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Gresham
Takes Long Road To Glory
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The story of the PFL Denver Bronco season is nothing short of a slight miracle. Why slight, why miracle? Because Waymon Gresham started the year off as unpredictable as one could imagine. After a successful season as coach of the St. Louis Rams, Gresham upgraded his chance at a title by leaving St. Louis, a team with average to below average talent for the Denver Broncos, a marquee franchise. After having a banner first year with the likes of Tony Banks, Lawrence Phillips and Isaac Bruce, Gresham went from steak to filet mignon in John Elway, Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe. So with that, everyone figured Gresham would be a strong contender in the AFC to win the title, right? Wrong! At least after 6 weeks. You see, at preseason, the Broncos looked as though they would challenge long time nemesis Kevin Fox for a shot at the AFC championship. But after a horrific start, which included being slapped with a two game forfeit for LEAGUE violations, the Broncs started a dismal 3-7. Green Bay and San Francisco looked to be a lock to repeat last year's exhibition conference title game, and Kansas City was earning its respect as the season progressed. Denver had become an after thought, counted out of the post season party invites. But somewhere and some how, Gresham found a way to resurrect a dismal season at just the right time. The Gresham everyone saw at preseason, the brash, cocky, confident coach, had now become the quiet confident one. What happened to trigger such a change in Waymon's approach to the game suddenly? Gresham credits it to the discovery of a whole new game plan both offensively and defensively. He quietly and mildly predicted he would win the SuperBowl if he could defeat the Green Bay Packers. The Packers seemed to be the Mike Tyson of the PFL. Although they did loose a couple of games, four to be exact, many considered Green Bay the best team in the PFL. 10 consecutive weeks they were ranked number one in the coaches poll from week 6 until the end of the regular season. But Gresham set an ambush for his long time nemesis that only Mike Shanahan could be proud of. Gresham admitted to Fox and THE LEAGUE that "Fox owns him." He went on to say, "I can't beat him. I just can't beat him (Fox)." The cleverly spun web was perfect for the over confident Fox. This apparent idolatry towards the Packers caused Fox to fail to prepare appropriately for the AFC title game which thus lead to Gresham's 52-17 drubbing of Fox and the seemingly invincible Packers, the worst loss Fox had ever received in official LEAGUE play. The Packer franchise reached an all time low when Fox pulled his team off the field late in the third quarter as Gresham proceeded to tear him apart as he did Wayne Allen 71-45 the week before. What made Gresham's run special was that his ball club peaked at the right time. It was already rather strange to have a team with a losing record in the playoffs, but to make it to the SuperBowl, BE INSTALLED A 9 POINT FAVORITE over a 10-6 team, and WIN....... well, it's almost miraculous. Supposed someone presented the above mentioned scenario to you before the season began. Don't you think you would have suggested psychiatric evaluation for that person. Now its time to began to think about next year. Of course we don't know what next year holds. But we do know that the Broncos will be one of the more talented teams in the PFL. We do know that Gresham will be back in Denver to defend his title. But what we don't know is if Gresham gets into a similar slump, if he could bring himself out a second time. Or will he dominate the conference throughout the year, only to loose in the playoffs as both Green Bay and San Francisco has the past two title games. One thing is certain. Nothing is guaranteed in the PFL. It certainly seemed as though it would Dallas & San Francisco in 1997. And looked as thought it was going to be Pittsburgh and Green Bay in 1998. BUT.......I guess that's why they play the games. |
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