1983 Denver Broncos season
# 1983 Denver Broncos season

The 1983 Denver Broncos season was its 24th in professional football and 14th in the National Football League (NFL). Led by third-year head coach Dan Reeves, the Broncos were 9–7, third in the AFC West, and made their first playoff appearance in four seasons.

Before the season, the Broncos traded with the Baltimore Colts for the rights to first overall pick in the 1983 draft, quarterback John Elway. He started ten games for the Broncos as a rookie, and the team won four of them. In his first two starts, both road wins, Elway left the game trailing, relieved by veteran Steve DeBerg.

After three straight losses, Elway was benched by Reeves in early October; and DeBerg led the team to four consecutive victories and a 6–3 record. A shoulder injury in a loss in Seattle sidelined him and Elway again became the starter. In the rematch with Seattle two weeks later in Denver, Elway was out with the flu and third-string rookie Gary Kubiak led the Broncos to a win.

Elway's finest game as a rookie came in week 15, the Broncos' second game against Baltimore, the team that drafted him. Denver trailed 19–0 at the start of the fourth quarter, until Elway threw for three touchdowns in the final period to win 21–19 and kept their playoff hopes alive. The following week was a lopsided road loss at Kansas City in −30 °F (−34 °C) wind chill, but the Broncos made the playoffs, gaining the final AFC berth over Cleveland, also at 9–7, whom they defeated in week 14.

DeBerg started the wild card playoff loss in Seattle, and was relieved by Elway in the fourth quarter.

The Broncos' wild-card playoff loss to the Seahawks marked their only playoff appearance during the three-year ownership of Edgar Kaiser Jr.; Pat Bowlen bought the team the following spring.

## NFL Draft

1983 Denver Broncos draft :

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | Chris Hinton | Guard | Northwestern | traded to the Baltimore Colts along with Quarterback Mark Herrmann and the Broncos' first round pick in the 1984 NFL Draft for John Elway |
| 2 | 31 | Mark Cooper | Tackle | Miami (FL) | 1983-1987 (5 seasons) then Tampa Bay from 1987-1989 |
| 3 | 60 | Clint Sampson | Wide Receiver | San Diego State | 1983-1986 (4 seasons) |
| 5 | 116 | George "Weedy" Harris | Linebacker | Houston | |
| 5 | 125 | Bruce Baldwin | Defensive Back | Harding | |
| 6 | 143 | Victor Heflin | Defensive Back | Delaware State | not signed by the Broncos, but went on to play for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1983-1984 |
| 7 | 172 | Myron Dupree | Defensive Back | North Carolina Central | 1983 |
| 8 | 197 | Gary Kubiak | Quarterback | Texas A&M | 1983-1991 (9 seasons) |
| 9 | 228 | Brian Hawkins | Defensive Back | San Jose State | |
| 10 | 254 | Walt Bowyer | Defensive End | Arizona State | 1983-1984, 1987-1988 (4 seasons) |
| 11 | 283 | Don Bailey | Center | Miami (FL) | not signed by the Broncos, but went on to play for the Indianapolis Colts from 1984-1985 |
| 12 | 310 | Karl Mecklenburg * | Linebacker | Minnesota | 1983-1994 (12 seasons), 6x Pro Bowl, 4x First Team All-Pro, Denver Broncos Ring of Fame |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

## Personnel

### Staff

Source:

## Regular season

### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | September 4 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | W 14–10 | 1–0 | Three Rivers Stadium | 58,233 |
| 2 | September 11 | at Baltimore Colts | W 17–10 | 2–0 | Memorial Stadium | 52,613 |
| 3 | September 18 | Philadelphia Eagles | L 10–13 | 2–1 | Mile High Stadium | 74,202 |
| 4 | September 25 | Los Angeles Raiders | L 7–22 | 2–2 | Mile High Stadium | 74,289 |
| 5 | October 2 | at Chicago Bears | L 14–31 | 2–3 | Soldier Field | 58,210 |
| 6 | October 9 | at Houston Oilers | W 26–14 | 3–3 | Astrodome | 44,209 |
| 7 | October 16 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 24–17 | 4–3 | Mile High Stadium | 74,305 |
| 8 | October 23 | San Diego Chargers | W 14–6 | 5–3 | Mile High Stadium | 74,581 |
| 9 | October 30 | Kansas City Chiefs | W 27–24 | 6–3 | Mile High Stadium | 74,640 |
| 10 | November 6 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 19–27 | 6–4 | Kingdome | 61,189 |
| 11 | November 13 | at Los Angeles Raiders | L 20–22 | 6–5 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 51,945 |
| 12 | November 20 | Seattle Seahawks | W 38–27 | 7–5 | Mile High Stadium | 74,710 |
| 13 | November 27 | at San Diego Chargers | L 7–31 | 7–6 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 43,650 |
| 14 | December 4 | Cleveland Browns | W 27–6 | 8–6 | Mile High Stadium | 70,912 |
| 15 | December 11 | Baltimore Colts | W 21–19 | 9–6 | Mile High Stadium | 74,864 |
| 16 | December 18 | at Kansas City Chiefs | L 17–48 | 9–7 | Arrowhead Stadium | 11,377 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Game summaries

**Week 1**

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| • Broncos | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| Steelers | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 |

Source:

**Week 2**

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| • Broncos | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 17 |
| Colts | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 |

Source:

**Week 15 vs Colts**

| Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Colts | 3 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| Broncos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 21 |

at Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado

* Date: December 11, 1983
* Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST
* Game weather: 40 °F (4 °C)
* Game attendance: 74,864
* Referee: Fred Silva
* TV announcers (NBC): Jay Randolph and Bob Chandler
* Pro-Football-Reference.com, The Football Database

Game information :

First quarter

BAL – Raul Allegre 42-yard field goal, 1:20. Colts 3–0. Drive:

Second quarter

BAL – Raul Allegre 55-yard field goal, 10:55. Colts 6–0. Drive:

BAL – Raul Allegre 41-yard field goal, 7:23. Colts 9–0. Drive:

BAL – Bernard Henry 40-yard pass from Mike Pagel (Raul Allegre kick), 5:55. Colts 16–0. Drive:

Third quarter

BAL – Raul Allegre 26-yard field goal, 7:50. Colts 19–0. Drive:

Fourth quarter

DEN – Clint Sampson 21-yard pass from John Elway (Rich Karlis kick), 10:52. Colts 19–7. Drive:

DEN – Jesse Myles 26-yard pass from John Elway (Rich Karlis kick), 4:54. Colts 19–14. Drive:

DEN – Gerald Willhite 26-yard pass from John Elway (Rich Karlis kick), 0:44. Broncos 21–19. Drive:

Top passers

BAL – Mike Pagel – 13/27, 217 yards, TD, INT

DEN – John Elway – 23/44, 345 yards, 3 TD

Top rushers

BAL – Curtis Dickey – 19 rushes, 92 yards

DEN – John Elway – 3 rushes, 23 yards

Top receivers

BAL – Bernard Henry – 8 receptions, 169 yards, TD

DEN – Steve Watson – 4 receptions, 98 yards :

### Standings

AFC West :

| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Los Angeles $Raiders^{(1)}$ | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | 6–2 | 10–2 | 442 | 338 | W1 |
| Seattle $Seahawks^{(4)}$ | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 5–3 | 8–4 | 403 | 397 | W2 |
| Denver $Broncos^{(5)}$ | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 3–5 | 9–5 | 302 | 327 | L1 |
| San Diego Chargers | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 4–4 | 4–8 | 358 | 462 | L1 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 2–6 | 4–8 | 386 | 367 | W1 |

## Playoffs

| Round | Date | Opponent (seed) | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Wild Card | December 24 | at Seattle Seahawks (4) | L 7–31 | 0–1 | Kingdome | 60,752 |

    Source:
