At long last: The long-awaited, much-anticipated quarterback Clash of 1983 — as it should have happened.

One of the all-time “what if” projects featuring John Elway staying with the Baltimore Colts (and perhaps the Colts staying in Baltimore) and facing fellow first-round selection Dan Marino at the helm of a Steelers offense in flux.

Amazingly, Elway and Marino only met three times in their careers: two regular-season games won by the Dolphins (a 30-26 shootout in 1985 and a 31-21 MIami win in 1998) and one postseason blowout, a 38-3 drubbing of the Dolphins by the Broncos en route to their Super Bowl 33 victory. Denver and Miami met in the 1999 regular season, but of course Elway retired upon winning his second ring. Had the ’83 draft played out as envisioned here, Marino would have traveled to Baltimore with the Black and Gold for a Nov. 13 contest won by the Steelers, 24-13.

The 1980s weren’t entirely terrible for either the Steelers or Colts franchises — there were some playoff appearances amid the more dismal campaigns. In 1983, the Steelers finished 10-6 before bowing in the playoffs, while the Colts struggled at 7-9. MIami finished 12-4, Denver at 9-7 — and both were dispatched in the playoffs by the Seahawks. WIth Marino earning a four-point card in APBA Football’s original 1983 season set vs. only a two for Elway, there’s not much hope of the Colts far exceeding their ’83 record — especially with Elway’s 47.5% completion rate. That said, Elway did show a sign of the magic to come when he threw three fourth-quarter TDs in Week 15 against the Colts in Denver to lift the Broncos from a 19-0 deficit to a 21-19 win (in fact, the Colts and Broncos met in Baltimore in Week 2 as well, with Denver winning 17-10). It would be far more interesting to put Elway 1986 or 1987 with the Colts — although even then Elway’s completion rate stayed in the mid-50s; he didn’t crack 60% completions until his 1993 season.

Speaking of the Broncos and Dolphins, they’ve only met 20 times in their history, with Miami leading the series 12-7-1; there’s another great what-if best-of-three series:

• 1983 season, when both made the playoffs and could have faced each other.
• 1984 season, when Denver lost to Pittsburgh in a bid to face Miami in the AFC Championship
• 1997 season, when both made the playoffs

Along the lines of this project, check out the 1984 NBA what-if by Rod's Tabletop Hoops ( @redfanrod ) The 1984 Blazers took Jordan, the Bulls took Barkley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejNiE7yvBhc

REDZONE/HIGHLIGHTS

11:3422:0532:1437:5554:181:02:451:17:151:30:10

Denver-Miami head-to-head history:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/game_query.cgi?tm1=den&tm2=mia&yr=all

First Elway-Marino meeting, 1985:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198509290den.htm

Second Elway-Marino meeting, 1998:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199812210mia.htm

Third Elway-Marino meeting, 1999:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199901090den.htm

1983 Steelers at Colts:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198311130clt.htm

1983 standings:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1983/

“The day the Royals drafted Elway and Marino”:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/jun/13/john-elway-dan-marino-1979-mlb-draft-kansas-city-royals

“John Elway, Bob Irsay and the Colts fleeing of Baltimore”:
https://fansided.com/2021/07/23/john-elway-1983-nfl-draft-baltimore-colts/

“How the legendary 1983 QB draft class changed the NFL forever”:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/04/26/1880-nfl-draft-john-elway-dan-marino-jim-kelly-historic-class

“What if John Elway played for the Colts?”:
https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/what_if_john_elway_played_for_the_colts/s1_11773_18227675

VIDEO VERSION: https://youtu.be/qmRSCZGbXoc