John Elway's first year

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Thanks to The Glue Factory for posting the link, which the following appears in. I have posted the following in two threads, but after reading negative things in regards to Elway, for everyone who thinks that Tebow should be the starting QB right now, Elway is holding him back, etc., might like to see what Elway went thru in the beginning. Elway is the one person on this staff who knows if Tebow is ready or not, based on his own experiences:

from article:


Remember all those stories? John Elway, the greatest collegiate quarterback ever. John Elway, the Stanford Sensation. John Elway, a sure thing in the pros. There was nothing he couldn`t accomplish, no pass too difficult to complete.

``They built me up to be a Superman, someone who could walk on water,`` Elway said.

Then came his rookie season with the Broncos and all those press clippings looked like false advertising. There were twice as many interceptions (14) as touchdown passes. There was one awful throw after another.

Bluntly: Elway bombed.

Pushed into a starting job, he was confused, scared and looked more like an All-Con than an All-Pro.

``He was memorizing things instead of learning them,`` coach Dan Reeves said. ``I made a mistake. I put him in there before he was ready. He wasn`t comfortable. After about the fifth game, I realized what I had done.``

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/198...ading-defenses

[FanInAZ]

link doesn't work

[The Glue Factory]

Try this one (http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-09-27/news/8502110389_1_john-albert-elway-broncos-reading-defenses).

[Nomad]

I was 10.....don't remember much:D. I will say Elway went through his lumps but turned out ok! Tebow has the work ethic/determination/heart to do the same, he just needs the help to get better.

[Northman]

Elway still turned out ok though. 5 SB appearances with 2 Championships. I would take it again if Tebow turned out that way.

[FanInAZ]

Good article. I remember a few years back, after Cutler's rookie season, someone dug up an article written about Elway after his rookie season. I tried to search for it at CNN/SI because I thought that they might have been an SI article. However, I couldn't find it. It could've been published by someone else. Basically, the writer ripped into Elway because of his rookie struggles. I believe that nothing speaks as to why you don't write of a QB who struggles as a rookie like that one, but this was pretty effective as well.

[FanInAZ]

I was 10.....don't remember much:D. I will say Elway went through his lumps but turned out ok! Tebow has the work ethic/determination/heart to do the same, he just needs the help to get better.

I was 14 and have a photographic memory thanks to my autism, so I remember it all. The good, the bad & the ugly (this is where we queue up Clint Eastwood :D)

[SOCALORADO.]

Heres my biggest concern.
Elway is/was lightyears ahead of TT in his ability to operate an offense.
A rookie is going to struggle. Luck will struggle (in denver ha!) and Cam will struggle.
However, Elway could operate in all phases of the game. He didnt have to think about how to take a 5 step drop, he already had done it a million times. And he still struggled at all the different fronts defenses threw at him, and all the playcalling he had to make and adjust to!
TT is attempting to learn the fundamentals that Elway learned in high school and in his early years at Stanford, and then had mastered by the time he was in his last year at Stanford. This to me, is the biggest issue with TT. This to me is why the FO wont even consider TT as a starter.

[vandammage13]

Heres my biggest concern.
Elway is/was lightyears ahead of TT in his ability to operate an offense.
A rookie is going to struggle. Luck will struggle (in denver ha!) and Cam will struggle.
However, Elway could operate in all phases of the game. He didnt have to think about how to take a 5 step drop, he already had done it a million times. And he still struggled at all the different fronts defenses threw at him, and all the playcalling he had to make and adjust to!
TT is attempting to learn the fundamentals that Elway learned in high school and in his early years at Stanford, and then had mastered by the time he was in his last year at Stanford. This to me, is the biggest issue with TT. This to me is why the FO wont even consider TT as a starter.

Fact still remains that even though Elway knew how to take a 5 step drop and Tebow supposedly does not, Tebow played better his first 3 starts than Elway did.

Doesn't mean Tebow is better than Elway was as a rook or will ever be better than Elway, but it does mean that he's not as lost as you make him out to be.

Maybe you're putting too much emphasis on how hard it is to take 5 steps backwards...

[The Glue Factory]

McDaniels didn't do him any favors by giving him zero reps last year. Tebow didn't do himself any favors, either, by "self-training" 3, 5 and 7 step drops rather than hiring someone to coach him.

Tebow himself has admitted that getting the "base" right is integral for a pass to be executed properly. That base consists of executing the drop correctly so that your feet are set and everything flows up until the ball is released. Throwing mechanics don't have anything to do with this.

[BroncoTech]

Elway did struggle his first years at QB but the college offenses of today are more evolved to the point guys like Newton and Bradford are better equipped to face the pro game than Elway was back in the 80's.

I lament the fact that we've not seen TT with the first string offense in pre-season and we really don't know how he's progressed.

[NightTerror218]

I saw a lot of shot gun with Kyle Orton against the Raiders......isn't that what Tebow likes? No wait that is what Orton likes, he is a shut gun QB.

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Scouting Elway’s college career:
Elway’s passing talents were honed in Stanford’s pro-style offense. By the end of his college career, he owned five major NCAA passing records.

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/story.aspx?story_id=3187