The off season stinks.
At this point in the year there’s little news of any value. All that’s left us is speculation, and the upcoming season has already been speculated to death several times over.
So as any obsessive NFL fan might, I’ve begun picking open old scabs, just to see if there’s still any puss left to squeeze out.
I’ve dug my nail under one that should have scarred over long ago and started pondering one of Denver’s biggest preseason moves from a season ago; the release of Brian Griese.
Specifically, did John Elway instigate Brian Griese’s release from the Denver Broncos.
Here’s what John had to say about Brian after his release.
“I don’t know that Brian is a Super Bowl quarterback,’ Elway told the Rocky Mountain News on Thursday. “Brian has to have a great supporting cast around him. Brian is not going to win a game by himself. Brian is not going to run around and make plays on fourth-and-10 like Jake (Plummer). I think Jake can make those.”
And
“He’s a smart guy, knew the offense inside and out, but Brian, to me, is not going to be the guy to make the game-breaking play. I guess in my mind Brian is not a playmaker,” Elway said.
Seems John thinks that any QB not in his own mold isn’t a real QB at all. Unfortunately he forgets that people were saying similar things about him.
It was said that he wasn’t a SB winning QB. He couldn’t handle the pressure of big games. He didn’t have the head for it. He relied too much on his arm and his scrambling ability. He tried to do too much by himself.
He proved them all wrong, yet he saw no irony in his bashing of Griese in a similar manner.
Or maybe he’s jealous of Brian’s success.
Griese, through nothing but his own intelligence and toughness, threatened to smash many Elway Broncos records if he played out his career in Denver. He was far more productive than Elway when compared to the same period in Elway’s career, or even when compared to some of Elway’s later years.
I won’t argue that Elway was not a better football player, but Griese is a better QB.
Mike Shannahan and Pat Bowlen could certainly see this. They have the numbers in front of them. They’ve seen the tapes. They’ve worked with both players on the field.
They also had Elway as the fly buzzing in their ears.
Did Elway place niggling doubts in their minds about Griese’s ability and potential? I find it impossible to believe that such conversations never took place. And let’s face it, Elway is more than simply respected in the Broncos’ organization. He’s an icon of all that has ever been good for the team. He’s one of the best ever to play the game. He’s the Broncos first Hall of Fame inductee. He damn near single handedly brought them to three SB’s and was at the helm when they finally won two others – BACK TO BACK.
So Elway’s thoughts and opinions hold some weight with Shanahan and Bowlen. I believe that they allowed John to talk them into making the biggest mistake of their lives, by wrongly making Griese the scapegoat for the past two years of mediocrity, when it was so clearly the defense that kept the team from achieving.
All of that is academic, now. Jake Plummer has, thankfully, played beyond anyone’s expectations. But that doesn’t negate Griese’s talent and it doesn’t make his release any less of a mistake. It only minimizes the importance of that mistake.
5 replies on “Offseason Induced Scab Picking”
Why isn’t Griese starting somewhere else? I totally disagree with the main points in your article. You claim Griese is this great QB who got the shaft from the Broncos, but since he left Denver what has he done? He couldn’t win the starting job over Jay Fiedler, and no one would argue Jay is more than an average QB, in Miami and is now fighting for the back up job in Tampa Bay. In four years with a Bronco team coming off back-to-back Super Bowls he got the team to the playoffs only once, where he didn’t even start in a loss to Baltimore, and made one Pro Bowl. I’m not saying Denver’s failures are all his fault, but even mentioning him in the same breath as John Elway in ludicrous. Actually saying that he is “a better QB” is downright insane. I watched Griese win a college title for Michigan in 1997 and thought he would be a solid QB in the NFL, but he seems to be missing something at the next level. He is a solid, maybe better than average, backup QB in this league. Maybe he turns it around later in his career ala Rich Gannon, but I see no point in bashing the Broncos and John Elway for the decision to let him go. By the way I’m a Raider fan and would have more than happy if they would have kept Griese forever.
RE: Griese I’ll defend Griese’s performance in another post. To do so as a part of this one would have made it insanely long.
It would have also been irrelevant because even if Griese had been the worst QB in the history of the NFL it doesn’t answer the question, “Did John Elway have a hand in Griese’s departure from Denver?”.
Griese While you ask the question as to whether Elway was instrumental in Griese’s early departure, your article focuses primarily on the comparison between the two QBs. I think your comparisons are WAAAAY off the mark. While reading I had to wonder if this was Mark Kiszla masquerading on Sportscolumn to try and stir things up. Denver fans will know what I mean.
Back to your arguments. Everyone knew that the Broncos had a mediocre team with a super star player for Elway’s first three SuperBowls. The 3 Amigos? You and I could have gone to the Pro Bowl with Elway as our QB.
You bring up Griese’s #s and how they are better than Elways at the same stage of his career. Consider the different coaches. Reeves was chronically conservative. Shannahan opens it up and has always been an offense focused coach. Offensive line, Running Backs, Wide Receivers–all light years better when Griese was playing than when Elway was at the same stage of his career.
Griese is a better QB than Elway? Griese was a zombie playing for the Broncos. He’s a head case. He wasn’t a leader. Isn’t that the key ingredient for a top QB?
And I’m sure that Shanny asked Elway what he thought about Griese’s chances and Shanny was smart to listen. Griese, while I’m sure a very nice guy, is a dud in the NFL.
Griese You say Griese isn’t worth a crap, but also say he only played well in comparison to Elway because he had a better team. How can he both play better than Elway — regardless of the reason — and stink at the same time? A bad QB on a good team is still a bad QB. If Dave Brown played in Griese’s place, could he have matched Griese’s numbers?
Whether or not Elway had a great team or an aggressive coach again is irrelevant to whether or not he wanted Griese out of Denver. It doesn’t even make a good excuse for some of his underwhelming statistical accomplishments vs Griese. Otherwise you’d have to explain how Dan Marino had such statistical success under similar circumstances.
Unsupported generalizations about Griese being worthless don’t make the case against him. But again, I’ll defend Griese’s ability in a separate post. You’ll have plenty more opportunity to bash poor Brian Griese and tell me I’m off my rocker.
My comparisons were brief, generally minor and demonstrate that Elway had a reason to want Griese out of Denver. They also stir things up. You’re right about that. I’m still not Mark Kiszla, though.
And since we seem to be going in circles, I’ll leave the last word to you (or whoever else may wish to have it).
Confusion I don’t understand your rebuttal. A bad/mediocre player can have inflated #s if his supporting cast and system is better than a great player in a bad system. How does that not make sense?