Denver, Colorado Sports News

  Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway joined CBS4 Sports Insiders Vic Lombardi and Gary Miller on their ESPN Radio 1600 show every week to talk Broncos during the 2009-2010 NFL season. The following are notes from his final Monday Morning Quarterback segment of the season.

DENVER (CBS4) - Following the biggest weekend of the NFL season, John Elway didn't hesitate when he was asked what the biggest moment was.

Elway called Saints coach Sean Payton's decision to start off the second half of the Super Bowl with an onside kick "very unexpected" and the key play in the Saints 31-17 victory over the Colts.

Down 10-6, the Saints risked giving the ball to quarterback Peyton Manning with great field position and went ahead with the risky play that sparked New Orleans' comeback.

"Whether it was a 40-yard long field or 60-65 yard long field (for the Colts offense), it didn't matter. It was worth the chance to the Saints," said Elway, who says that surprise kick was one two turning points in the game. He said the first turning point came in the first half when Pierre Garcon dropped a pass from Manning on third down.

Elway said the Saints on Sunday kept to their formula that had them winning games all season, one that wasn't typical for recent NFL champion squads. The defense allowed lots of yards and their running game didn't dominate.

Instead, a strong passing performance from game MVP Drew Brees and turnovers keyed the victory.

"When you're as explosive as they were offensively and if you look at what Sean Payton did -- his play calling and staying aggressive -- they definitely did break some of the rules as far as contemporary or usual Super Bowl champions," Elway said.

As far as the performances by the quarterbacks, aside from the one interception of the game thrown by Manning in the fourth quarter Elway was impressed.

"They both played tremendous football games, but Peyton Manning made the tougher throws the whole day," said Elway, who felt that Manning's legacy shouldn't be tainted at all by the loss.

"If you look at the guys Drew Brees got the ball to -- even though he was on target -- they were open. You look at the guys that Peyton threw to -- the coverage was a lot tighter on the defensive side as far as New Orleans was concerned."

Elway said the Colts defense should probably have played more aggressively.

"Indianapolis didn't look like they were mixing anything up on defense and were satisfied trying to keep everything in front of them and shorten the game and rely on their offense to stay ahead," he said.

For Drew Brees, Monday and Tuesday will be filled with talk show interviews and little sleep, but Elway says there's nothing like the feeling of winning the big game once it starts to sink in a little.

"You're just kind of walking on Cloud 9. That's that feeling of satisfaction and completeness in the fact that you set out to attain a goal and you did. It's not just total euphoria, which it is right after the game, but then you come down and you're kind of sitting in a position where everything is good. You're exhausted but just happy to be where you are.

"Then when you really get to sit back and give yourself a chance to reflect back on not only that year but your career and you look back at the goal that you set when you were a Pop Warner football player -- it's a great feeling."

What would it take for the Broncos to pull off the same type of turnaround the Saints did -- going from 8-8 to being Super Bowl champions? Elway said it could happen for coach Josh McDaniels' squad, who wound up .500 this season.

"I'm anxious to see where the Broncos come back with Josh having a year under his belt and having all his adjustments made," Elway said.

For the big game this year Elway shared the insider information on ESPN 1600 that he frosted some cupcakes for his gathering.

"Paige (his wife) made them and I frosted them," he said.

Aside from the Super Bowl, the big news out of the NFL weekend for Broncos fans was the Hall of Fame selections. Former Broncos star Floyd Little is in and Elway's former teammate Shannon Sharpe, a finalist, will have to wait another year. Elway's wasn't too worried, though. "There's no doubt he'll get in," Elway said, referring to Sharpe.

When Sharpe is selected for the Hall, Elway said he knows he'll have that same feeling of completeness he had upon learning the news that he had been selected.

"When players are playing in the NFL they want to win Super Bowls and then once you're retired kind of the next step -- the cherry on top of the sundae -- is to say you're a member of the Hall of Fame, and something that kind of completes your career," Elway said.

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