Miles
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- Mar 18, 2019
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Briscoe earned the start the next week against Cincinnati, but after he struggled in the first half, Saban substituted a mostly healed Tensi for him. With a fourth-quarter touchdown pass, Tensi saved the game for the Broncos and at last got them into the win column.
With Denver's expected starter back in the fold, Briscoe returned to a reserve role. A week later, Tensi threw a touchdown and Denver's defense picked off Joe Namath five times to top the eventual Super Bowl champs.
In Week 7, though, Tensi's collarbone woes returned. Midway through the second quarter against the Chargers, he left the game after reaggravating the injury. Though trailing 24-3, Briscoe gave a good showing. Now having practiced for about a month as a quarterback, Briscoe was able to rely on his arm more and completed 17-of-30 passes for 237 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. He also added 68 yards on the ground.
Battling through his shoulder injury, Tensi remained the starter for the next game against Miami, but it didn't go much better.
Before what was then the largest home crowd in franchise history, Tensi completed one of nine pass attempts and threw three interceptions in the first half.
"The crowd had been booing the Broncs in general [and] the 6-5 Tensi in particular," the Omaha World-Herald’s Walter Provost wrote[7]. "A streamer of toilet paper had flown from the belligerent south stands when Tensi threw his third interception of the first half."
After halftime, the Dolphins promptly drove for a touchdown to go up 14-0. Saban called on the plucky backup to spark something, anything.
With running backs Floyd Little and Fran Lynch pacing the offense, Briscoe picking up yards here and there and a little help from a timely holding penalty, the Broncos moved into the red zone. On second down from the 12-yard line, Briscoe scrambled from the right side of the field to the left for a touchdown.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Broncos recovered a fumble and scored the tying touchdown soon after.
In the fourth quarter, with both teams knotted at 14 and less than five minutes remaining, Briscoe became a hero to the Mile High faithful. He found Van Heusen downfield for a 41-yard gain and then threw to Crabtree for 9 more yards as Denver drove deep into Miami territory.
On first-and-goal with 1:58 left, Briscoe approached the line and surveyed the defense's formation from the 10-yard line. Upon noticing that the safety and middle linebacker had vacated the middle of the field to better defend the outside threats, he changed the play[8] to a quarterback draw. Slicing through the defense, Briscoe scored the game-winning touchdown.
As the game ended, Provost took note of the crowd's reaction, as "more than a thousand fans were waiting in the south grandstand to hail the conqueror." Some even waited more than an hour to see him as he left the stadium. "You could run for mayor," a fan yelled to him.
Dolphins head coach George Wilson was equally impressed.
"There were 44,000 fans out there who thought Briscoe was great," he said. "Now you can make that 44,001, counting me."
The paper the next day was a whirlwind. Two of the three stories on the front of The Denver Post’s sports section[9] were devoted to Briscoe. Inside the section, four stories about him took up a full page[10].
Not long after, the Associated Press named him AFL Offensive Player of the Week[11].
Still, the Broncos retained Tensi as their starter for the next three games. For fans and media alike, the move was somewhat befuddling.
"We still can't figure out those Broncos," wrote K.O. Tee[12], a sports editor for The Louisville Times. "Marlin Briscoe gets scores, but Lou Saban seems to imply that Steve Tensi will forever be his number one quarterback. Maybe it's a choice between a helter-skelter offense that may explode for points at any time, or a set system that in the long run may produce a consistent winner. Briscoe's kind of offense is more exciting for the spectators."
The implication that Tensi would lead Denver to winning football in the long run wasn't looking too good either, though. In the three weeks after the Dolphins game, he helped Denver get a blowout win over the Patriots, but then he mustered just one touchdown in the two losses that followed. In the second, a game against Houston, Tensi completed just one pass before reinjuring his shoulder. This time, he was done for the year.
Regardless of whether the Broncos, pro football or the country were ready, here came Marlin Briscoe, starting quarterback.