'Hopefully ... a wake-up call'
With loss, Broncos can relax, concentrate on Super Bowl
Posted: Sunday December 13, 1998 07:30 PM
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Downer: Elway did not throw a touchdown pass Sunday, passing for only 180 yards AP |
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (AP) -- Neil Smith isn't thrilled
about imperfection, but he's hardly devastated that Denver's quest for an
unbeaten season was buried in the Meadowlands.
"The pressure's off and the burden is lifted," the Broncos defensive end
said.
The New York Giants
shocked the Broncos 20-16 on Sunday, ending Denver's 18-game winning steak
and any hopes it had of being the first perfect team since the '72 Miami Dolphins.
Smith's reaction was echoed by many of the Broncos, from coach Mike
Shanahan on down. They wanted to win every game, they weren't happy they
lost, but their main goal remains another Super Bowl victory.
And yes, they have felt the pressure for the last few weeks -- turning the
ball over repeatedly in San Diego; needing John Elway to bring them
back from 10 points down in the final quarter against Kansas City last
week; and finally losing to the Giants.
This week, it was Kent
Graham, the Giants' journeyman quarterback, who out-Elwayed Elway. He
drove the Giants 86 yards in six plays for the winning TD, a 37-yard pass
that Amani Toomer
caught by leaping over Denver safety Tito Paul.
But that was only the culmination of a game in which Denver could not do
what it's done so well this season -- get the ball in the end zone.
The Broncos scored only one touchdown, the first time this season they had
been held to fewer than three. And the 16 points were less than half their
33.5 points they were averaging entering the game -- twice in the first
half they had to settle for short field goals at a time they might have put
New York away.
"I credit them," Elway said. "Their defensive front is as good as any we've
seen and they kept everything in front of them. They let us move, but we
could never make the big play and we're used to that.
"It's one of the things about being unbeaten this late -- we're not
sneaking up on anybody."
Even Shanahan could see a bright side.
"The last couple of games we have not been playing like we did earlier in
the season," he said. "Hopefully, this game will be a wake up call for us
and we'll start playing our best football and carry it over into the
playoffs."
The loss does put a damper on one thing: the confrontation in Miami next
Monday night, when the current Dolphins would have been trying to protect
the record of the 1972 team. No Bronco would admit looking beyond the
Giants to that game.
But for the most part, the biggest concern was regaining momentum. And, one
other thing.
"I have trouble being relieved when we lose a game," linebacker Bill Romanowski said. "But
the biggest thing is that when we win, we just show up Monday and work out.
Tomorrow we're going to have to go to meetings and practice a little. And
we're going to have to practice in helmets on Friday."
Yes. The Broncos now know how the other half lives. Make that the other 29
teams.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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