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Best NFL Players of All Time: John Elway

Not until the 1997 season—the penultimate year of Elway’s career—was the book on John Elway finished. Elway’s athletic prowess was never in question, and the numbers had always been substantial. He was an incredible athlete who possessed arm strength that surpassed that of any quarterback, barring Dan Marino, and he was on par with Steve Young—who appears later on this list—in terms of his ability to make plays on the run and maintain plays alive.

Over his career, Elway established himself as a master of the fourth-quarter comeback, but one question had followed him into the NFL in 1983 following a stellar Stanford University career. Is he going to win the big game?

The Denver Broncos had been an AFC contender during his entire NFL tenure. Although the Broncos had won the conference championship three times, they had lost worse every time they went to the Super Bowl to the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.

A thorough examination of the events of Super Bowls XXI, XXII, and XXIV demonstrated that the Broncos’ primary cause for losing contact with their opponents was their overwhelming strength on both sides of the line of scrimmage. It was equally evident, though, that Elway did not perform well in either of those contests.

That was evidently the case in Super Bowl XXIV, when San Francisco defeated the Broncos 55–10. Elway had open receivers to throw to early in the game, but he was unable to do so, and his attempts to do so were ineffective. He attempted to pass the ball over their heads, bounce passes, and straight-up misses. Simultaneously, Joe Montana displayed uncanny agility as he dismantled the supposedly Denver defense with passes to Roger Craig, John Taylor, and Jerry Rice.

Elway’s disappointment was evident on his face. He was only ever interested in trying for another championship. It didn’t matter to him how many touchdowns, yards, and wins he had during the regular season.

“Returning to the Super Bowl was my obsession,” Elway admitted. “I had gone there three times, and each time ended poorly. Everyone donning a Denver uniform shared my desire to win a championship. It was significant to everyone of us individually and crucial to my professional development.

Whether it is right or incorrect, people evaluate us based on our performance in the final game of the season, so it was important to me to reach that point and, at last, leave the field grinning and satisfied with our performance. I was starting to worry that it might not go through.

A quarterback’s ability to make it to the Super Bowl is frequently uncontrollable. Still, he has control over the figures he posts on the board. The following are a few of Elway’s career’s more noteworthy figures:

• Six times a starter in the Pro Bowl and nine times a selection
• One MVP in the NFL (1987)
• MVP of one Super Bowl (XXXIII)
• Twelve seasons with at least 3,000 passing yards; 4,123 passes completed; 300 touchdown passes; 51,475 passing yards
• 32 touchdowns on the ground
• 47 drives in the fourth quarter that either tied or won the game

Until Elway led the Broncos to Super Bowl victories over the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons in his final two seasons, that final figure was arguably the most significant in his career. In the 1986 AFC Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns, his ability to lead the Broncos from behind became his trademark. In that game, the Broncos entered Cleveland’s historic Municipal Stadium in the midst of the Browns, led by Bernie Kosar, and yelling supporters in the “Dawg Pound.”

Both teams performed admirably, but after the Broncos recovered the ball at their own 2-yard line after a poor kickoff return, the Browns took a 20–13 lead late in the fourth quarter. Elway led Denver down the field and hit wide receiver Mark Jackson with the game-tying touchdown pass in the closing seconds to send the game into overtime while the Browns defense was putting up a fight on nearly every snap. Rich Karlis’ field goal in the extra session gave the Broncos the victory.

Elway’s fame was initially established on “The Drive,” but it wasn’t solidified until twelve years later when Denver defeated Green Bay by a score of 31–24 in Super Bowl XXXII. In that particular game, Elway stood victorious on the sidelines when the Broncos defense stopped Brett Favre on a desperate fourth-down pass, and Terrell Davis scored the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Elway returned to the field for one final play and declared it “the happiest moment of my career” by taking a knee.

After the victory, Pat Bowlen, the owner of the Broncos, hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy aloft and said to the cheering audience, “This one’s for John.”

The Broncos had become less of a force in the early 1990s, and that championship had seemed unattainable a few years before. However, Elway’s trajectory began to improve when Denver selected offensive guru Mike Shanahan as head coach in 1995 and selected standout running back Terrell Davis from the University of Georgia.

Elway was particularly happy with his new coach’s cooperation because Shanahan gave him a strong running game and the chance to spread the offense. Elway remarked, “It was just a great place to be.” We might try running the ball. No one could just stand back and wait for the pass because of our excellent ground game. That gave us the freedom to communicate.

Elway would play for one more season following the Super Bowl victory over the Packers, and it would conclude with another Super Bowl victory over the Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII. “It was incredible to have to wait for that first Super Bowl,” Elway remarked. “After everything we had experienced, it was incredible to grasp.” However, receiving another one was incredible, and I can’t imagine a more fitting way for my career to finish.”

It confirmed his place among the greatest players of all time in the game and gave him the validation he so desperately needed.

Best NFL Players of All Time: John Elway Stats

Regular Season

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	1D	Succ%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	Sk	Yds	Sk%	NY/A	ANY/A	4QC	GWD	AV
1983	23	DEN	QB	7	11	10	36622	123	259	47.5	1663	7	2.7	14	5.4			49	6.4	4.5	13.5	151.2	54.9	28	218	9.8	5.03	3.33	1	1	4
1984	24	DEN	QB	7	15	14	36862	214	380	56.3	2598	18	4.7	15	3.9			73	6.8	6	12.1	173.2	76.8	24	158	5.9	6.04	5.26	2	2	10
1985	25	DEN	QB	7	16	16	36835	327	605	54	3891	22	3.6	23	3.8			65	6.4	5.4	11.9	243.2	70.2	38	307	5.9	5.57	4.65	6	6	13
1986*	26	DEN	QB	7	16	16	36835	280	504	55.6	3485	19	3.8	13	2.6			53	6.9	6.5	12.4	217.8	79	32	233	6	6.07	5.68	1	1	14
1987*	27	DEN	QB	7	12	12	37106	224	410	54.6	3198	19	4.6	12	2.9			72	7.8	7.4	14.3	266.5	83.4	20	138	4.7	7.12	6.74	3	2	14
1988	28	DEN	QB	7	15	15	36745	274	496	55.2	3309	17	3.4	19	3.8			86	6.7	5.6	12.1	220.6	71.4	30	237	5.7	5.84	4.86	1	1	12
1989*	29	DEN	QB	7	15	15	36804	223	416	53.6	3051	18	4.3	18	4.3			69	7.3	6.3	13.7	203.4	73.7	35	298	7.8	6.1	5.11	2	2	12
1990	30	DEN	QB	7	16	16	36657	294	502	58.6	3526	15	3	14	2.8			66	7	6.4	12	220.4	78.5	43	311	7.9	5.9	5.29	1	3	14
1991*	31	DEN	QB	7	16	16	36864	242	451	53.7	3253	13	2.9	12	2.7			71	7.2	6.6	13.4	203.3	75.4	45	305	9.1	5.94	5.38	1	4	14
1992	32	DEN	QB	7	12	12	36742	174	316	55.1	2242	10	3.2	17	5.4			80	7.1	5.3	12.9	186.8	65.7	36	272	10.2	5.6	3.99	3	3	7
1993*	33	DEN	QB	7	16	16	36776	348	551	63.2	4030	25	4.5	10	1.8			63	7.3	7.4	11.6	251.9	92.8	39	293	6.6	6.33	6.42	1	1	17
1994*	34	DEN	QB	7	14	14	36714	307	494	62.1	3490	16	3.2	10	2	163	45	63	7.1	6.8	11.4	249.3	85.7	46	303	8.5	5.9	5.66	2	3	13
1995	35	DEN	QB	7	16	16	36746	316	542	58.3	3970	26	4.8	14	2.6	190	45.7	62	7.3	7.1	12.6	248.1	86.4	22	180	3.9	6.72	6.52	1	3	15
1996*	36	DEN	QB	7	15	15	13-2-0	287	466	61.6	3328	26	5.6	14	3	164	43.3	51	7.1	6.9	11.6	221.9	89.2	26	194	5.3	6.37	6.15	4	4	15
1997*	37	DEN	QB	7	16	16	36864	280	502	55.8	3635	27	5.4	11	2.2	166	41.6	78	7.2	7.3	13	227.2	87.5	34	203	6.3	6.4	6.49	0	2	18
1998*	38	DEN	QB	7	13	12	36801	210	356	59	2806	22	6.2	10	2.8	141	49.2	58	7.9	7.9	13.4	215.8	93	18	135	4.8	7.14	7.11	2	2	14
Career					234	231	148-82-1	4123	7250	56.9	51475	300	4.1	226	3.1	824	44.7	86	7.1	6.5	12.5	220	79.9	516	3785	6.6	6.14	5.6	31	40	206

Playoffs

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	1D	Succ%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	Sk	Yds	Sk%	NY/A	ANY/A	4QC	GWD
1983	23	DEN		1	0	0-0	10	15	66.7	123	0	0	1	6.7			31	8.2	5.2	12.3	123	64	0	0	0	8.2	5.2
1984	24	DEN	QB	1	1	0-1	19	37	51.4	184	2	5.4	2	5.4			21	5	3.6	9.7	184	61.1	4	37	9.8	3.59	2.37
1986*	26	DEN	QB	3	3	45323	57	107	53.3	805	3	2.8	4	3.7			54	7.5	6.4	14.1	268.3	71.6	6	49	5.3	6.69	5.63	1	1
1987*	27	DEN	QB	3	3	45323	42	89	47.2	797	6	6.7	5	5.6			80	9	7.8	19	265.7	77.8	8	79	8.2	7.4	6.32	0	1
1989*	29	DEN	QB	3	3	45323	42	82	51.2	732	4	4.9	3	3.7			70	8.9	8.3	17.4	244	83	6	51	6.8	7.74	7.11	1	1
1991*	31	DEN	QB	2	2	45292	30	54	55.6	378	1	1.9	2	3.7			44	7	5.7	12.6	189	68.3	3	24	5.3	6.21	4.98	1	1
1993*	33	DEN	QB	1	1	0-1	29	47	61.7	302	3	6.4	1	2.1			25	6.4	6.7	10.4	302	92.7	1	5	2.1	6.19	6.5
1996*	36	DEN	QB	1	1	0-1	25	38	65.8	226	2	5.3	0	0	11	40.5	18	5.9	7	9	226	99.2	1	1	2.6	5.77	6.79
1997*	37	DEN	QB	4	4	36617	56	96	58.3	726	3	3.1	2	2.1	33	52.9	43	7.6	7.3	13	181.5	83.9	6	44	5.9	6.69	6.39	1	2
1998*	38	DEN	QB	3	3	36586	45	86	52.3	691	3	3.5	1	1.2	30	49.3	80	8	8.2	15.4	230.3	85.9	4	28	4.4	7.37	7.53
Career				22	21	14-7	355	651	54.5	4964	27	4.1	21	3.2	74	42.9	80	7.6	7	14	225.6	79.7	39	318	5.7	6.73	6.15	4	6

 

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