They were the two best players on the field when their teams met three times in four years in the AFC Championship Game in the last half of the 1980s.

 

Now former Browns tight end Ozzie Newsome and ex-Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, both of whom are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, are in the same situation again as among the best of their new jobs as NFL general managers per se.

 

After he put together two Super Bowl-winning teams with the Baltimore Ravens, we have asked the question here on this site if Newsome has, in fact, actually become a better GM than he was a player during his 13 year career in Cleveland from 1978-90.

 

And after Elway put together a Broncos team that crushed the favored Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl last Sunday, two years after putting together a heavily-favored club that was stunned 43-8 by the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 48, we have to ask the same question about him.

 

After that blowout loss to the Seahawks, Elway knew he had to improve Denver’s defense dramatically. And he did just that, with the result being that the Broncos completely overwhelmed and outplayed NFL MVP Cam Newton and the Carolina offense.

 

A lot of times, great players don’t make good talent evaluators. They can’t understand why they don’t run across any players who are as good as they were back in the day.

 

But Newsome and Elway have been the exception to the rule.

 

All in all, it’s just another interesting little sidelight to come out of Denver’s big Super Bowl victory.