Today 12/27 Mel Kiper says.......

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

RB's in that Broncos running scheme are/were expendable...they were churning out 1,000 yd backs like it was nothing after TD. Broncos would have been fine and IMO still would have made the SB.

Eh, not really.

Sure, they still turned out 1,000 yd backs, but not 1,700 and 2k yard backs like Davis was putting out there. I mean you're talking about the difference between a decent runningback (say Ahmad Bradshaw) and a great one (like AP).

They would've still had a decent running game, but not an elite one. With a declining Elway and without Davis at the absolute apex of his game (again, we're talking about almost 1,900 yds/season in those 2 SB years), I don't think that team wins a SB.

And in either event, if you think it was the Denver system that won them the SB, then is John Elway now a system QB? Regardless of how they got it, they do not win a SB without that running game.

It wasn't that Elway suddenly learned to be a leader, it was that he was given the tools to win and was able to do so in the twilight of his career.

Leadership is an after-acquired trait. We put the label on people after they win. Which tells me that it's largely mythical.