John Elway stood at a podium in the middle of the field at Mile High Stadium and, with a white baseball cap and a smile from here to Fort Collins,made a statement no one in the Rockies will ever forget. "I love you!" he exclaimed as he thrust his arms into the air. The 75,482 fans Elway had issued the proclamation towards voiced their affection for him by sending out a deafening cheer.
It wasn't the only roar aimed at the man who, for 16 years, had provided so many magical moments. But it may have been the biggest. They weren't just saying "farewell"; they were saying "thanks again" as well. In perhaps his final game ever at Mile High, Elway did what he had done so many times before: delivered a comeback win. Elway orchestrated four third-quarter scoring drives to help the Broncos overcome a 10-0 deficit and take a commanding 20-10 lead. The Question:Is Elway the greatest quarterback of his era? The best quarterback of his era? You can make a very strong argument that John Elway is the best quarterback of all-time.
There are only two quarterbacks who have ever thrown for 50,000 yards -- Elway and Dan Marino. Not even Marino, even though he owns most of the records, has the complete package Elway has.
Unfortunately, we measure greatness too often by how many Super Bowl rings you own or how many times your name might be in a record book. Football is a team sport, and Elway is a perfect example of why you can be perhaps the greatest player to ever play the position and not be regarded as such by a lot of people because you don't have your name on many Lombardi Trophies.
Elway has been as effective a scrambling quarterback as anyone who has played the game, including Fran Tarkenton. Steve Young has certainly thrown for a lot of yards and is a very mobile quarterback. But given the fourth-quarter comebacks, "The Drive," his ability to put up 50,000 yards, his durability over time, his ability to not only rush the ball, Elway is as good as anyone who's ever played the game. Even now as his skills have eroded with age, he has the ability to work within the confines of the pocket and slip away from pressure to buy some more time.
People will say, "Well, he only won one Super Bowl." Some detractors think his performance in big games hasn't been up to par. Look at the Super Bowls he has played in, and his numbers have not been good. In the victory over Green Bay last year, his numbers weren't even that good.
You could argue that if it weren't for Terrell Davis, he still wouldn't have a Super Bowl trophy. But I think that's a narrow-minded approach.
You have to look at the big picture. Take Elway's skills and his abilities, look at them individually in terms of his ability to play the position in a team sport. You then come to one conclusion: He might be the greatest of all-time.