Speaker 1: We'll bring on the og the man himself, Mike Clifs. Mike,
Speaker 1: how you do this evening?
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, just handing out candy, pretty busy, well
Speaker 2: my old neighborhood.
Speaker 1: I don't have any candy here.
Speaker 3: I know to go stop by the cliff household in
Speaker 3: to get my candy on once I get done with
Speaker 3: this show.
Speaker 1: But Mike, you get some candy for our for our
Speaker 1: eyes here The Lway Years.
Speaker 3: Your latest book is out and I've uh been enjoyed
Speaker 3: reading it up about three quarters of the way through.
Speaker 1: Don't spoil the ending for me.
Speaker 3: Uh and uh, I have really enjoyed enjoyed reading this
Speaker 3: so far. What what brought on the the impetus for
Speaker 3: writing this book?
Speaker 2: Well, Try and Publishing Bill Lane's gave me a call
Speaker 2: and asked me if I would be interested in doing
Speaker 2: the book. And he said that you know, with with
Speaker 2: seven eight years of the of the drought for the Broncos,
Speaker 2: that uh, maybe people were hungry for reliving some glory
Speaker 2: and Halway, of course was the impetous Happy Halloween everybody.
Speaker 1: Uh Uh.
Speaker 2: The impetus as it was going to be just about
Speaker 2: the ninety seven ninety eighteen with an emphasis on Lway,
Speaker 2: and then it became a little more on Elway as
Speaker 2: the most influential person and in a in a climaxinge
Speaker 2: with the nineteen ninety seven ninety eight Super Bowls. So
Speaker 2: kind of took readers through the journey through John Elway's journey,
Speaker 2: and but also had chapters in there on Rod and
Speaker 2: ed on Terrell Davis of course, so uh, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of began with how John h joined the team
Speaker 2: with the Orange Crushers. The Orange Crushers were still around,
Speaker 2: a bunch of them were on their in their final
Speaker 2: three or four years, and so he bridged a few
Speaker 2: eras and then we finished up with a chapter on
Speaker 2: his GM tenure, his ten year GM tenure, where I
Speaker 2: got to know John quite well. Covered every part of that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I talked to quite a few people, Kubiak Shanahan.
Speaker 2: Shanahan wrote the forward, and I think people will enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've certainly enjoyed it so far.
Speaker 3: Talking with Mike cliss and about his new book, The
Speaker 3: l Way Years, there was a particularly appointed part in
Speaker 3: there for me, and I appreciate this book as it
Speaker 3: comes out now because of the parallels with trying to
Speaker 3: grow bone Nicks. But there was a particularly poignant part
Speaker 3: in there where you talk about Torell Davis and mentioning
Speaker 3: him bringing up the how devastating that Jacksonville loss was
Speaker 3: and how that was sort of the catalyst for the
Speaker 3: Super Bowl runs in the sense that when they had
Speaker 3: a bad practice or you know, they had a let
Speaker 3: down moment, they just went to each other and said,
Speaker 3: day man, Jacksonville and that sort of was a rallying
Speaker 3: cry around, you know, the catalyst for being able to
Speaker 3: push through those difficult moments during the Super Bowl runs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was surprised a little surprised by that because
Speaker 2: I remember for the Uh I think I was with
Speaker 2: the Gazette then Carle Springs Gazette. I covered that Jacksonville game.
Speaker 2: I had the Jacksonville locker room, which turned out to
Speaker 2: be the victorious locker room, which you know, was surprising,
Speaker 2: and talking to Tony Vasselli and the gang, I thought,
Speaker 2: I looked back on that time and thought the Broncos
Speaker 2: should have been a three pat you know, they should
Speaker 2: have won three in a row, and then they really
Speaker 2: would have stamped themselves as one of the all time
Speaker 2: great teams had they won three in a row, but
Speaker 2: TD said that he didn't think they'd win those back
Speaker 2: to back in ninety seven and ninety eight without the
Speaker 2: motivation from losing in ninety six to Jacksonville. The way
Speaker 2: they did it was it was a bummer how they
Speaker 2: lost it because they clinched too early that year. They
Speaker 2: were twelve and one. They clinched with three weeks to go,
Speaker 2: and Shanahan was still going that for going through that
Speaker 2: for the first time, how's everybody doing? Yeah? Take two
Speaker 2: and then so they weren't sharp in that Jacksonville game.
Speaker 2: They went up twelve nothing but they but they but
Speaker 2: they they they were I don't know, they had the
Speaker 2: they had the four to five week blues by week blues,
Speaker 2: and you know they Shannon Sharp dropped the two point conversion,
Speaker 2: Jason and Elam missed an extra point. Burnell was on fire.
Speaker 2: They couldn't cover Jimmy Smith. The throne means Shanahan blamed
Speaker 2: himself because he didn't run the ball enough. Uh, that's
Speaker 2: the one. I think TD had seven games where he
Speaker 2: rushed for or or eight playoff games where he rushed
Speaker 2: for one hundred yards. Seven of the eighty rushed for
Speaker 2: one hundred The one he didn't was Jacksonville yet ninety
Speaker 2: one yards on just fourteen carries, and he wouldn't make
Speaker 2: that mistake again. The next year in ninety seven on
Speaker 2: that revenge tour, they just steamrolled Jacksonville. TD had a
Speaker 2: big day. They just ran like crazy in that game.
Speaker 2: And that was Shanahan's ever last seen regret is that
Speaker 2: he got away from the running game in that playoff
Speaker 2: loss to Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: Well, it's no trick, it's a treat for us.
Speaker 3: Get to talk to Mike Cliss about his book The
Speaker 3: Elway Years. You know, you mentioned the kind of confluence
Speaker 3: of errors, you know how everything kind of went wrong
Speaker 3: in that moment to Jason Eland, the Shannon sharp drop
Speaker 3: of the two point conversion. We juxtaposed that with this
Speaker 3: season for the Denver Broncos, where everything sort of seems
Speaker 3: to be going right. You caught a Tampa Bay team
Speaker 3: missing what five six starters on defense blew them out.
Speaker 3: You had a New Orleans Saints team on Thursday night
Speaker 3: missing their quarterback, missing five or six players.
Speaker 1: Now you get a carol lot of team. Albeit they
Speaker 1: weren't very talented before they were missing.
Speaker 3: Their players, and now you've got a Baltimore situation where
Speaker 3: you've got one defensive lineman healthy, had a quarterback who's
Speaker 3: missed two practices with a growing issue that's being termed
Speaker 3: knee and back.
Speaker 1: Is this sort of the antithesis.
Speaker 3: Of everything going wrong at the you know, everything going
Speaker 3: right for the Denver Broncos for once.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I was gonna say for once. It's been
Speaker 2: a while because this team is definitely in a drought
Speaker 2: and the schedule has worked out for him pretty well.
Speaker 2: And we'll see about three evens. I give him a chance. Hi, ladies,
Speaker 2: take take two? Okay, Happy Halloween. You think Lamar plays,
Speaker 2: by the way, Ben.
Speaker 1: I do believe that he's going to play.
Speaker 3: Yes, everything I've been told is that he's going to play,
Speaker 3: but that growing issue is definitely sore, so they're going
Speaker 3: to try and rest him until then.
Speaker 2: You know, Lamar seems to me like he has a
Speaker 2: practice uh missing practice drama a couple times a year
Speaker 2: and uh and usually makes it on game day. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm I know Baltimore media are wondering because they have
Speaker 2: a short week. On the other side, Thursday Thursday game
Speaker 2: against the Bengals, which is big form division opponent that
Speaker 2: maybe Lamar d rests this game and plays against the Bengals,
Speaker 2: But I know the Broncos sure are thinking he's gonna play.
Speaker 2: I don't know about the whole uh, you know, the
Speaker 2: other sense working in the in the Broncos favor. It
Speaker 2: seems to me the only thing I've noticed about this
Speaker 2: team is just how much more, how much tougher they are.
Speaker 2: And I you know, I credit Sean Payton and and
Speaker 2: you know, whatever whatever you think of Sean Payton and
Speaker 2: how he seems his mood seemed to swing on press conferences,
Speaker 2: especially after games win or lose. He's got this team
Speaker 2: playing tough, and he's got them playing together, especially on defense.
Speaker 2: It looks like everybody really likes each other, like their
Speaker 2: best panels, and they're selling out for each other. And meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Bull's coming along. You know, He's he's getting better and better.
Speaker 2: He didn't look good the first two weeks. He hasn't
Speaker 2: looked good here and there, but I think overall incrementally
Speaker 2: he's getting better and played real well against a weak
Speaker 2: Carolina team. But still he needed that for his confidence.
Speaker 3: You talk in the book The l Way Years about
Speaker 3: how Mike Shanahan and uh and and others pointed out
Speaker 3: that as John's moods went so in the team at
Speaker 3: various intervals, but the team loved him.
Speaker 1: I mean, they love John Elway.
Speaker 3: They they played for John Elway and all that, and
Speaker 3: it feels to me like we sort of see a
Speaker 3: little bit of that in bo Nicks. Bow hasn't been
Speaker 3: the greatest so far, there have been some missus, as
Speaker 3: you know, Dow pointed out, but there there it feels to.
Speaker 1: Me like he's got that tough, gritty persona.
Speaker 3: He's willing to put his body on the line, and
Speaker 3: there are the players sort of respect that in a
Speaker 3: way that I don't know that I've seen out of
Speaker 3: a quarterback since maybe Olway.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, he they they do have they do.
Speaker 2: Like my wife just walked in. I don't think she
Speaker 2: knows I'm on with shit, Honey, I'm on the radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you, and now you.
Speaker 1: Are too, Uh Hi, missus Cliff, we love having on
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: The Yeah, I think, Paul, I agree that they seem
Speaker 2: to like him from the beginning. Kind of a guy's guy,
Speaker 2: and that's what Elway was. Elway to me, was a
Speaker 2: guy's guy. You know, when Elway was the type of
Speaker 2: guy who would go go out and have a beer
Speaker 2: with his offensive lineman and whoever it was on the team,
Speaker 2: you know it was it was off the field on
Speaker 2: the field. He was a good pal and Paul Uh.
Speaker 2: You know, it doesn't strike me this guy who goes
Speaker 2: out for many beers, if at all, but he is.
Speaker 2: I tell you he's a smart football player, like high
Speaker 2: IQ football player. He's been around football players all his life.
Speaker 2: You know, his dad was a coach. He was done.
Speaker 2: Dad was done playing by the time Bow was born.
Speaker 2: But still, you know, his dad was around football all
Speaker 2: his life. So is Bowl. He knows everything about the
Speaker 2: sport inside and out, all the nuances. And you know,
Speaker 2: he's a mature We've talked about this ad nauseum. He's
Speaker 2: a mature rookie. And and plus he's he's a good teammate.
Speaker 2: He looks like he you know, he's one of those
Speaker 2: guys that rallied the others around him. And keep in
Speaker 2: mind also he followed Russ and that was a different
Speaker 2: deal for Sean Payton and all the Broncos were you
Speaker 2: know Russ. I think there was had a persona that
Speaker 2: he was. He was the biggest guy on the team.
Speaker 2: Sean Payton didn't want anybody who was bigger than others,
Speaker 2: and bow Nix doesn't carry himself that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he certainly doesn't. And I think that's been a
Speaker 3: refreshing change. I were talking with Mike Cliss again is
Speaker 3: his new book, The Lway Years Inside the Super Bowl
Speaker 3: era of the Denver Broncos. Mike was the what was
Speaker 3: the most surprising aspect in writing this book?
Speaker 1: Obviously you lived a lot of that, but was there
Speaker 1: anything new.
Speaker 3: That you you suddenly discovered and as you were as
Speaker 3: you were writing this.
Speaker 2: Well, the one thing that Tom Green kind of jumped
Speaker 2: on in my first interview on this book, and you know,
Speaker 2: I what he what he jumped on were the Dan
Speaker 2: Reeves here, just how much Elway and Reeves did not
Speaker 2: like each other. There was a column by Dick Connor
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety one nineteen ninety two right in there
Speaker 2: where Elway exploded, vented his frustrations on Dan Reeves, suffocating
Speaker 2: him in Elway's eyes offensively and wouldn't let him go
Speaker 2: until the fourth quarter. And then in the fourth quarter
Speaker 2: John got to go schoolyard and do his thing. You
Speaker 2: know it hit the paper. Dick Connor wrote all of
Speaker 2: Elway's frustrations. He threw the paper down. He called the
Speaker 2: Shanahan in, who was the offensive coordinator, and threw the
Speaker 2: paper down, said why why is this in the newspaper?
Speaker 2: And Shanahan said, well, why are you yelling at me for?
Speaker 2: You know John said it. He said, hold on right there,
Speaker 2: I'm going to bring John in right now. I'm tired
Speaker 2: of being the uh the goal between here. You guys
Speaker 2: talk it out. And so he brought John in and
Speaker 2: it didn't really go well.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: John exploded some more and then uh it got to
Speaker 2: a point where l Reeves wanted to trade John to Washington,
Speaker 2: the Washington Redskins. At the time, John was at uh uh,
Speaker 2: he was playing in that celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe,
Speaker 2: and he was at a blackjack table and there was
Speaker 2: Ernest Spiner, who at the time was no longer the
Speaker 2: Browns running back but Washington running backs coach, and Weiner said, John,
Speaker 2: I thought we had you. And Elway said, what do
Speaker 2: you mean you thought you had me? And he said,
Speaker 2: we thought we had you in a trade. And Elway
Speaker 2: found out right then at the blackjack table that he
Speaker 2: that there was a trade finished. He was going to Washington,
Speaker 2: and you know, they had all the pieces in the
Speaker 2: draft picks all figured out. But Pat Bolan wound up
Speaker 2: nix in the trade.
Speaker 1: Well lucky for us he did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And and Elways said, look, it wouldn't have been
Speaker 2: bad for me because Washington won the Super Bowl that
Speaker 2: year with Mark Rippin. And but still the next year,
Speaker 2: despite all that acrimony, the next year, the Broncos went
Speaker 2: twelve and four and went to the AFT Championship Game,
Speaker 2: where they loss to the Bills. You know, Mecklenburg put
Speaker 2: it pretty well. They were there. Elway and Reeves were
Speaker 2: too much the same. They were highly highly competitive. They
Speaker 2: were both extremely stubborn. And you know, and and the
Speaker 2: fact of the matter is the Dan Marinos and the
Speaker 2: and the and the and the Moons, who were throwing
Speaker 2: the ball all over the yard, they weren't going to
Speaker 2: the super Bowl. You had to run the ball and
Speaker 2: play to the defense in order to get to the
Speaker 2: super Bowl. And that's what the Broncos did. And Reeves
Speaker 2: did what was best, and John wanted the ball in
Speaker 2: his hands more so there was some there was some
Speaker 2: conflict there, but uh, they still won a lot of games,
Speaker 2: despite despite the fact that they really couldn't stand each other.
Speaker 3: Sometimes sometimes that can sometimes that could lead to great results.
Speaker 3: You know, sometimes it takes those personalities like that to
Speaker 3: to get the best out of each other.
Speaker 1: Right, exactly exactly.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you joining us The l Way Years Inside
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl Era of the Different Broncos by Mike
Speaker 3: Cliffs Forward by Mike Shannon.
Speaker 1: It's out now, guys.
Speaker 3: Want to get your hands on a copy of Mike
Speaker 3: I'm love and reading it and I appreciate you taking
Speaker 3: some time out tonight.
Speaker 2: You got to go to Amazon dot com guys, and
Speaker 2: that that's.
Speaker 1: Where you'll find the book Amazon. And I really appreciate you, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: appreciate it. That's my cliss, my news.