Former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis will be peppered with this question all week long. And he’s already laughing about it. Davis, now an analyst for NFL Network, is a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the same week that his former team plays in its record-tying eighth Super Bowl, seeking it’s third win.
The question, whether he’s more nervous for a Broncos win or his Hall of Fame candidacy, came from Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro on Mile High Sports AM 1340. They won’t be the last to ask that question this week.
“…Maybe the Hall of Fame,” Davis answered, chuckling. “It’s the only time I get to be selfish. Of course I’m excited about Saturday [when the 2016 class will be announced]; I can’t wait to see what happens. Hopefully it happens, but if it doesn’t, we’ll try again next year.”
Davis has always been an optimist, although this year he has even more reason to be hopeful.
“I feel good. I feel like I’ve got more momentum this year than I’ve had in previous years,” he told Goodman and Shapiro.
Still, the nervousness he’s feeling about the Hall vote comes from a lack of control of the situation – one very unlike his time on the field.
“I didn’t have a lot of butterflies when I played in the game because you can control that,” Davis said. “You play in a game, you can prepare for it. It’s a game. If you play well, chances are you can dictate the outcome. This one, I have no control over. I can’t do anything about it. I can just sit there and wait and hope that the powers that be – the people that have the selection – are generous enough to let me come into the club.”
As for his nerves when he was on the playing field, even in the biggest game in football, Davis rarely let them get to him. Davis, who averaged 4.6 yards per carry in the regular season, averaged a yard more than that in the playoffs. He also scored an impressive 12 touchdowns in just eight playoff games.
“I loved the big moments,” Davis said humbly. “I loved the big stage. I think part of it was – and I tell people this a lot – that I tried to treat every game as the same game. I know it’s hard to do, but when the pressure goes up I just tend to slow down and remember that it is just football. I always felt like every game I played in – whether it was a regular season game, a preseason game or the postseason – that I was going to give you everything I had. I was going to try to play the best I could, so I always thought that when the game was big I never had to flip a switch.”
The 2013 Denver Broncos may have let those nerves get the best of them, as they delivered an uninspired performance that led to a 35-point loss at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. This year’s team would be wise to listen to Davis’ perspective on playing in those big games.
“A lot of people talk about, ‘Man, it’s postseason, now we have to play harder.’ I felt like I never had to do that because I was always ready to play. Every game did matter, and it kind of served me well when I played in big moments. I didn’t have the pressure. I didn’t feel like I had the pressure, at least … obviously I played on good teams and had great players around me. Hall of Famers. I was fortunate to be on those Broncos teams.”
There are Hall of Famers on both sides of the ball for the Broncos this year, and if they can be better than the Panthers for just 60 minutes of football on Feb. 7, they’ll also get to call themselves Super Bowl champions.
Before that happens, Davis will learn his fate and find out if he’s the seventh member of the Denver Broncos to earn enshrinement in Canton. The knock on Davis, as Goodman pointed out, was that his career was shortened by injury. But Davis says he doesn’t let that get to him.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “It’s a fact. When you’re talking about a sport like football, and you look at some of the greats to play it, that’s part of it – you play long and have a career that extends 10-plus years. If you look at the all-time leaders, I’m not on that list. I’m not up there with Walter Payton or Barry Sanders or all those guys, but I will say I’m a unique case. I did play a short period of time.”
Always the optimist, Davis has a positive spin on that.
“I like to look at it as instead of being short, I had an efficient career, It took these other guys 10 years to do it; I did it in four years.”
Davis will no doubt be answering that question more than a handful of times during the lead-up to Super Bowl 50. That’s a good answer; one he’ll keep laughing about.
Listen to the full interview with Davis, including his analysis of Super Bowl 50, in the podcast below…
Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the largest local lineup covering of what’s new and what’s next in Colorado sports.