Jake Plummer was the talk of the town as a high school student in Boise, Idaho. At Arizona State University, he was a cult hero. Franchise savior? Yep, he's been that, too, for the Arizona Cardinals.
But none of it prepared him for playing quarterback in Denver, where the standards are John Elway and Super Bowls.
"The fans are crazy here," Plummer said. "I found that out when I was booed for throwing one interception in a preseason game."
There is no doubt the demands are high. Elway took the Broncos to five Super Bowls and rode off into the sunset after winning two straight.
Elway's long shadow has covered everything the Broncos have tried to do since he retired in 1999. Brian Griese certainly couldn't escape it. He was chastised for every little mistake, barely won half the games he started and was sent packing this offseason with four years left on a US$39 million contract.
In steps Jake the Snake, known as much for forcing passes into coverage and poor decision making as he was for pulling out wins from the brink of defeat in six seasons with the Cardinals.
Not exactly a perfect fit for Denver's precision offense, right? Well, actually he has been.
"I knew he was good, but not that good," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said.
No one could have predicted how well Plummer has fit in.
Sure, he got off to a slow start -- booing in the preseason, three interceptions in the season opener -- but it's been a perfect match ever since.
Plummer toned down his "I-have-to-do-it-all" approach, allowing talented teammates like Clinton Portis, Shannon Sharpe and Rod Smith to carry some of the load. He has stopped trying to squeeze passes into triple coverage, has thrown the ball away instead of taking sacks and has no trouble finding his third and fourth receivers.
Plummer completed 62 percent of his passes in the regular season, threw for 2,182 yards despite missing four games and had a quarterback rating of 91.2 -- more than 20 points higher than his career average. He also threw 15 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions, by far the best ratio of his career.
Plummer's mobility has allowed the Broncos to reopen the playbook, getting back to the bootlegs, rollouts and quarterback draws that Elway was famous for and Griese couldn't run.
"Jake gives us a dimension that we haven't had around here in quite a while," Sharpe said.
He also has them winning, something that hasn't happened much lately.
Denver opened the season 4-0 for just the fifth time in team history and closed the season by winning five of six to reach the playoffs for the second time since Elway retired.
Denver was 9-2 with Plummer and just 1-3 when he sat out with shoulder and foot injuries. Another loss, 31-3 to Green Bay last week, came with Plummer and several other starters resting for Sunday's playoff game against Indianapolis.
The Broncos also averaged 206 yards passing and 28 points with Plummer calling signals, and 140 yards passing and 14 points without him.
His presence even affected the running game.
Portis rushed for 1,230 yards and averaged just over six yards per carry with Plummer's legs and arm keeping the pressure off the running game. In the four games Plummer was hurt, Portis had 361 yards and averaged 4.4 yards per carry.
"They have a good team and had Jake Plummer not gotten hurt, there's no telling how many they may have won," Colts coach Tony Dungy said.
And they've gotten something else along with the wins: More swagger.
The Elway era had plenty of it, from believing no game was out of reach to the way Elway strutted around the field.
That went away with Griese, an introvert who rarely interacted with his teammates and did little to inspire them.
Plummer has been just the opposite.
He started his career in Denver by taking the offensive line out to dinner shortly after signing, then opened the first day of training camp by revving up the fans with a victory lap of sorts.
Plummer's enthusiasm hasn't wavered and he's been the kind of teammate players love: a guy's guy who is not afraid to needle anyone and is the first to pat someone on the back.
"The thing that I love about him is that he is a competitor," Shanahan said. "He loves to play, he loves game day, he loves pressure situations. You take that, combined with his preparation, his ability to do things off the cuff, scrambling, making some plays -- he's been a lot of fun."
In other words, he's been a lot like Elway -- the swashbuckling style, the cool under pressure, the ability to create when things break down.
OK, so maybe it's a little premature to compare Plummer to one of the best quarterbacks ever. After all, it's only been a year, and not even a full one.
"I'm not John Elway and I'm not trying to be John Elway. That would be impossible," Plummer said. "To try and match one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL would be foolish. I just want to do the best I can and help this team win a Super Bowl -- maybe a few of them."
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