1:50-Retired Broncos legend Otis Armstrong's number 24 didn't get an opportunity to collect mothballs in the closet as Rick Parros quickly grabbed it and went to work. Two years later, John Elway would do likewise with Craig Morton's number 7. Haven Moses (25) was in the final season of his fourteen year career.
Very underrated and yet, as successful of a career at WR he had with Denver, IMHO, he still couldve accomplished more in terms of ending his career with more receiving yards, career catches and TDs if Miller's staff had utilized him more effectively like Patera did with Steve Largent from the very beginning of his career in 1976. Watson was Denver's answer to Steve Largent, their overall physique, size, route-running, they werent guys with blazing speed but they constantly found ways to bend secondaries, slip ahead of opposing DB's and CB's in getting open and scoring TD's. Watching highlights of Watson reminds me a lot of Largent, except for the fact it took a new HC with a new Offensive-styled system to appreciate his potential was to apply it for Broncos. By no means am I arguing Watson is a HOF WR but I still believe he should've finished his career with 2-3 more 1,000-yard seasons.
Technically, he did not in a Super Bowl, just not as a starter. He won as Dallas' backup in 1971, a season where he and future HOF QB starter shared starting duties for the first eight weeks of the season, until an embarassing loss in Week 8 to my Saints forced Tom Landry to finally settle on Staubach and he simplified his play book. Still, in the end, while its tempting, one can't feel too totally sorry for Craig Morton and SB losses as a starter. We can't forget that he had two chances, in 1970 with Dallas and 1977 with Denver, to get it done and in the case of the latter game, he played particularly poorly. So bad that he got pulled late in the 2nd quarter by Red Miller. So, Craig Morton had his chances and in both opportunities, he failed to win a Super Bowl.
@@davidroberts7282 You're right about that. I always liked Morton, but those 2 SB losses are indefensible. Just the same, I guess it's better to have 2 SB losses than to have never gone to any.
@@mrtnt3462 I remember that. If recollection serves, I think the Chargers had the tiebreaker for either a better division or conference record. So, the Chargers went to Miami for the divisional round and the Broncos went home.
I think, in retrospect, the better, more talented team won the AFC West that season. Considering Denver had an aging 38-year old QB as starter, an older, still-very good and dominant "Orange Crush" defense that had lost a few steps since their magical 1977 "Broncomania" SB season, while re-loading up on future defensive stars like Rulon Jones, Karl Mecklenburg, Jim Ryan, and Dennis Smith. While the Broncos were still a very good, competitive team, I don't see them marching into Miami and scoring 41 points on one of the NFL's best defenses, "Killer B's" in their earliest, most destructive phase. Truth is, while Miami's offense in 1981 was a confused, at times incoherent train wreck with double starters, "Woodstrock", " Killer B's" would still have been enough of a deterrent to anything Broncos throw at them and they likely easily beat them instead of barely losing a winnable, classic OT game they fought like hell being down 21-0 just to get back in vs. Chargers. I also think the Broncos may have over-achieved somewhat in Reeves' first season.
@ECO473 it was better division record. Denver swept Oakland and split with KC san diego and Seattle. The chargers swept the raiders and chiefs and split with the broncos and seahawks, so san diego had a 6-2 divisional record, vs. the broncos 5-3 mark in the afc west
