Longtime television voice and author Mike Klis of 9News in Denver regales Nestor with tales from his new book “The Elway Years” and his belief that Sean Payton has changed Broncos’ culture with addition of Bo Nix and early success this season as the upstart 5-3 club comes to Baltimore to meet the Ravens on Sunday.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Broncos culture, Sean Payton, Bo Nix, defensive line, offensive line, competitive game, playoff drought, John Elway, Mike Shanahan, Super Bowl wins, Russell Wilson, cap hit, Sean Payton, Denver defense, Lamar Jackson
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Mike Klis
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, tassel, Baltimore. Am 1570 we are Baltimore positive. We’re getting the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road through the holidays, all of our sponsor locations, as well as some new friends, including mom mamas on the half shell And Owings Mills last week, all of it brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. I’ve Raven scratch offs the giveaway throughout the holidays. Well, I’m sure we’ll have some Ho, ho, peppermint ones to give away come Thanksgiving time. Also our friends at Liberty. Pure solutions, putting us out for the oyster tour. One 800 clean water, if you have well water or you need plumbing services. This guy has been servicing Denver sports fans for many, many years. He writes books, which I like, and I do as well. He has written a book on one of our favorite people here to not like for a period of time. It’s John Elway. Um, we got to better him once in a while, the Mile High miracle we you know, there were some things in there. Mike Cliff has been doing sports out in Denver for a long time. Uh, he’s on the television. He’s an author. He even spends time with Brandon Stokely, from time to time, always good to have you back on surprising Broncos in the position they’re in helps you sell more books. Mike, yeah, I agree.
Mike Klis 01:11
You know, if everybody’s in a good mood and good spirits, team winning, you know, it’s it’s funny. I’m not super surprised that this team is five and three, given the opponents, they’ve defeated Sean Payton. You know, when you’re around Sean Payton, he makes that team tough. You could see him change the culture and make this a tougher team, kind of like what Harbaugh does. You know, the Ravens every year, regardless of their talent overall talent on their roster, talent at the skill positions, they’re a tough team on both sides of the ball, up front, and that’s where the Broncos are. Their strengths of this team are their defensive line number one, and offensive line maybe number two. So that’s where it kind of all starts. The defense is keeping them in games while Bo Nicks figures it out, and he’s starting to figure it out, by the way, played real well last week. And we’ll see. We’ll see what they do here. I think they’re going to give the Ravens a very, very competitive game, because their defense is going to keep them in it. Their defense is a top five defense, and they’re going to keep them in every game, and Bo and and the offense only needs a couple drives, so we’ll see. But this is a nice test for them to go to into Baltimore, and after that, it’s at Kansas City. So back to back, it’s kind of a gauntlet there. We’ll see how real this team is.
Nestor Aparicio 02:39
Well, you mentioned their defense. And you know, the Ravens provide challenges for every defensive coordinator, and it’s the guys like Jim Schwartz last week that have seen it a lot, been around, a lot, prepared for it. Several times as players in Division prepare for it, I would think you give them a homes more how, just because you see him a little more often, give a little bit of a better chance, I would say, for your defense. Seeing Derek Henry going, you know, the ball’s in the mesh point, Lamar is going to take it, Derek Henry or Lamar is going to throw it. There’s just a lot of things to prepare for defensively that you just don’t see on a week to week basis.
Mike Klis 03:17
Yeah, and one time, the defense has not looked good this year, and it was only really one time, was against the Los Angeles chargers who kind of ran it down their throat for two and a half quarters. And that game was at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. You know Jim, Jim Harbaugh knows how to run the ball too and and they didn’t have a Derrick Henry and Justin Herbert doesn’t run. He did early in his career, but he doesn’t anymore. He does not run as as a quarterback, probably because he’s been banged up. But you’re right. That’s going to be a big challenge for the Denver defense this time. They have not faced an offense like the like the Ravens have, that, that big dual threat of Lamar and Derek, Henry so and now you know you got your receive record, just got pumped up. So I’m not sure if Deonte is going to be able to know what route he’s running on Sunday this soon, but he’s a heck of a talent, and good for the Raymonds to improve their team there.
Nestor Aparicio 04:22
Yeah. Deontay Johnson, we had that out of the W N, S T, tech service. Good. Plug for that. 410-821-9678, if you want to join, just text Joiner. W N, S T you get on that. That’s sort of new and improved and brought to you by Cole roofing as well. Mike cliff is joining us here. He’s with nine news out in Denver, Colorado. The Dion thing is its own animal out there, right? And everything that’s going on with the buffalos, but the Broncos and bringing in Peyton and not not Peyton Manning, Sean Payton and more than that, three coaches, five quarterbacks into this since Peyton Manning, trying to find something that feels like continuity and feel like maybe some hope for some. Bronco fans, because it sort of bottomed out. I mean, I was shocked to hear every team in the league’s made the playoffs since the Broncos won the Super Bowl. And there’s a point, yeah, right, but, but more than any
Mike Klis 05:10
ones with a longer playoff drought
Nestor Aparicio 05:12
than the Broncos, yeah? And the Broncos have this weird thing after winning a Super Bowl of not making the playoffs for that.
Mike Klis 05:20
Yeah, yeah, it’s the Broncos. There had a 44 year stretch where they’re, you know, basically competitive every year for 44 years. I think that starts in 1973 and through 2016 they had more Super Bowl appearances, eight than they had losing seasons six. So that’s a heck of a run. That is. That is a run. I think possibly the Steelers were the only one that had a better run over a 44 that 44 yard period, and then all of a sudden, like you said, the bottom fell out. Um, Gary Kubiak got sick, that was big, because he kind of believed in Paxton Lynch. And when Gary Kubiak went down, Paxton Lynch as the first round draft pick quarterback to replace Peyton Manning, didn’t make it, and so they they really foundered with both coach and quarterback, because of those two instances that happen at the same time, and it’s been a seven year drought as far as winning season, eight year drought as far as playoffs, but it does look like Sean Payton. I’m not sure how talented the roster is with the Broncos. Everyone says the talent isn’t that great, but Sean Payton, there’s a reason why he won as much as he did in New Orleans. I mean, he comes from that Parcells, Bella check, you are, you are going to grind, you are going to be tough, you are going to we’re going to have men. And he wants a specific kind of guy. You know, he the Russell Wilson, thing was bizarre, but it wasn’t his type of guy, and they ate 39 million Nestor 39
Nestor Aparicio 07:06
that’s not gonna say your rosters depleted. Mike, I spent last week talking to everybody in Cleveland, all my Cleveland mafia, like you in Denver and Stokely this week, and like, I had all the Cleveland people, and I’m like, You guys are gonna have a cap hit. And if Winston can play a little, they can get some kind of quarterback play, but the cap hits unprecedented that your franchise has, and Cleveland’s going to be, you know, more than that. Yeah, the Broncos
Mike Klis 07:31
took 53 million. See, they there was an 85 million dead cap over two years for us, and the Broncos opted to take the most they could have taken 35 this year and 50 next year. They decided to take 53 this year. And what is it, 32 next year? So basically, they were sending the message that they’re going to rebuild this year. And but the strange thing happened, Sean Payton believed they were going to be better without Russ. They were going to be a better team by subtraction of Russ Wilson. And here’s Russ dealing with the Steelers so far. It’s just wasn’t you know, Russ is still good. Sean Payton is good. But they didn’t come together. They didn’t mess. Sean Payton didn’t want him. He want, he wanted Bo Nicks. He went after Bo Nicks. It, you know, right now looks like they’re going to be together 1012, years. I doubt it. I I’m not. I’m not sure how long Sean Payton is going to be at this, but it’s going to be a few more years, and we’ll see how far those two can go, because they’re starting to click. Mike,
Nestor Aparicio 08:43
you’re a young, old timer like me. And when you see a guy like Peyton leave a job, take a minute off, come back for a lot of money, right? I mean, we go back to Vermeil, and you could talk about guys like Madden that never went back. My partner, Brian Billick, never went back. Right? Like some people just have had enough. I had dinner with Marvin Lewis two weeks ago or six weeks ago. He’s back again, running around with the Raiders. And I’m like, some of these guys can’t stay away. And in the case of not staying away and coming back and having the kind of energy that you need to have to revitalize a franchise like the Broncos, a new ownership the Condoleezza Rice like, lots going on there. That’s not Pat bowling anymore, or John Elway as and we’ll get to your book in a minute. But the Peyton thing as a media guy, when you hear that, you’re like, oh, I don’t know. I mean, if something happened here and they hire Belichick here to run the Ravens next year, I’d say, does he want it? You know, do you really want to do it? Because you have to really be vested to take this job.
Mike Klis 09:43
I agree. And you know, ideally you want shot the hungry Sean Payton, who’s just starting off, who went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and kind of rebuilt that franchise from the from the ground up and in new. Orleans. He’s the mayor. They didn’t boo him when he came out to the field two weeks ago when the Broncos played him on Thursday night. But so you thought they would have booed him, because he did leave New Orleans. Wanted a year off. He never was going to retire. His intention was to come back in a year or two in the right situation. The Penner, Walton Penner ownership group was what sold them. They’ve they’ve got all the resources. They’ve poured a lot of resources, but including eating Russ salary, including paying Sean Payton’s salary, where he’s now. I guess he was number two last year with behind Belichick, and now he’s number two, behind Andy Reid. But I have seen, I have not seen the burned out coach. I have seen and, you know, I wondered about that too. How hungry is Sean Payton going to be and but he’s been all in to the point that he’s obsessed. He obsessed about some details. You wonder, coach, why? What are you worrying about? That for? He thinks everything matters. And that’s the parcel School of coaching. And he, he’s, he is, he’s definitely all in no doubt about it. They work till midnight every night. He’s a night owl, and so he’s one of those guys who maybe doesn’t hit his pillow till two in the morning. So it’s starting to gradually and now, rather all of a sudden, rapidly, seeing some success here. John
Nestor Aparicio 11:43
Elway was once drafted for the Baltimore Colts. I can grab my Baltimore Colts belt buckle over here. I warned Stokely, but he told me he was going to show me the Indianapolis cold stuff. And I’m like, please, I don’t want to see that it was, you know, I was a 15 year old kid. I’ve had Ernie, of course, he for years, telling stories about how all that went down. You’re still 41 years later, writing the story of John Elway, which had second and third acts long after the drive game. You know, it’s, it’s amazing. Tell folks about your book. And I think there’s always some fascination with John Elway and what might have been in Baltimore. Yeah. Here’s
Mike Klis 12:24
the book, what it looks like, and you can get it on Amazon right there. Thank you very much Nestor for letting me plug it and the idea of a triumph publications, it’s a very good looking book, by the way. Don’t you think I think that’s a good looking book. And look at the look at the back. Shanahan, and now that’s a good
Nestor Aparicio 12:41
he would look better on the sidelines with Frank Cush in a colt helmet, but that’s
Mike Klis 12:47
okay. Well, Frank was one reason his dad wouldn’t let him play for Frank Kush and and then her say was the other reason,
Nestor Aparicio 12:56
but two pretty good reasons, as things went, as his history turned out. He was right. We were
Mike Klis 13:03
wrong, as it turned out. But it started off with they wanted to take a revisit. The Broncos were down seven years as we talked about their playoff drop. They wanted to relive the glory that fans. Wanted to relive some glory and the good years again, since they weren’t getting it with the current team. And so it was. It was going to be based on the 1997 98 Super Bowl teams, the first championships back to back with with an emphasis on Elway as the most influential person in Bronco history. And it became more about the most influential person in history, Elway with the 9798 teams as the as the anchor to that we really spent most of our time on the end of his career than the beginning. We had chapters on on each stage of his career, coming in, yeah, the Colts, the rookie lining up under guard. You know, the struggles early, the drive that Reeves years, Wade Phillips years, but we really emphasize 9697 98 with Mike Shanahan and then finished it with chapter on his 10 years as a general manager, definitely the most influence. I mean, they’ve been to eight Super Bowls. He’s been part of seven of them, as a as a quarterback, he was two and three as a GM. He was one and one. And so still fascinating. He’s still around. Um, he’s enjoying, he’s enjoying retirement, from what I understand, although when you’re John Elway, you’re as busy as you want to be, and he seems to be everywhere, not quite like Peyton Manning, but he seems to be everywhere. And so it’s a good book. I talked to a lot of people. You know, Terrell, Davis Shanahan wrote the forward COVID act. Tom. I’m Jackson, going back. Steve Foley, Steve Watson, all you know, all the fort Rod Smith, Ed McCaffrey,
Nestor Aparicio 15:07
touch everyone, every era you know, because we talk here, like, about Ozzy being a Hall of Fame executive for what he what he’s done. Elway did 10 years into several like, I don’t know what the standard would be just on that end. But when you talk about those, I was at the drive game and us, it was Ozzy, by the way, so is Ernie, of course, he right, you know, so that era and Watson and those players and the gratischars and the guys that were the Craig Morton era and the, you know, the red era that came through orange Crusher like he touched everybody who ever touched anything,
Mike Klis 15:44
right? Literally. And I thought, you know, the one thing that I thought was interesting when he came in in 83 and Elway was huge, not always for the good reasons. You know, everybody thought he was the spoil Brad from California. Terry Bradshaw kind of manifested that reputation for him is this where I say play
Nestor Aparicio 16:03
baseball and Oneonta my ass, let me get I’ll throw that in there. Go
Mike Klis 16:09
ahead. Very good boy. You boy, your memory is sharp. I’ve been
Nestor Aparicio 16:14
doing this for 40 years. Mike, so, yeah, yeah, I’ve been
Mike Klis 16:17
doing it for 40 years too, and I don’t remember what you remember, I had to look everything up online. You know, it was a labor of love, by the way, this research project. But it always is. It always is, yeah, but, but there was no resentment from the orange crushers. You know, they, they were great themselves, and Elway stole all the attention from everybody else. Tom Jackson, they didn’t care about him anymore. Billy Thompson, Barney Chavis, they didn’t care about the orange crushers anymore. It was all Elway. And Tom Jackson said, there’s no resentment because they hadn’t won a Super Bowl, and Elway what soon as they saw him fire the ball in practice, they said, we’re going, we’re going to win some Super Bowls. Now, it didn’t happen with the orange crushers. It happened later in his career when Mike Shanahan came in and refined his game and got a running game for him. He got a Davis for him, and that Alex Gibbs zone blocking system that Shannon sharp guy could play a little bit too. Yeah, he was Hall of Famer for he had a couple good years in Baltimore too. I mean, he didn’t fall off for you guys. We won the Super
Nestor Aparicio 17:25
Bowl the minute he got here. You know, I’m just saying, you know, Goose never wanted to hear that, even Woodson Ray. But, you know, there was this, there was the straw that started the drink. Still does, still does it media, Stokely
Mike Klis 17:36
man, him and Stokely So, yeah, it was great. It was, it was great. Reliving all this I had, I had a long breakfast at the perfect landing restaurant at Centennial airport with John and rehashed everything. You know, it’s funny. One story in the book is Ernest Beiner, when he was the coach of Washington Ben Redskins. He was at a blackjack table with John and Lake Tahoe for that celebrity golf tournament. And biner says to John, they’re at the same table. Man, I thought we had you. And John goes, what? He goes, I thought we had you. He goes, What do you mean? He said, Washington, we had we had to trade it for you. Dan Reeves and Elway had so fallen apart in their relationship that Reeves was trading him to Washington. I think he wanted Tommy Maddox to come in, and Elway would have been fine with it. Mark Rippon won the Super Bowl with the Redskins that year, but Pat Bolen nixed it. Pat Bolin next the trade, and it was good for the Broncos that he did, because there are many more good years for Elway. And when Maddox went oh and four, when Elway got hurt, Bolin realized Elway was more important than Dan Reeves, and so Reeves got fired, and he wanted Mike Shanahan. That took a couple of years, but it all worked out in the end for for Elway, you know, it used to be, you want to, you always want to go out on top. Now you want to go out like Elway, back to back Super Bowls to finish his career, yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 19:16
Peyton Manning went out on top of. Ray Lewis went out on top. John Bettis, the only handful of guys Elway went on top a couple times, though, that’s amazing. The book is available. Mike cliff is our guest. He’s out of Channel Nine in Denver, doing great work out there. Also hanging out with Deion Sanders in town as well. So lots going on, and a five and three football team coming to Baltimore this weekend. Sort of upstart, surprising, and I’m expecting like you, Mike, a really competitive game on Sunday. I really appreciate your time, as always, for coming on, unschooling us on Broncos history. Next time, it’ll be avalanche and Rockies and nuggets, but not in this lifetime. So we got, we got Broncos, ravens action. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming on. Alright.
Mike Klis 19:59
Nestor. Go get them. Go get those Elway
Nestor Aparicio 20:01
years out there it was the Elway. Was it minutes or days or moments? I don’t know how long it was a cold. It was about a minute and a half. It felt like the tiger. Bob got on the phone and sent him off for Chris Hinton, back in the day. Oh, man. Mike Pagel, where have you gone? Mike Pagel, I just miss Burt Jones. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, T, A M, 1570, Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. History, Baltimore, positive. Go get him. Ravens. You.
