Profile of Chris Young on Famous Like Me

Denver Broncos

Helmet Logo
Conference	AFC
Division	West
Year Founded	1960
Home Field	INVESCO Field at Mile High
City	Denver, Colorado
Team Colors	Broncos Navy Blue, Orange, and White
Head Coach	Mike Shanahan
League Championships (2) Super Bowl: 1997 (XXXII), 1998 (XXXIII)
Conference Championships (6) AFC: 1977, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1997, 1998
Division Championships (9) AFC West: 1977, 1978, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998

The Denver Broncos are a National Football League team based in Denver, Colorado. The Broncos were founded in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The Denver Broncos were a backwater small-market team that met with little success in their early years but have since become one of the elite franchises of the league after having advanced to the Super Bowl six times. In their first four appearances, they suffered successively lopsided defeats, achieving near-legendary status as frustrated losers before winning back-to-back Super Bowl championships in 1998 and 1999 under quarterback John Elway, running back Terrell Davis and coach Mike Shanahan. For most of their history they played in Mile High Stadium, which became one of the shrines of professional football for its unbroken string of sell-outs and its famous home-field advantage percentage for the Broncos, especially during the post-season. Mile High Stadium was one of the NFL's loudest stadiums, with steel flooring instead of concrete, which may have given the Broncos an advantage over opponents. Since 2001, they have played at INVESCO Field at Mile High, built next to the former site of Mile High Stadium.

Founded: 1960

Home field: INVESCO Field at Mile High (capacity 76,125).

Previous home field: Mile High Stadium (1960-2000)

Signature cheer: "IN-COM-PLETE!" (whenever the opposing team has an incomplete forward pass.)

Uniform colors: "Broncos Navy Blue", Orange, and White

Helmet design: Navy Blue background with a white horse-head profile.

Franchise history

Although the Denver Broncos' 39-97-4 record was the worst of any of the original eight American Football League teams', the franchise had many proud moments and several AFL superstars, including Lionel Taylor and Floyd Little. The Broncos won the first-ever American Football League game, over the Boston Patriots (13-10) on September 9, 1960. They had the first black place-kicker in American professional football, Gene Mingo. They were the first AFL team ever to defeat an NFL team, on August 5, 1967 when they beat the Lions 13-7. They were the first pro football team to wear vertically-striped socks (and the first to burn their socks in a public ceremony!). Despite their relative lack of early success, the Broncos produced some memorable games, like the 38-38 tie against the Buffalo Bills in 1960.

Denver has reached the Super Bowl six times, winning it in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. It is odd to remember a time, then, when Denver was the lowliest of teams, managing its first winning season in 1973 after thirteen years of futility. Denver, in fact, came close to losing its franchise in 1965, but a local ownership group took control that year and began to build the team.

In 1967, under head coach Lou Saban, Denver took the field with almost two dozen rookies on its roster; though Saban's tenure was unsuccessful, it set the stage for later successes. In 1973, John Ralston coached the now-mature Broncos to a 7-5-2 record, including a dramatic tie with Oakland in Denver's first-ever Monday Night Football appearance that is still remembered as a pivotal game in Broncos history. Ralston coached the team until 1976, when well-publicized clashes between Ralston and his players led to Ralston's removal.

Rookie coach Red Miller along with the Orange Crush Defense and aging quarterback Craig Morton, promptly took Denver to its first playoff appearance -- and ultimately first Super Bowl -- in 1977. Prior to 1977 season, Denver had received very little national attention and was rarely featured on nationally-televised games.

Quarterback John Elway arrived in 1983. Originally drafted by the Baltimore Colts as the number one pick of the draft, Elway proclaimed that he would shun football in favor of baseball unless he was traded to a selected list of other teams, which included Denver. Prior to Elway, Denver had had over two dozen different starting quarterbacks in its twenty-three seasons to that point. Elway would remain the quarterback through five Super Bowls, three under head coach Dan Reeves and two under Mike Shanahan, and would end his career as the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII, his last NFL game. Since the 1998 season, Denver has only had one losing season (1999), and has made the playoffs as a wild card three times (in 2000, 2003, and 2004). However, they lost all three times in the wild card round.

So far in the 2005 season, the Broncos have gone 5-1. After losing their first game to the Miami Dolphins on September 11, the Broncos have won 5 straight, including against the defending champion New England Patriots on October 16. They have relied on their rushing game behind Tatum Bell and Mike Anderson and their defense to snuff opposing runningbacks. They currently place third in the league in rushing yards per game and fifth in rushing yards allowed.

Since the Shanahan era began, the Broncos have been known for having high-yardage running backs. Tuesday Morning Quarterback writer Gregg Easterbrook once mused that Denver’s helmets should have a label that says "Insert running back, gain 1000 yards." To wit: Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Clinton Portis, and, most recently, Reuben Droughns have all posted 1000-yard rushing seasons in Denver, with Davis shattering the 2000-yard barrier in 1998. So the debate rages on: is it Denver's system, or their running backs, that are responsible for the huge numbers year-in and year-out? Football Outsiders did a study to determine just that, and found some evidence that Denver's system of 'zone-blocking' did aid running backs, and that most rushers who succeed in Denver will have a drop-off elsewhere. The study can be found here.

Season-by-season

Players of note

Pro Football Hall of Famers

• John Elway (2004)

Current players

• Mike Anderson RB
• Champ Bailey CB
• Tatum Bell RB
• Ron Dayne RB
• Ebenezer Ekuban DE
• Jason Elam K
• John Engelberger DE
• George Foster OT
• Ian Gold LB
• Quentin Griffin RB
• Ben Hamilton G
• Kyle Johnson FB
• Ashley Lelie WR
• Matt Lepsis OT
• John Lynch FS
• Tom Nalen C
• Dan Neil G
• Jake Plummer QB
• Monsanto Pope DT
• Trevor Pryce DE
• Jeb Putzier TE
• Jashon Sykes LB
• Rod Smith WR
• Lenny Walls CB
• Gerard Warren DT
• Darius Watts WR
• D.J. Williams LB
• Al Wilson LB
• Chris Young SS

Retired numbers

• John Elway - #7
• Frank Tripucka - #18
• Floyd Little - #44

Not to be forgotten

• Lyle Alzado
• Steve Atwater
• Marlin Briscoe
• Dale Carter
• Mike Croel
• Terrell Davis (third player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season)
• Karl Dorrell (current head coach of the UCLA Bruins football team)
• Tony Dorsett
• Reuben Droughns
• Miller Farr
• Olandis Gary
• Cookie Gilchrist (born 1935)
• Goose Gonsoulin (born 1938)
• Randy Gradishar
• Abner Haynes
• Reggie Hayward
• Garrison Hearst
• Tom Jackson
• Micah Knorr
• Floyd Little (born 1942)
• Ed McCaffrey
• Wahoo McDaniel
• Karl Mecklenburg
• Gene Mingo (first black field goal kicker in professional football, 1960)
• John Mobley
• Craig Morton
• Clinton Portis
• Shannon Sharpe
• Dennis Smith
• Lionel Taylor (born 1935, first receiver with 100 catches in a season (1961))
• Jim Turner
• Rick Upchurch
• Gary Zimmerman

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Chris Young