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"The common goal is just win championships. I'm hoping that I can help him do that."
Having gone from star Stanford quarterback to Yankees recruit to leading the Denver Broncos to two Super Bowl victories and now running the team's front office, John Elway has built a pretty strong case for appearing in the latest string of Dove's Men+Care "Journey to Comfort" ads, which have featured the likes of Shaq and Michigan State's Tom Izzo. Now, coming off Sunday night's win over the Steelers and with an eye toward Week Two's Monday Night Football game against the Atlanta Falcons (stay tuned for more), the man behind The Drive talks the upcoming season, Peyton Manning, and if we'll ever see a Tebow start in New York.
ESQUIRE.COM: So, we're a week in. How's it feel so far with Peyton and everything?
JOHN ELWAY: You know, things are good. We're excited about that first win because it was at home against a good football team. It was important for us to get over the hump. And people kind of realized what we have to go into, if you look at our schedule the next two weeks. We're going to Atlanta and playing on Monday night, then we come home against Houston. You look at those three teams and they're all Super Bowl contenders. And it was a very good start for Peyton. When you haven't played for a year, it's always difficult to come back and see how you're going to do. I'm sure there were some question marks in mind, so it was good to see him come out and have a great night.
ESQ: Did he express any concern to you going into the first game?
JE: No, not really. Like I said, I'm sure there were some questions in there, but he did not relay those to me.
ESQ: Did you draw any comparisons to the playoff game against the Steelers last year with your opening game against them this year? It's a whole new offense, and obviously an entirely new quarterback.
JE: Well, I think you hit it on the nose that our style â€" it was totally different last year than it is this year with Peyton. And it goes to show, you can win with two different styles. We played well last year, made some big plays against them to win that playoff game and then threw the ball a little bit more this time but also made some big plays.
ESQ: Everyone's talking about Peyton's no-huddle. Is that something you hope to stick with on Monday?
JE: Yeah. That's something that Peyton's had in his repertoire for a long time and he's very successful with it. We'll pick and choose, but yeah, there's no question â€" I'm sure we'll use it. I think if you look throughout the NFL, everybody's going to it more now because of the fact that it puts so much pressure on the defense.
ESQ: In choosing Peyton, did you see some of yourself in him?
JE: Well, there's a certain telepathy among all quarterbacks and the way that quarterbacks think, because I think it's the hardest position to play in sports. So there's a little bit of a fraternity there. I think Peyton's style and my style are different, but the common goal â€" now that he's already going to be in the Hall of Fame and he's going to go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time â€" is just win championships. I'm hoping that I can help him do that.
ESQ: Have the Denver fans embraced him as much as they embraced Tebow last year?
JE: Yes, they really have. I think everyone was curious to see how he was going to do coming off the surgeries â€" that was always the big question mark. Sunday night, the stadium was electric.
ESQ: In the offseason with all the talk was: Peyton in Denver, Tebow in New York. Were you prepared for that amount of saturation?
JE: Yeah. I went through the Tebow thing last year, and so you look at Tim Tebow and what he's done in his career and you also look at Peyton Manning: They're both guys that are very popular and garner very much media attention and so it didn't surprise me, especially, having gone through Tebow-mania here.
ESQ: It's got to feel a lot different, though.
JE: Right. I think Tim Tebow, because of the type of person he is, has a tremendous following. And Peyton Manning, because of what he's done in the NFL â€" there's great intrigue with both those guys.
ESQ: Tebow's probably watching your tape from Sunday against the Steelers right now, with the Jets going up against them this weekend. Do you think he should be playing ahead of Mark Sanchez?
JE: We've had our hands full trying to get ready here, so I really haven't paid too much attention with what's going on in New York. I know what Tim brings to a football team. He brings a desire and a competitiveness, and so there's a lot of things he's going to be able to help the Jets with. As far as â€" I'm not going to get in the middle of who should be that starter. [Laughs.]
ESQ: But it'll be interesting to see if he does end up starting further on down the line in the season.
JE: Yeah, that'll be interesting to watch, but obviously when they come out and score 48 points the first week after not having scored a touchdown in preseason, they found something.
ESQ: Right. So you would think Sanchez would stick around.
JE: Like I said, I don’t know what their plans are and how they're gonna use Tim. I know they used him on some special-teams things, and that first play of the game he was at H-back or a tight-end position, so I'm sure they're going to try to use him as a football player.
ESQ: Lotta promising rookie football players out there this year. Andrew Luck is a Stanford grad like yourself. Do you keep an eye on him?
JE: Yeah. I think he's gonna have a great career. He did well in the preseason. Obviously, he had a tough opener against the Bears last week, but I think he's gonna be tremendous and continue to get better, especially as the team around him gets better. RG3 had a great start in Washington, and then you have the young guys from last year that started, [Jake] Locker and [Christian] Ponder, and [Blaine] Gabbert's playing better. This is such a quarterback-driven league â€" you gotta have somebody in that position to really be successful. And there's a lot of good young quarterbacks that are coming up.
ESQ: How does that set up the Broncos? You have a relatively older team in terms of quarterback. Does that worry you?
JE: I think you want a good mix. We drafted Ronnie Hillman in the third round as a running back â€" that is kind of a change of pace for Willis [McGahee]. And we drafted Brock Osweiler in the second round as a quarterback out of Arizona State that will hopefully be the guy that can take over for Peyton when he's finished â€" whether that's three, four, five years from now. We start training those young guys now to be able to step in when the older guard is no longer around.
ESQ: When Peyton signed on, this was a now thing.
JE: I think that you always have to believe that you can win the Super Bowl, and there's a lot of things that go into it. Number one is coming together as a team. And a lot of it comes down to some luck, too â€" you've got to be able to stay healthy. So, who knows? We're only one game in, but I think everybody feels like we're a better football team now than we were at this point in time last year. We feel like we have a chance.
ESQ: Did you happen to catch Von Miller doing his Tebow after that sack last week?
JE: You know what? I think I was coming down out of the press box, so I think I missed the Tebowing. I saw the other one where he was doing his legs wild and crazy, but I must have missed the Tebow.
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