#8 - John Elway
What is prime anyway? Is it by age, when Elway was between 25-30, from 1985-1990? Or was it when you were actually at your best, at the end of your career in a controlled offense that put up career high numbers? There was no prime for Elway, and maybe that is a problem, but if you believe the reasons, the explanations of why there is no answer, Elway's greatness becomes pretty obvious.
The refrain the Elway backers will chant in unison is the fact that he was surrounded by pure garbage during what should have been his prime. That in that period where he was 25-30, he had no one of note to throw to, even fewer god options to hand off too, and an average line protecting him. It is very easy to be skeptical of this reasoning, but when so many say it so loudly, and the chanting extends beyond the Mile High City, it makes sense to at least start believing it.
To say it plainly, by statistical performance, John Elway is not a Top-10 QB of All Time. He played at a time when Dan Marino and Joe Montana were putting up statistics that consistently beat out Elway's own. Of course, Marino played in Florida and threw to the Marks Brothers. Montana played in a windfarm in Candlestick, but also got to throw to the greatest WR of All Time for a good period. Elway had none of these things. Elway did have legend on his side.
As someone who believes in statistical analysis, it should be no surprise I would be so leery of mythbuilding, especially when at times it seems quite random which player gets built up or put down for similar accomplishments. Elway saw his teams absolutely destroyed in three Super Bowls in a four year span. While the Broncos defenses were busy giving up 42 and 55 points in Super Bowl XXII and XXIV, his offense only put up 10 in both games as well. Most QBs would get rightfully pilloried for that performance. Elway was the lucky one who actually got the deserved excuse of carrying a sad husk of a team to the Super Bowl in the first place.
Mythology is also built off of great moments. Elway, of course, led 'The Drive.' He also had the helicopter play. Of course, these moments were 10 years apart, showing off his underrated longevity. The Drive, a 98-yard slog through the Cleveland defense in Cleveland was rightfully hailed as the stuff of legend. I would hate to limit my opinion of a great to one drive, but it is these mythmaking moments, so hailed by people whose opinions I trust and value that cements his place in my mind.
The final piece of Elway's legacy of course was built out of his final act, his back-to-back Super Bowl titles. Of course, in classic John Elway mythology, his first title is remembered for the Helicopter play, and not the fact that his stats in that game very closely matched Peyton Manning's "winning performance" in Super Bowl 50. OF course, that all was washed away by his admittedly great performance in the final game, his Super Bowl MVP title against Atlanta.
John Elway went out on top, retroactively proving to all those that saw just the stats he put up in his prime years, showing what was possible had he had talent around him his whole career. We can all be leery, but also understanding of that argument, of the evidence he gave us all late in his career, and the large swaths of Football Loving America that believe it already.
