{"id":894360,"date":"2026-05-18T06:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T06:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/894360\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T06:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T06:12:26","slug":"late-broncos-super-bowl-quarterback-remembered-as-a-warrior-by-his-former-teammates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/894360\/","title":{"rendered":"Late Broncos Super Bowl Quarterback Remembered As A Warrior By His Former Teammates"},"content":{"rendered":"

You have to go back pretty far as a Denver Broncos<\/a> fan to be able to remember the achievements of quarterback Craig Morton, who passed this week at the age of 83 in California due to sepsis, according to a writeup by Luca Evans of the <\/a>Denver Post<\/a>. You have to go back even further the remember the most noteworthy aspect of Morton\u2019s NFL history, as he came into the NFL as a threat to star Dallas Cowboys<\/a> quarterback Don Meredith.<\/p>\n

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Morton played a total of 18 seasons in the NFL, and he had a reputation for being tough as nails. He led the Broncos to their first Super Bowl back in 1977, and that gave both the team and the franchise a new level of credibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe represented the franchise in the community because Denver<\/a> was starting to obtain an identity,\u201d said former Broncos teammate and running back Dave Preston. \u201cAnd I think he helped in that transition from, just a cow town into \u2014 hey, a leader against the hated Raider Nation and (Pittsburgh<\/a>\u2019s) Steel Curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Evans, Morton\u2019s arrival in 1977 brought a \u201cspiritual awakening\u201d for a quarterback in the twilight of his career, said former Broncos linebacker Bob Swenson. Evans described Morton\u2019s arm as \u201csteady\u201d in that Super Bowl season, and it also set up the good things to come. .<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players now do not realize that the brand of the Broncos, the national status, the whole thing has become so big in terms of community impact that \u2014 if it weren\u2019t for Craig Morton and those guys in \u201877,\u201d Swenson said, \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tom Jackson was a Pro Bowl linebacker in Denver and a longtime ESPN analyst and broadcaster, so he\u2019s in a different position to know what this meant.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking us to that first Super Bowl,\u201d former Pro Bowl linebacker Tom Jackson added, \u201cI believe, really legitimized the Denver Broncos for the successes they\u2019ve had moving on after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morton wasn\u2019t the most athletic quarterback, either. He was a statue in the pocket, but he could make all the throws and stand in under a heavy pass rush. It was a different era, and Morton was the type of quarterback who just found a way to get the job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first saw Craig, I was like, \u2018How \u2014 what can he do?\u2019\u201d Upchurch, a former four-time All-Pro receiver and return man, recalled. \u201cI mean, honestly, his legs. He was knock-kneed. He couldn\u2019t run. He wasn\u2019t real strong. It wasn\u2019t like he was in the weight room, and those types of things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You have to go back pretty far as a Denver Broncos fan to be able to remember the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[120342,232,119799,257,231,258,8302,2426,7,8303,6,520,60056],"class_list":["post-894360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-bob-swenson","tag-broncos","tag-craig-morton","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denver-post","tag-denverbroncos","tag-football","tag-luca-evans","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-tom-jackson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116594104332459279","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}