Bronco Legends Pair Off As Arena Football Heads
Courtesy of the Arena Football League
Football games are won and lost on the field -- not in the owner's box. But, when the Colorado Crush visit the Kansas City Brigade this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET on NBC at Kemper Arena, a lot of eyes will be focused on a pair of high-profile owners.
Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway is the co-owner of the Crush, while former Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs lineman Neil Smith is vice president and co-owner of the expansion Brigade.
Colorado (American Conference, Central) and Kansas City (National Conference, Southern) are in different divisions in the AFL, but Sunday's game opens a new chapter in the unique rivalry.
The cities of Kansas City and Denver have a long history on the football field. In the NFL, the Broncos and Chiefs have squared off a total of 91 times in the regular season. Smith and Elway faced each other on 18 occasions during their NFL careers with Elway winning 10 of those head-to-head matchups. The last time the two squared off against each other was Oct. 27, 1996 and Elway escaped with a 34-7 win in Denver.
Elway spent his entire 16-year NFL career with the Broncos, while Smith played nine seasons (1988-1996) in Kansas City before joining the Broncos (1997-99) and San Diego Chargers (2000).
"When I played against John (Elway) he always brought my game to another level," Smith said. "Then, after all those years of hating him, I finally joined him and I saw that he was an elite individual. It never crossed my mind that we would be going against each other again."
Smith, a member of the Kansas City Chiefs' Ring of Honor and a six-time Pro Bowl selection, used to terrorize Elway in their AFC West duels. Smith sacked Elway a total of 14 times, the most on Elway by any player. The pair later teamed up to win two consecutive Super Bowl titles with the Broncos from 1998-99.
"(Neil) was a great player," Elway said of his former rival and teammate. "If he didn't sack me the most of anybody I played against, he sure was pretty close.
"We had a good rivalry with him when he was in Kansas City, but then he left the dark side and came over to the good side. He was a leader, a competitor and a great teammate."
Despite Smith's on-field success as a player, his expansion Brigade hasn't exactly started their inaugural campaign in storybook fashion. The club wasn 't even supposed to field a team in '06 until the devastating affects of Hurricane Katrina forced the New Orleans VooDoo to suspend operations.
Once it was decided that the VooDoo players still under contract would be allocated to Kansas City for this season, the Brigade had just three months to pull things together - everything from getting equipment to selling tickets.
"I feel good about what we've got here," Smith said. "The fan support has been great and that's probably what I'm most proud of.
"In a short period of time, we went from having zero tickets sold to nearly 10,000 season tickets and we're at 15,000 for every game. The fans have been supporting us regardless of what our record is."
Since joining the expansion Brigade, Smith's competitive spirit hasn't swayed. He's enthusiastic that the Brigade can improve upon their 2-9 start.
"I've been doing whatever I have to do to make us better," he said. "I get down on the field and coach a little. I work with player personnel. I'm a champion and I hate to lose.
"We're making moves to get better now and getting ready for the future. Our fans know it's our first year and it's good to know there's room to grow."
If anyone knows about the frustration of struggling through an expansion season it's Elway. In 2003, Colorado went 2-14, including 0-8 at home, despite leading the league in attendance with an average of 17,427 fans per game.
"It's hard when things start to snowball on you and it's tough to get out of that, but you have to keep fighting," Elway said.
Elway made a few changes and the next season the Crush improved to 11-5 and qualified for their first playoff appearance. In 2005, Colorado finished with a 10-6 regular season mark and went on to win the ArenaBowl.
"We had a good base and a good core group of guys that took over the leadership after the 2-14 season," Elway said. "We were able to get things turned around in a hurry."
Smith saw first-hand that it doesn't necessarily have to take years to right the ship in the AFL as Colorado proved last year. If Elway and the Crush can do it, why can't the Brigade?
"I'm committed," Smith said. "I know what it was like for John the first year in Colorado. We've talked a lot. I know I can call John because he's always there for me. I just hate the fact that he never wants to let his players go -- but that's how he is. He's a competitor and I can respect that."
Smith and the Brigade will get their shot at Elway and the Crush on Sunday in front of a national television audience on NBC. The Crush are still fighting for a top playoff spot, while Kansas City's postseason hopes are likely done for this season.
But, Smith is still looking forward to seeing his friend.
"This is a national TV game for us. We will make a few hundred P.A. announcements letting everyone know he's in the building," Smith joked, "because you know they love him here in Kansas City."
Broncos Add To Load of High Draft Picks
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Broncos' first-round compliment is down to one pick, but their Day 1 class now includes four picks.
Wednesday morning, Denver traded the No. 22 pick in the first round to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for their second- and third-round choices, at the Nos. 37 and 68 slots in the overall order.
The Broncos now have four picks in the first 68 selections, controlling the No. 15 selection and the 37th, 61st and 68th picks. By comparison, the Broncos did not pick until the No. 56 slot last year (Darrent Williams) and then made three choices between No. 76 and 101.
"As we look at this draft, it's not that we didn't value the 22nd pick and we didn't see that there would be a player at the 22nd pick that could help us. We truly think there will be," General Manager Ted Sundquist said. "What we did see was a tremendous number of players at that range at the second and third rounds that we feel like can come in and help us, so we feel like there's strength in numbers, so to speak."
The 61st is the only one of the Broncos' original first-day picks that they still control. Denver traded its first- and third-round picks to the Falcons in order to obtain the 15th selection; Atlanta subsequently sent that No. 29 pick to the Jets for John Abraham.
It has been six years since Denver had four of the first 70 picks. That year, the Broncos' haul began in the same slot where their first-round pick rests (No. 15), where they picked Deltha O'Neal. Ian Gold (No. 40) and Kenoy Kennedy (No. 45) followed int he second round before the team picked wide receiver Chris Cole at the 70th selection.
Last year, the Broncos found Williams and Domonique Foxworth in the second and third rounds, respectively. Both played extensively.
"(The second and third rounds) are really good rounds to find quality players, and on a veteran football team like ours coming off a deep playoff run, it's very difficult to find rookie players that can have an immediate starting impact," Sundquist said, "but you can get a number of talented guys in that second or third round that can come in, provide quality depth, back up your veteran team and be ready to go should they be called upon."
If Denver holds on to its second-round picks, it would give them a pair of choices in that round for the fourth time since 1999. What's more, the Broncos have seven picks in the first 130 of this year's draft, thanks to the 2005 trade with the Washington Redskins and the NFL's dispensation of a compensatory pick to the Broncos last month.
"Those fours give you a tremendous amount of leverage to move up in the first day," Sundquist said. "That gives you a little bit of wiggle room. If you're sitting down there at 61, and there's somebody at 56, you can say, 'Hey, let's go get him.'"
The deal with the Redskins last April was the opening swap of a series of exchanges that shaped the entire form of the Broncos' 2006 draft plan.
To re-trace:
Last April, the Broncos receive the Redskins' third-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft and their first- and fourth-round selections in the 2006 NFL Draft. The '05 third-rounder (No. 76 overall) became Karl Paymah.
The 2006 first-rounder became the pick the Broncos traded to San Francisco on Wednesday. The Broncos still have Washington's fourth-round selection, which is the 119th pick overall.
That gives the Broncos Paymah and the 37th, 68th and 119th picks in exchange for last year's first-rounder, giving Denver three more picks in a draft that is widely considered to be deeper in talent than last year's.
"We've taken the 25th first-round pick last year and turned it into four players," Sundquist said.
"It wasn't a case of San Francisco coming to us or anything like that, it was more along the lines of (thinking that) as we got through our evaluations as a staff, looked at our particular needs on the football team and looked at what we thought would be available at 22, and weighed whether this guy could help us versus getting help in multiple areas.
"We felt like this was a good move."
DEALING FOR THE DRAFT:
Seahawks Play Broncos for 1st time in 4 years
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- It would have taken an utter implausibility for Domonique Foxworth to be in any way stunned by the Broncos' 2006 schedule.
"They didn't put any CFL teams on there, so I'm not surprised," Foxworth said. "It's all teams that I expected we should play. I'm excited for a chance to play the (Pittsburgh) Steelers and another chance against the (New England) Patriots. They're good measuring sticks every year."
The Patriots contest is one of two Broncos games to air on NBC's new Sunday night television package. Two other prime-time games and a season-opening contest at St. Louis also highlight the late.
Denver will play three consecutive games in prime time, beginning with the Patriots on Sept. 24. The Broncos have a Week 4 bye, then come home on Oct. 9 to face the Baltimore Ravens on MNF in Denver. Six days later, the Broncos' home clash with the arch-rival Oakland Raiders will take place on Sunday night with a 6:15 p.m. MDT kickoff time.
The league had announced the Broncos' Thanksgiving night game at Kansas City last month.
Denver's total of four prime-time games could increase. The times for the Broncos' games in Weeks 1011, 13-15 and 17 will be determined as the season progresses, per the NFL's new flexible-scheduling policy, announced Wednesday. The policy is designed to provide the prime-time, over-the-air broadcast with the best possible matchup.
The league will announce which game will be played on Sunday night no later than 12 days prior to game time, with the exception of Week 17, when the determination could be made as late as Dec. 25, six days before the regular season ends on New Year's Eve.
For now, the Broncos' Sunday kickoffs for Weeks 10-11, 13-15 and 17 are all set for traditional afternoon times.
The NFL's scheduling rotation ensures that the Broncos know who 14 of their 16 opponents will be for each season until 2009. The final two opponents are determined by the standings. This year, the last two opponents to be added to Denver's slate were the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, both of whom finished in first place in their respective divisions, as the Broncos did in the AFC West.
Other highlights of this year's schedule include ...
- The Seattle Seahawks' first visit to Denver since moving from the AFC West to the NFC West in 2002 (Dec. 3);
- The Broncos' first regular-season visits to Cleveland Browns Stadium (Oct. 22), Heinz Field (Nov. 5) and Arizona Cardinals Stadium (Dec. 17);
- A third consecutive December trip to San Diego;
- A second consecutive year with games on Christmas Eve (Cincinnati) and New Year's Eve (San Francisco)
- The team's earliest bye week since 1993;
- Back-to-back home games to close the regular season for the first time since 1987.
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