The '98 Broncos: Dominance Unseen

Before 1998, the Broncos had embraced the identity of an underdog franchise, characterized by a 98 yard drive, a fumble on the 2, and the close but never close John Elway, they were almost two touchdown underdogs to Green Bay and won the game mainly because they're small scrappy Offensive Linemen out hustled and outdistanced Gilbert Brown and the vast Packer Defensive Line.

So I didn't know how to handle the dominance of the 1998 Broncos. I never did grasp my team becoming the year's version of the '72 Dolphins or '85 Bears, but they put as much of a scare to Mercury Morris and Nick Buonoconti as any team since the '91 Redskins.

Terrell Davis had one of the Five Best Fantasy Football Seasons of all-time, rushing for 2,008 yards and 21 Touchdowns.

While I resisted the urge to refer to this team and myself as "we". I did just about the next best thing. I would speak about games as if I was Mike Shanahan using post-game cliches like "You can't take any team in the National Football League lightly" or "Gotta tip your hat off to them, they put out a gutsy effort".

The Broncos were favored in their final three games of the regular season, prompting many experts and my friends to assume the Broncos were going 16-0 in 1998. Of this, came about one of my favorite phrases, mixing two overused cliches. I warned many Broncos observers and myself "Don't Count Your Chickens Before They're All in One Basket".

The New York Giants would prove those words to be foreshadowing...