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Denver Native (Carol)
04-12-2011, 05:12 PM
Today's question about the Broncos comes from Chris Dobson in Hercules, Calif. Send your questions via e-mail to jlegwold@denverpost.com.

Q: As a 45-year Broncos fan now living in Oakland Raiders territory, it pains me to see the rotten Raiders making a comeback after a seven-year run of embarrassment that I thoroughly enjoyed. Do you think John Elway and John Fox can quickly get the Broncos up to speed?

A: When the Broncos' owner, Pat Bowlen, decided to fire coach Josh McDaniels, hire John Elway to run the football operations department and hire John Fox as the coach, he was admitting historical change was needed within his franchise.

The Broncos' back-to-back NFL championships are 12 years in the rearview mirror. They have won only one playoff game since Elway's last game as a player. A case could be made that the Broncos didn't solve the salary cap riddle well enough to reach the league's top tier during that span.

Denver's 1997 and 1998 title teams largely were assembled in, or before, the salary cap era's infancy. And the Broncos already had on their roster the most important piece of the championship puzzle — Elway, a Hall of Fame quarterback.

When Elway retired as a player, the Broncos' business model took a hit because the safety net was gone. Virtually every head coach enshrined in the Hall of Fame had a Hall of Fame quarterback in his offense.

When those quarterbacks were gone, even those coaches struggled to regain the glory. Chuck Noll, Paul

full article - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_17820777