What a magical season 86 was, as a 9 year old kid I watched every game that year actually since 1985 to today I've missed only a few games. Witnessing The Drive was amazing and even at that young age I knew how special it was. Pure magic watching those early Elway Broncos.
Had this on VHS as a kid, watched it 1000 times. Thanks for the upload. The Broncos were screwed over by blatantly obvious refball in that Super Bowl. They hated our cocky young quarterback and decided to take him down a notch. Elway hit Kay for a 40 yard gain shortly before halftime, which the refs conferenced about and called an incomplete pass. It was not. You can see the catch in this very video, @2:04. On the very next play, Elway was sacked for a safety. Of the three Broncos teams that lost in the Super Bowl with Elway, this is the one that should have won. They were better than the Giants.
I've read a lot of ignorant stuff in TH-cam comments over the past 24 hours, but this takes the cake. "They were better than the Giants"... what a truly asinine comment. The Broncos were 11-5, the Giants were 14-2. The 1986 Giants had one of the best defenses in NFL history. The Broncos barely squeaked past two mediocre AFC teams (Pats and Browns) in the playoffs, the Giants steamrolled Joe Montana's 49ers (4 Super Bowls) 49-3, blanked the Redskins 17-0 (3 Super Bowls) and then decimated the Broncos 39-20 in a Super Bowl that wasn't competitive after three quarters. Go back and watch this video for the 1,001 time... maybe you'll notice it doesn't cover how their season ended. And too bad about being stuck with Russell Wilson for the next three seasons.
He hit ORSON MOBLEY not KAY..and it took eight minutes for the correct angle to be produced well after, several plays after the play, was not overturned, CBS? I will just bet if it were the NEW YORK GIANTS who had completed that pass, that replay would've popped up a lot faster. Really! Having said that, IT WAS NOT CASHING IN on two redzone first half trips and two missed chipshot fgoals by KARLIS who probably missed or nearly missed what was called the AFC winning overtime fgoal, along with an injured TOM JACKSON not being able to come back and play in the second half of the SBOWL along with BILL PARCELLS going for it on 4th down with backup qback JEFF RUTLEDGE with a qback sneak for the first down after DENVER had already put out their special teams unit on the field, that cost our guys the game. Those items, and that lucky as hell PHIL MCCONKEY... IT Stinks to this day!
@@hyou5603, I am a 50 year BRONCO fan and I agree wholeheartedly with you. But, it killed us when TOM JACKSON could not play in the second half. Remember, the GIANTS only scored 7 pts on offense in the first half before TOM playing in his final game ever, was hurt. Going back to the regular season, the NYGIANTS offense for 6 quarters only scored 19 pts. on a TOM JAX BRONC defense, with 12 of those pts. coming at home in their MEADOWLANDS. The DEN. defense was never the same after TOM J. left that game. They gave up 30 pts in the second half. But, they were never the same in that half. That is indisputable.
I'm not a Broncos fan (Saints fan, actually), but considering that the 1986 season was Jackson's 14th and ultimately last season as an NFL LB, is it really so surprising that seeing that he was already one of the oldest players in the NFL at the time, his physical playing health might be decline. He'd been a great, Broncos HOF player since early 70's, but by mid-80's, his best, most productive days were long behind him. Gradishar was long gone by that point, Louis Wright, IIRC, would retire after the 1986-87 seasons, newer, fresher, younger guys like Mecklenburg, Jones, Simon Fletcher, Dennis Smith, and Mike Harden were taking the place of the older, legendary, first-generation, late 70's "Orange Crush" defense. What's also interesting is that even though Denver hadn't stopped being a successful, perennial playoff contender, their AFC Div. win vs. Patriots was their first post-season win since the 1977 AFCCG vs. Oakland. Denver had made postseason in 1978, 79, 1983-84, barely missed out on another appearance in 85 with a 11-5 season, plus another non-playoff winning season in 1981. Thats essentially 7 seasons worth of outstanding high-caliber football and yet for a decade, Broncos were watching the playoffs from their couches like everyone else come 2nd weekend of January. Its very difficult and hard to reconcile that sort of disparity but it also shows that mid-80's, Elway had firmly put his imprint on the Broncos in every meaningful aspect of the organization that the team and him become intricately linked. 1986 was the beginning of the huge heights Elway would lead Denver to over the next decade but it was also sort of the last gasp of the late 70's "Orange Crush" defense, the remaining remnants being able to muscle up and re-establish their dominance one last time before the new generation was over. In terms of Denver's three SB losses in the 1980's, one of the major reasons they lost the first two (SB's XXI and XXII) was that they out-coached, out-played, and made some very bad, poorly executed plays or didnt adjust properly. Most Broncos fans over the years have said that Reeves got out-matched and out-coached by New York and Washington, and that his teams made too many mental mistakes because he thought he was this super-technical super genius like his mentor, Tom Landry and while his technical skills might work against Marty Schottenheimer and Jerry Glanville, it'll fail miserably against more intelligent, better-prepared HC's like Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells. Most Broncos fans Ive talked to say the two 80's SB losses they lose sleep over the most are SB XXI and XXII, not SB XXIV because 1989 Niners squad was far and away better then Denver that year.
Reeves knows how to lose in the Big Game. SEVEN TIMES. Once as a player. Twice as an assistant coach. Four times as a head coach. One win as a player. One win as an assistant coach. 2-7.
RIP Joe Collier who passed this week. This season stands as a tribute to Collier's greatness and innovative thinking.
What a magical season 86 was, as a 9 year old kid I watched every game that year actually since 1985 to today I've missed only a few games. Witnessing The Drive was amazing and even at that young age I knew how special it was. Pure magic watching those early Elway Broncos.
Geez, NFL Films would make a mint if they released all these annual highlight specials on video for each team.
Had this on VHS as a kid, watched it 1000 times. Thanks for the upload.
The Broncos were screwed over by blatantly obvious refball in that Super Bowl. They hated our cocky young quarterback and decided to take him down a notch. Elway hit Kay for a 40 yard gain shortly before halftime, which the refs conferenced about and called an incomplete pass. It was not. You can see the catch in this very video, @2:04. On the very next play, Elway was sacked for a safety.
Of the three Broncos teams that lost in the Super Bowl with Elway, this is the one that should have won. They were better than the Giants.
I've read a lot of ignorant stuff in TH-cam comments over the past 24 hours, but this takes the cake. "They were better than the Giants"... what a truly asinine comment. The Broncos were 11-5, the Giants were 14-2. The 1986 Giants had one of the best defenses in NFL history. The Broncos barely squeaked past two mediocre AFC teams (Pats and Browns) in the playoffs, the Giants steamrolled Joe Montana's 49ers (4 Super Bowls) 49-3, blanked the Redskins 17-0 (3 Super Bowls) and then decimated the Broncos 39-20 in a Super Bowl that wasn't competitive after three quarters. Go back and watch this video for the 1,001 time... maybe you'll notice it doesn't cover how their season ended. And too bad about being stuck with Russell Wilson for the next three seasons.
He hit ORSON MOBLEY not KAY..and it took eight minutes for the correct angle to be produced well after, several plays after the play, was not overturned, CBS?
I will just bet if it were the NEW YORK GIANTS who had completed that pass, that replay would've popped up a lot faster.
Really!
Having said that, IT WAS NOT CASHING IN on two redzone first half trips and two missed chipshot fgoals by KARLIS who probably missed or nearly missed what was called the AFC winning overtime fgoal, along with an injured TOM JACKSON not being able to come back and play in the second half of the SBOWL along with BILL PARCELLS going for it on 4th down with backup qback JEFF RUTLEDGE with a qback sneak for the first down after DENVER had already put out their special teams unit on the field, that cost our guys the game.
Those items, and that lucky as hell PHIL MCCONKEY...
IT Stinks to this day!
@@hyou5603, I am a 50 year BRONCO fan and I agree wholeheartedly with you.
But, it killed us when TOM JACKSON could not play in the second half.
Remember, the GIANTS only scored 7 pts on offense in the first half before TOM playing in his final game ever, was hurt.
Going back to the regular season, the NYGIANTS offense for 6 quarters only scored 19 pts. on a TOM JAX BRONC defense, with 12 of those pts. coming at home in their MEADOWLANDS.
The DEN. defense was never the same after TOM J. left that game.
They gave up 30 pts in the second half.
But, they were never the same in that half.
That is indisputable.
I'm not a Broncos fan (Saints fan, actually), but considering that the 1986 season was Jackson's 14th and ultimately last season as an NFL LB, is it really so surprising that seeing that he was already one of the oldest players in the NFL at the time, his physical playing health might be decline. He'd been a great, Broncos HOF player since early 70's, but by mid-80's, his best, most productive days were long behind him. Gradishar was long gone by that point, Louis Wright, IIRC, would retire after the 1986-87 seasons, newer, fresher, younger guys like Mecklenburg, Jones, Simon Fletcher, Dennis Smith, and Mike Harden were taking the place of the older, legendary, first-generation, late 70's "Orange Crush" defense.
What's also interesting is that even though Denver hadn't stopped being a successful, perennial playoff contender, their AFC Div. win vs. Patriots was their first post-season win since the 1977 AFCCG vs. Oakland. Denver had made postseason in 1978, 79, 1983-84, barely missed out on another appearance in 85 with a 11-5 season, plus another non-playoff winning season in 1981. Thats essentially 7 seasons worth of outstanding high-caliber football and yet for a decade, Broncos were watching the playoffs from their couches like everyone else come 2nd weekend of January. Its very difficult and hard to reconcile that sort of disparity but it also shows that mid-80's, Elway had firmly put his imprint on the Broncos in every meaningful aspect of the organization that the team and him become intricately linked. 1986 was the beginning of the huge heights Elway would lead Denver to over the next decade but it was also sort of the last gasp of the late 70's "Orange Crush" defense, the remaining remnants being able to muscle up and re-establish their dominance one last time before the new generation was over.
In terms of Denver's three SB losses in the 1980's, one of the major reasons they lost the first two (SB's XXI and XXII) was that they out-coached, out-played, and made some very bad, poorly executed plays or didnt adjust properly. Most Broncos fans over the years have said that Reeves got out-matched and out-coached by New York and Washington, and that his teams made too many mental mistakes because he thought he was this super-technical super genius like his mentor, Tom Landry and while his technical skills might work against Marty Schottenheimer and Jerry Glanville, it'll fail miserably against more intelligent, better-prepared HC's like Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells. Most Broncos fans Ive talked to say the two 80's SB losses they lose sleep over the most are SB XXI and XXII, not SB XXIV because 1989 Niners squad was far and away better then Denver that year.
Thanks for posting. Go Denver!
Dan Reaves was good player and student of the game.
From 1980-89, Denver never lost more than 8 regular season games. Many times, they lost no more than 3, 4, or 5 games in a season.
We went to all. Them bowls despite reeves coaching
Reeves knows how to lose in the Big Game. SEVEN TIMES. Once as a player. Twice as an assistant coach. Four times as a head coach. One win as a player. One win as an assistant coach. 2-7.
Elway had to drag him kicking and screaming all the way there. Reeves did his best to hold Elway back but it wasn't enough.
6:49: Dan Reeves invented the Philly Special.
That play has been around a lot longer than you think.