KNOW YOUR 1980s DENVER BRONCOS

This week, #57, Tom Jackson.

Announcement!  This edition covers the first of the three remaining as-yet-unprofiled 1980s Denver Broncos in the Ring of Fame.  (The Broncos’ Ring of Fame does have a few more Broncos who played in the 1980s, but I do not consider them 1980s Denver Broncos, if you follow me.  Haven Moses and Billy Thompson both played through 1981, and would be important points of discussion in KNOW YOUR 1970s DENVER BRONCOS, but I will omit them from this series.)  Upcoming editions of KNOW YOUR 1980s DENVER BRONCOS will cover the other two, plus one bonus edition.  And…those will sadly mark the conclusion of the series.  I know what you’re thinking: that, according to Pro Football Reference, there are 148 1980s Denver Broncos, and this will only be 22 of them.  But I don’t think I can come up with something interesting to say about the remaining 126.  So, let the countdown begin.

Tom was drafted by the Broncos in the 4th round of the 1973 draft, and went on to play his entire 14-year career with the team. To this day, only John Elway and Jason Elam have played more games as a Bronco. He is among the all-time team leaders in interceptions, and would probably be near the top for tackles and sacks, had they been adequately recorded during the bulk of his playing days.  Tom was elected to three Pro Bowls and, in 1977, to the league’s All-Pro Team, as one of the leaders of the Broncos’ vaunted Orange Crush defense.  He was inducted into the Broncos’ Ring of Fame in 1992.

He played in Super Bowl XII, in which the Broncos were pummeled by the Dallas Cowboys 27-10, and Super Bowl XXI, in which the Broncos were pummeled by the New York Giants 39-20. The team’s even more severe pummelings in Super Bowls XXII and XXIV might be attributable to the loss of Tom’s veteran leadership on defense.

So what makes Tom Jackson so awesome? He remains one of the team’s signature players both on and off the field.  Not only statistically, and in terms of leadership, but as a highly visible personality for an ofter-overlooked team.  He routinely picks the Broncos to do well on ESPN and clearly shows a level of bias all fans of the team appreciate.

These days, Tom is a highly successful broadcaster.  He remains entrenched on ESPN’s featured NFL shows, where he has had a position since 1987, 23 years to date, much longer than he was a player!  The relative lengths of his player and broadcaster information on his Wikipedia page speaks to his increased visibility in his current position, as well as the fact that most people who edit Wikipedia have only ever known Tom as a broadcaster.  He’s a skilled and intelligent presence on ESPN, and is unfortunately subject to the overbearing personalities of the (approximately) twelve hundred other panelists on NFL Countdown.  Tom lives in Cincinnati, and, according to his Wikipedia bio, loves spicy food so much he wants to market his own hot sauce.