Peyton Manning won’t have to do this by himself. And that’s a good thing, because Scott Boras already would have his 39-year-old arm on a pitch count if he represented him.
The notion Manning is over the hill is poppycock, even if he throws some ducks from time to time that couldn’t break a pane of glass. He can still beat you with his football mind and his ring generalship. It’s just that he can’t carry these Broncos the way he used to carry those Colts.
He needs help.
So John Elway, who needed help once to finally win a Super Bowl in the twilight of his own Hall-of-Fame career, has gotten Manning that help.
It’s a defense they used to call the Orange Crush in Denver.
Manning has the same kind of help that Craig Morton had when the Broncos rode the Orange Crush to the Super Bowl.
And the sights and sounds of a football-crazed stadium look and sound deliciously and delightfully familiar to the proud heroes of yesteryear who started the tradition.
“It brings back a lot of great memories, and then, you get the fans yelling and screaming,” former Orange Crush heart-and-soul linebacker Randy Gradishar said by phone. “And that was always a great mental, psychological advantage that you had at Mile High ’cause it was all metal and people just went nuts.”
The Orange Crush was top 10 across the board in 1977 — No. 3 in points allowed and No. 1 in all major run-defense categories.
“We believed,” former Orange Crush linebacker Bob Swenson said, “that you couldn’t score on us.”
Joe Collier, coordinator of the 3-4 defensive scheme — assisted by linebackers coach Myrel Moore, defensive line coach Stan Jones and defensive backs coach Bob Gambold — was to the ’77 team what Wade Phillips is to the current team.
“The coaches were so detailed that they would prepare you for every single formation, play, tendency … especially Myrel Moore,” Swenson said. “Joe Collier was a genius. Offenses were so confused they short- listed their plays which made them highly predictable. They never could tell who was blitzing.”
The original Orange Crush dictated to opposing offenses for years and years.
“That quickness and ability to get to the ball — there were five, six guys on tackles all the time,” Gradishar said. “So we were just hustling to the ball and creating havoc along the way.”
Back to the future we go.
“I feel like we’re a very fast defense. … We’re gonna get a pass rush,” Broncos linebacker Von Miller said the phone, “and our DBs are gonna strap, and I think everything else just falls in place.”
With Miller, the third-fastest to register 50 sacks (58 games, behind Reggie White and Derrick Thomas), on one side, and DeMarcus Ware on the other side, it is an Orange Rush that confronts Matthew Stafford and his hurting ribs Sunday night.
“As tough as it is to get everybody on the same page, I think we’re starting to do that,” Miller said. “We understand that offenses are gonna make plays. I think sometimes defenses, when offenses make plays, they start breaking down. I know if I’m not getting sacks, or D-Ware’s not getting a sack, the quarterback, he’s throwing the ball fast. And if he’s throwing the ball fast, we got elite DBs that’ll be able to break for all of that stuff, we got fast inside linebackers. … It’s only been two games, but I feel like we’re right where we need to be.”
It is the symmetry between these Batman-and-Robin pass rushers and Batman-and-Robin cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris, coordinated by popular, folksy Wade Phillips, that has kept expectations Mile High even while Manning struggles to adapt to Gary Kubiak’s offense.
“When we’re rushing the passer, we make it tough, we make it tough, and I know what type of corners that we got,” Miller said. “I wouldn’t say we intimidate those guys, but I definitely think that we give ’em something to worry about on top of Chris and Talib and T.J. [Ward] and D. [Darian] Stewart, all those guys.”
Talib is the big, physical corner every team craves to cope with the big receivers. His task Sunday night will be Calvin Johnson.
“I think if there was any other corner that matched up perfectly with him, it’d be Aqib,” Miller said.
Harris was signed to a five-year, $42.5 million contract in December and was selected to his first Pro Bowl.
“I think his talent is equally matched with his knowledge of the game, and knowledge of routes,” Miller said. “He’s just that type of DB that knows everything that’s going on.”
There couldn’t be a better partner in crime and mentor for Miller than the 33-year-old Ware. Miller grew up in Dallas an admirer of Ware (and Dwight Freeney) when he was a Cowboy.
“He wore white gloves and white tape. I liked the stance, I liked the tenacity that he played the game with,” Miller said.
Miller is a physical freak, a 6-foot-3, 250-pounder with God-given pass rush gifts.
“I know I can pass rush, I understand how to pass rush, but I try to be solid in all aspects here and there,” Miller said. “When they run the ball, I try to be the best run-stopper I can be. When I’m in coverage, I try to be a lockdown corner like [Talib] and like Chris. I just gotta be the best at whatever it is that I’m doing. I don’t want to get done playing and have people say this: ‘He was a pass rusher, but he didn’t play the run,’ or, ‘He was good playing the run, but he couldn’t cover.’”
Stewart, the free safety and lone newcomer, sealed the victory over his former Ravens team with an end-zone interception of Joe Flacco.
“He’s very smart and calm back there. That’s what I like about him,” Ward said last month. “You never really see him flustered, you never really see him out of position.”
The Broncos rank second in yards allowed (487) and takeways (seven). Marshall, the Broncos’ leading tackler last season, remains in on passing downs while Trevathan (16 tackles) is the run-stuffing predator. Defensive end Derek Wolfe will be joining a stout defensive line once his four-game suspension ends.
This is now. That — Gradishar and Swenson and Joe Rizzo and Tom Jackson and Steve Foley and Louis Wright and Lyle Alzado, Rubin Carter, Barney Chavous — was then.
“I would put up our first-string guys against the Broncos’ first-string guys,” Gradishar said. “The difference, I think, today, that Wade Phillips has, is that there’s more depth. If I were just going defense by defense, I’ll put ours up against them and that would be a heckuva fun show to watch and see who comes out on top.”