Elway 'a little more anxious' than usual about the Broncos to start the 2019 season

John Elway is presiding over his ninth season as a front-office executive for the Denver Broncos. Following the Josh McDaniels depredations, Elway was brought in back in 2011 by late owner Pat Bowlen to serve initially as V.P. of Football Operations.

Once Elway got the hang of things in the war room and front office, he dispatched the general manager holdover, Brian Xanders, and took on the title himself. What ensued was arguably the most successful four-year run in Broncos history, culminating in two Super Bowl berths and one World Championship.

As a Hall-of-Fame player, Elway has been in some pressure-cooker moments, including having started in five Super Bowls. As a GM, he's guided the Broncos also to some intense and high-pressure football situations that would make most people crack.

With all that NFL experience under his belt (25 years when you count his playing and executive career), could it be possible that the front-office czar still gets the butterflies and a case of the nerves to open a regular season?

“It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years already, but yeah, I think we get anxious," Elway told Phil Malani of Broncos TV on his weekly 'Elway Access' segment. "Moreso with the last two years that we’re coming off of. That’s why it’s probably a little more anxious this year in the fact that it’d be nice for us, we’ve got to have a good year. Obviously, going into Oakland is a tough place to play, so hopefully we get off on the right foot.”

If Elway didn't feel some additional pressure to open this season, he wouldn't be human. After leading this team from the front office to nearly unprecedented heights with Peyton Manning under center, the ensuing years have been bleak. The Broncos finished above .500 in 2016, Gary Kubiak's final year as head coach and the season following Super Bowl 50's triumph, but the following two years under replacement-hire Vance Joseph, the Broncos lost 21 combined games.

It was the first time in four decades the Broncos finished with back-to-back losing seasons. Elway knew he had to cut bait with Joseph and did so following 2018's 6-10 finish.

When Vic Fangio became the 17th head coach in Broncos history, the hire represented the fourth head man Elway had hand-picked since arriving in the front office. Four head coaches in nine years is a lot of turnover, notwithstanding all the success the Broncos had from 2011-15.

This has always been Elway's vision. He deserved the credit when the Broncos were on top of the world and coming out of back-to-back dark seasons and another failed head-coaching regime, he deserves the blame.

He'll be the first to say, the buck stops with him, but Elway has never been a guy to wilt under pressure or bail out when times get tough. On the heels of firing Joseph, Elway got up off the mat and kept swinging. Following the Fangio hire, Elway acquired veteran QB Joe Flacco via trade and now the chips are down once again. Elway is all in, come hell or high water.

Thus far, though, even though fans have seen very little of Flacco in action, Elway has been pleased with his QB acquisition.

“It’s been good," Elway said. "I think picking up the offense, what we’re doing offensively, I think he’s [Flacco] been very good there. He’s been a good leader. So everything’s been really good. He’s met all expectations up to this point in time. I think we’re all curious to see because he didn’t play a lot in the preseason but [he] did some good things when he did play but we didn’t score a lot of points either. There’s always things that you always worry about a little bit but I’m excited to see what Joe can do.”

The Broncos failed to score a touchdown with Joe Flacco running the first-team offense in August but remember, he only played a small handful of series. That jury is still out.

Elway's feeling some nerves because in many ways, he had to start from scratch at the two most important positions on an NFL team — head coach and quarterback. Now, all Elway can do is sit back, and as he said, "see what we have".

The first litmus test in that vein will come on Monday night, as the Broncos travel for the first time in many years to open the season vs. the Oakland Raiders. Even though it's only Week 1, Elway sees Oakland as "more important" game. Dare I say 'must-win'?

“Well, we’ve started at home for so long and I don’t know how many years it’s been since we [haven’t] played at home, so that always helps," Elway told Broncos TV. "So going on the road is a new thing for us and plus, going into Oakland, going into the Black Hole against a Divisional foe makes it that much more important, plus playing on Monday night. Young guys, [it's their] first time, their first taste of it. They’ll get a real taste of it being Oakland. It’ll be exciting. But the Raiders are a good football team. They’re young, but they’re talented. It’s going to be a good football game.”

The Raiders are talented. But so are the Broncos. And from a personnel perspective, Denver is significantly more experienced and battle-tested. There are several defensive holdovers from Super Bowl 50 and let's not forget, Joe Flacco has hoisted the Lombardi Trophy himself, vanquishing the Broncos along the way to the victory podium.

Talent is not something lacking in Denver right now. However, with so many moving parts and new faces and components in key areas, there's a question of how long it'll take Vic Fangio and Joe Flacco to put it all together.

There's not much time left for preparing. It's time to unwrap this Christmas present to discover whether it's a Rolex watch or a lump of coal.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.

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