1987 Denver Broncos season

1987 Denver Broncos season
1987 Denver Broncos season
Owner	Pat Bowlen
General manager	John Beake
Head coach	Dan Reeves
Home field	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	10–4–1
Division place	1st AFC West
Playoff finish	Won Divisional Playoffs; (vs. Oilers) 34–10; Won AFC Championship; (vs. Browns) 38–33; Lost Super Bowl XXII; (vs. Redskins) 10–42
Pro Bowlers	QB John Elway; G Keith Bishop; LB Karl Mecklenburg
Uniform
	← 1986; Broncos seasons; 1988 →;

The 1987 Denver Broncos season was the team's 28th year in professional football and its 18th with the National Football League (NFL). Games scheduled during the third week of the season were cancelled, and games played from weeks 4 to 6 were played with replacement teams. The Broncos finished first in the AFC West, and were AFC Champions for the second straight year. Quarterback John Elway was voted league MVP for 1987. The Broncos reached the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season, but lost for the second straight time, 42–10 to the Washington Redskins.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1987 Denver Broncos draft
1	27	Ricky Nattiel	Wide receiver	Florida
3	84	Michael Brooks *	Linebacker	Louisiana State
4	111	Marc Munford	Linebacker	Nebraska
6	167	Warren Marshall	Running back	James Madison
7	194	Wilbur Strozier	Tight end	Georgia
8	222	Dan Morgan	Guard	Penn State
9	250	Bruce Plummer	Center	Mississippi State
10	278	Rafe Wilkinson	Linebacker	Richmond
11	299	Steve Roberts	Defensive end	Washington
11	306	Tommy Neal	Running back	Maryland
12	334	Tyrone Braxton *	Safety	North Dakota State
Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

**1987 Denver Broncos staff**
	Front office President and chief executive officer – Pat Bowlen General manager – John Beake Director of player personnel – Reed Johnson Director of pro personnel – Lide Huggins Head coaches Vice president/head coach – Dan Reeves Assistant head coach/defense – Joe Collier Special assistant – Marvin Bass Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks – Mike Shanahan Running backs – Nick Nicolau Wide receivers/tight ends – Chan Gailey Offensive line – Alex Gibbs			Defensive coaches Defensive line – Stan Jones Assistant defensive line – Rubin Carter Linebackers – Myrel Moore Defensive backs – Charlie West Special teams coaches Special teams – Mike Nolan Strength and conditioning Strength/conditioning – Al Miller

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Roster

**1987 Denver Broncos roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 7 John Elway 12 Ken Karcher 8 Gary Kubiak Running backs (RB) 35 Ken Bell KR 24 Tony Boddie 33 Gene Lang FB 30 Steve Sewell 23 Sammy Winder Wide receivers (WR) 83 Sam Graddy 80 Mark Jackson 82 Vance Johnson 84 Ricky Nattiel 81 Steve Watson Tight ends (TE) 89 Mitch Andrews 88 Clarence Kay 46 Bobby Micho 89 Orson Mobley		Offensive linemen (OL) 54 Keith Bishop G 62 Mike Freeman C 79 Stefan Humphries G 72 Keith Kartz T 76 Ken Lanier T 68 Larry Lee C 74 Dan Remsberg T 70 Dave Studdard T Defensive linemen (DL) 65 Walt Bowyer DE 90 Freddie Gilbert DE 75 Rulon Jones DE 71 Greg Kragen NT 61 Andre Townsend DE		Linebackers (LB) 56 Michael Brooks OLB 55 Rick Dennison ILB 73 Simon Fletcher OLB 98 Ricky Hunley ILB 97 Bruce Klosterman ILB 58 Tim Lucas OLB 77 Karl Mecklenburg ILB 51 Marc Munford ILB 50 Jim Ryan LB Defensive backs (DB) 34 Tyrone Braxton FS 28 Jeremiah Castille CB 27 Kevin Clark 31 Mike Harden CB/FS 36 Mark Haynes CB 22 Tony Lilly FS 38 Bruce Plummer CB 48 Randy Robbins SS 49 Dennis Smith SS 45 Steve Wilson CB Special teams 2 Mike Horan P 3 Rich Karlis K				Reserve 69 Tony Colorito NT (IR) 78 Winford Hood T (IR) 66 Jim Juriga T (IR) 29 Warren Marshall RB (IR) 85 Rick Massie WR (IR) 93 Richard Reed LB (IR) 58 Rafe Wilkinson LB (IR) 47 Gerald Willhite RB (IR) Rookies in italics

NFL replacement players

After the league decided to use replacement players during the NFLPA strike, the following team was assembled:

1987 Denver Broncos replacement roster

Quarterbacks

26 Marshall Barnes

12 Ken Karcher

14 Dean May

16 Monte McGuire

Running backs

28 Scott Caldwell

32 Joe Dudek

34 Walt Goffigan

41 Zeph Lee

43 Bruce McIntyre

24 Percy Keith

29 John Sterling

42 Mark Templeton

Wide receivers

82 Laron Brown

84 Eric Hodges

83 Rick Massie

87 Michel James

80 Shane Swanson

4 Bob Thompson

Tight ends

86 Mitch Andrews

89 Kerry Locklin

88 Russell Payne

85 Erich Rumple

Offensive linemen

73 Kevin Belcher T

-- Robin Ham

76 Archie Harris T

69 David Jones

71 Jack Peavey C

60 Rick Pryor

66 Carlos Scott

-- Tyrone Sorrells

61 Isaac Williams

Defensive linemen

-- Kyle Ambrose

79 Steve Bryan

65 Theron Harrison

74 Bill Lobenstein DE

68 Ron McLean

91 Jeff Tupper DE

99 Ray Woodard

77 Mitchell Young

Linebackers

51 Stan David

59 Kirk Dodge

95 Tim Joiner

56 Mike Knox

58 Tim Lucas

52 Dan MacDonald

57 Matt Smith

55 Bryant Winn

Defensive backs

27 Kevin Clark

37 Steve Fitzhugh

25 Roger Jackson

20 Daryll Jones

45 Leonard Jones

40 Martin Rudolph

39 Darryl Russell

38 Larry Shepherd

46 Kennedy Webster

Special teams

15 Mike Clendenen K

6 Ralph Giacomarro P

19 John Pieper

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 13	Seattle Seahawks	W 40–17	1–0	Mile High Stadium	75,999
2	September 20	at Green Bay Packers	T 17–17 (OT)	1–0–1	Milwaukee County Stadium	50,624
3	September 28	at Cleveland Browns	canceled	1–0–1	Cleveland Stadium
4	October 4	Houston Oilers	L 10–40	1–1–1	Mile High Stadium	38,494
5	October 12	Los Angeles Raiders	W 30–14	2–1–1	Mile High Stadium	61,230
6	October 18	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 26–17	3–1–1	Arrowhead Stadium	20,296
7	October 26	at Minnesota Vikings	L 27–34	3–2–1	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	51,011
8	November 1	Detroit Lions	W 34–0	4–2–1	Mile High Stadium	75,172
9	November 8	at Buffalo Bills	L 14–21	4–3–1	Rich Stadium	63,698
10	November 16	Chicago Bears	W 31–29	5–3–1	Mile High Stadium	75,783
11	November 22	at Los Angeles Raiders	W 23–17	6–3–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	61,318
12	November 29	at San Diego Chargers	W 31–17	7–3–1	Jack Murphy Stadium	61,880
13	December 6	New England Patriots	W 31–20	8–3–1	Mile High Stadium	75,795
14	December 13	at Seattle Seahawks	L 21–28	8–4–1	Kingdome	61,759
15	December 19	Kansas City Chiefs	W 20–17	9–4–1	Mile High Stadium	75,053
16	December 27	San Diego Chargers	W 24–0	10–4–1	Mile High Stadium	21,189
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seahawks	14	3	0	0	17
• Broncos	7	13	14	6	40

Date: September 17
Location: Mile High Stadium
Game start: 2:00 p.m. MST
Game attendance: 75,999
Referee: Red Cashion
TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen

John Elway 22/32, 338 Yds, 4 TD, INT

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Week 2

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Broncos	0	3	7	7	0	17
Packers	7	7	0	3	0	17

Date: September 20
Location: Milwaukee County Stadium
Referee: Dick Hantak
Television network: NBC

Week 4

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Oilers	7	10	10	13	40
Broncos	0	10	0	0	10

Date: October 4
Location: Mile High Stadium
Referee: Jim Tunney
Television network: NBC

Week 5

	1	2	3	4	Total
Raiders	0	14	0	0	14
• Broncos	14	3	6	7	30

Date: October 12
Location: Mile High Stadium
Game start: 7:00 p.m. MST
Game attendance: 61,230
Game weather: 53 °F (12 °C); wind 7 mph (11 km/h)
Referee: Fred Silva
TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, and Dan Dierdorf

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Week 6

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Broncos	9	10	0	7	26
Chiefs	7	7	3	0	17

Date: October 18
Location: Arrowhead Stadium
Referee: Jerry Markbreit
TV announcers (NBC): Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy

Week 7

	1	2	3	4	Total
Broncos	7	10	0	10	27
• Vikings	7	7	13	7	34

Date: October 26
Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Referee: Tom Dooley
TV announcers (ABC): Gary Bender and Lynn Swann

Week 8

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	0	0	0	0	0
• Broncos	17	7	0	10	34

Date: November 1
Location: Mile High Stadium
Referee: Jerry Seeman
Television network: CBS

Week 9

	1	2	3	4	Total
Broncos	0	0	7	7	14
• Bills	0	18	3	0	21

Date: November 8
Location: Rich Stadium
Referee: Dick Jorgensen
Television network: NBC

Week 10

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	0	15	0	29
• Broncos	0	21	0	10	31

Date: November 16
Location: Mile High Stadium
Referee: Red Cashion
TV announcers (ABC): Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf

Week 11

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Broncos	10	10	0	3	23
Raiders	0	14	3	0	17

Date: November 22
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Referee: Jim Tunney
TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen

Week 12

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Broncos	7	10	14	0	31
Chargers	7	3	0	7	17

Date: November 29
Location: Jack Murphy Stadium
Referee: Gene Barth
TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Jimmy Cefalo

Week 13

	1	2	3	4	Total
Patriots	7	10	3	0	20
• Broncos	0	3	14	14	31

Date: December 6
Location: Mile High Stadium
Referee: Fred Silva
TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen

Week 14

	1	2	3	4	Total
Broncos	0	0	14	7	21
• Seahawks	0	14	7	7	28

Date: December 13
Location: Kingdome
Game weather: Indoors (dome)
Referee: Bob McElwee
Television network: ESPN

Week 15

	1	2	3	4	Total
Chiefs	0	3	7	7	17
• Broncos	7	10	3	0	20

Date: December 19
Location: Mile High Stadium

Week 16

	1	2	3	4	Total
Chargers	0	0	0	0	0
• Broncos	14	0	0	10	24

Date: December 27
Location: Mile High Stadium
Referee: Fred Silva
TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Jimmy Cefalo

Standings

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Denver Broncos⁽¹⁾	10	4	1	.700	7–1	8–3	379	288	W2
Seattle Seahawks⁽⁵⁾	9	6	0	.600	4–3	5–6	371	314	L1
San Diego Chargers	8	7	0	.533	3–4	6–7	253	317	L6
Los Angeles Raiders	5	10	0	.333	2–6	3–8	301	289	L3
Kansas City Chiefs	4	11	0	.267	3–5	3–9	273	388	W1

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
Divisional	January 10, 1988	Houston Oilers (4)	W 34–10	1–0	Mile High Stadium	75,968
AFC Championship	January 17, 1988	Cleveland Browns (2)	W 38–33	2–0	Mile High Stadium	75,993
Super Bowl XXII	January 31, 1988	Washington Redskins (N3)	L 10–42	2–1	Jack Murphy Stadium	73,302

Divisional

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oilers	0	3	0	7	10
• Broncos	14	10	3	7	34

Date: January 10
Location: Mile High Stadium

Conference Championship

	1	2	3	4	Total
Browns	0	3	21	9	33
• Broncos	14	7	10	7	38

Date: January 17
Location: Mile High Stadium

Super Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Redskins	0	35	0	7	42
Broncos	10	0	0	0	10

Date: January 31
Location: Jack Murphy Stadium

Awards and records

Ricky Nattiel, All-Rookie selection

References

^ Broncos Directory (PDF). NFL Enterprises, LLC. September 26, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2021. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Feb-02.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Aug-25.