat under Fox — and didn’t display more fire.
“At least in the last game,” Elway said at the time, “you want to feel like you go out kicking and screaming.”
With last year’s setback following the humiliation of a 35-point blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, not to mention a divisional playoff meltdown at home against the Baltimore Ravens to end the 2012 season, Elway, with the clock ticking on Peyton Manning's win-now mission, had seen enough.
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Now he's seeing the benefits of the big shakeup. As confetti rained Sunday night, when the Lamar Hunt Trophy for winning the AFC was presented to team owner Annabel Bowlen, Pat’s wife, Elway beamed as he acknowledged Kubiak.
“Gary and his whole staff did a tremendous job, really stepped into a hot seat,” he said, “and they proved everybody right.”
Four consecutive division titles might be a smashing success in a lot of NFL outposts — say, Detroit, Jacksonville or Cleveland. But that won’t cut it in Denver, not with Elway running the show. The measuring stick is Super Bowls. And for Elway, who endured blowout losses the first three times he went as a quarterback, it isn’t merely enough to just reach a Super Bowl.
“I think the big thing is we have to win it,” he said of the pending matchup against the Carolina Panthers. “It’s going to be a tremendous add to Peyton’s legacy, but also to the Broncos’ legacy. I think it is important that we’ve give ourselves an opportunity. So hopefully we’ve saved our best for last.”
Kubiak flamed out as coach of the Houston Texans, landing last season as the Ravens offensive coordinator. Interestingly, when the coaching interview cycle began last year, he removed himself from making the rounds, indicating that he was content in Baltimore.
That all changed when the Broncos job opened up.
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Basking on the stage set up for the trophy presentation Sunday, Kubiak said: “It means the world to me. John gave me a chance to come back to my football home.”
For Elway, it might have been something like betting on himself in rolling with Kubiak, given how they grew up together in the NFL. Beyond that, though, Kubiak made the deft moves that confirmed everything. He handled Manning's injuries, Brock Osweiler's rise and Manning's return with aplomb. He’s meshed his offense and its running game with Manning’s strengths and weaknesses.
And as significant as anything, Kubiak got Wade Phillips to return to Denver, too, as coordinator of what became the NFL’s best defense — a point hammered home with the beatdown of Tom Brady on Sunday.
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Tight end Owen Daniels, who followed Kubiak from Houston to Baltimore, came to Denver, too, this season. And look who scored the Broncos' two touchdowns in the AFC Championship Game?
The Broncos are clearly a much different team than the record-setting one that appeared in the Super Bowl two years ago, with only six of the starters on Sunday having the same roles in the debacle against Seattle.
That’s Elway’s refusing to sit still. Now it’s back to the Super Bowl, with Kubiak as a wing man.
Just like old times.
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Follow NFL columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell
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