SPORTS-(BRONCOS)
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Vs. Oakland Raiders (W 23-17)
With 5,000 fans afaid of "football weather", the Broncos and their fans still
found enough energy to knock off the Oakland Raiders, once again.
With the Raiders already wrapping up the AFC West title, people were asking:
"What's left to play for?" The chance to embarass Oakland is
ALWAYS something to
play for.
The Raiders were playing for the
outside chance of securing homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
The Broncos
performed a great service for media teams across the country- nobody should be sent to Oakland
more than ONCE in any given year.
Al Davis made his annual trip to Denver on Sunday. Rich Gannon,
Jerry Rice (w/ recceeding cornrows) and Bronco tormentor Tim Brown were in tow.
Defensive tackle Grady Jackson has apparently been cloned since November... oh wait, my mistake,
that wasn't a second Grady ..it was placekicker Sebastian Janikowski. All plumped up
for the holidays, as he's approaching 270 lbs. The aliens from
the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" are drooling over Sebastian. Coincedence or not?:
But with both Grady Jackson AND Janikowski in the building, there were NO food vendors
in the stands on Sunday...
With a 10-4 record and the division title going to the Raiders, the Broncos
seemed outmatched. But Your Pal ES (With his career 26-5, now 27-5 career record)
and the Old Man even in attendance. The Old Man tried to prophecize:
"You'll see, 9 minutes into the game, it'll be 21-0, Oakland". This is the same
Old Man who predicted that the Chiefs would win the Super Bowl in 1997...
Brian Griese fired up the mighty Broncos offense, that has come to resemble
a might Chevy Vega hitting on all four cylinders. Griese completed
passes of 5, 3 and sometimes, 7 yards. Meanwhile, Rich Gannon connected on his first
15 passes and it wasn't until midway through the second quarter that
we got to shout "IN-COM-PLETE". Terrell Davis, playing in perhaps his final
game in Denver, had two good runs. Meanwhile, the Broncos defense was doing an adequate job of
keeping them
in the game.
Denver was unable to capitalize on a fumbled Oakland kickoff, but
every now and then, a team has to manufacture their own luck. The Broncos did this about
ten minutes later. Bill Romanowski came on a blind side blitz and
hammered Rich Gannon like a prom queen. The ball popped loose,
and Bertrand Berry recovered. Romanowski was asked about the hit, later:
Bill Romanowski: "It was a good hit. My best ever? Maybe."
Kerry Collins: "Naw, it wasn't THAT big of a hit. Gannon's jaw was still attached."
Jason Elam kicked a 3 pointer, and Denver was in the game. While Rich Gannon was
busy building a 300 yard game, Brian Griese was building a 300 foot game.
Gannon turned in a workmanlike effort, constantly dumping off to
Jerry Rice and Tim Brown. He received great protection, too. With
Trevor Pryce being triple-teamed, Gannon still had enough time to sit in
the pocket, look over the defense, build some Legos and move the chains.
To close the second quarter, Gannon basically took root in the pocket, as
he found Jeremy Brigham for six.
Griese then opened up the second half with his longest completion of the
day- a 17 yarder to fullback Tony Carter. It took the Broncos the entire 20
minute halftime spot to whip up that huge gainer.
Somehwere in the third, things got HAPPY. Gannon was piledriven, again. This time by
linebacker Ian Gold. Keith Washington also managed to swipe his arms in and record
a sack. Gannon was becoming rattled, and ..dare we say it..Oakland was Fading.
Griese hit Rod Smith on a drag route for the TD, and Denver led 23-17.
Next series, trying to avoid another sack, Gannon lobbed the ball over the middle, where it was
picked by Deltha O'Neal.
With their offense as deep as a frisbee, Denver went three and out and had to punt.
Oakland had the ball with 5:31 left... and it was up to the defense. Fans shrieked
when Gannon foudn Jerry Rice for what looked like a 70 yard TD bomb. A jackass in front
of me, stood up and did the "Stupid White Guy Churning Bhtter" dance. He was so into the
Raiders that this neddledick wore a red jacket to the game... that's commitment, I tell yee.
As the Old Man was physically rsstraining me, he pointed the yellow coupon on the field-
Rice's TD had been called back, due to tripping. HA! Broncos defense held
and after forced a punt.
The next series for Oakland, the defnse held, again. On fourth down, Gannon fired incomplete
and the highlight of the game, for me, occured. After that pass, the entire Broncos
bench emptied on the field. "Maybe there is some pride left" the Old Man said.
With Tim Brown standing on the sideline, hands on his hips, and the stadium going
apeshit....well, it was pretty uplifting. Despite what the Denver Post would have you believe,
the new stadium was, in a sense, Really Fucking Loud.
The game wasn't over, as it turned out.
Raiders again had the ball inside the 2 minute mark and drove down the field. Visions
of Joe Montana to Willie Davis in 1994 creeped into my head. After three tries from
the 17 yard line, Gannon finally connected into the endzone- to Broncos Safety
Kenoy Kennedy. Stabler-to-Biletnikoff it wasn't. It came down to the final play, and
for a full 60 minutes,
the Old Man and myself got our money's worth. Screw the stats...they won.
And pissed off Al Davis in the process...that's always a bonus.
Like my buddy and coaching comrade Harald Johnson would say:
"Now THAT'S a football game, son!" THAT's how you play
a Raider-Bronco game.
With the Bronco clinching their own form of homefield advantage, from
now until late July, the season's just about over. Hopefully, they can go out on high note by beating
Oakland and Indianapolis next week. You may not put much weight in that theory, but
the 1995 team ended their medicore 8-8 year by beating the Raiders, in Oakland
in the last game of that season. Why is that important? The 1996 team opened up
12-1 and finished 13-3. The first of 3 years that featured Denver
on top of the enitre AFC.
So chin up, camper...sometimes the intangible "pride" factor can affect a team.
FINAL CUTS
While waitnig outside the shitter on Sunday, a Bronco fan wandered by, attempting to
"smack down" any Raider fan within earshot. Guy was wearing
a whit McCaffrey jersey over his camouflaged hunting overalls- stlyin' and profilin!
"Why do people wear fuckin' Raider gear, man?"
he bellowed. I yelled at him: "Better question: why do people wear camouflaged gear?!!"
...||...
The bandwagonning, red-jacket wearing Raider "fan" in front of me? Same guy
was with his girlfriend and whooped like a rabid dog when the Broncos
cheerleaders came out. Class, man...pure. class.
...||...
If Pittsburgh makes it to the Super Bowl again, can they re-sign Greg Lloyd simply for their
postgame interviews? Please?
...||...
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