Fact check: Was John Elway drunk during Brian Flores lawsuit? Former Broncos GM's 'disheveled' interview explored
In the 1980s, 1990s, and 2010s, John Elway was universally revered by his fans and despised by his rivals. Elway always seemed to have the final laugh, whether as the quarterback or general manager of the Denver Broncos. However, Brian Flores is attempting to end his career on a sour note.
At the end of his playing career, Elway capped his run with two consecutive Super Bowl victories, including one over the vaunted Green Bay Packers. Then, as a general manager, he jumped to the top of the NFL pecking order after acquiring Peyton Manning, getting the team to two Super Bowls and winning one. He was also able to give star quarterback Peyton Manning a sendoff that was similar to his.
Will the Denver Broncos lose the lawsuit to Brian Flores?
Manning retired after Super Bowl 50 and thus began the start of what became the last dark chapter of the Elway experience. The team started to routinely fall below .500 and went through head coaches like potato chips. Between 2014 and 2019, the team had spent time with four different coaches.
After a second consecutive losing season in 2018, the team ended the Vance Joseph era. They needed a new coach and began conducting a search, interviewing Vic Fangio and Brian Flores. At the time, Pat Bowlen was no longer in the picture due to Alzeimer's. Instead, it was basically an interim owner managing the team with Joe Ellis.
Brian Flores’ lawsuit should be won just off of what Nathaniel Hackett just did.
Many fans argued that, without an owner, John Elway and the rest of the front office were essentially free to call their own shots. While not proven, the lawsuit eventually brought on by Flores loosely lined up with the rumors and arguments of the time.
Flores and Fangio interviewed for the job, and Fangio received the offer. In response, Flores filed a lawsuit. He claimed that Elway and Ellis conducted a fake interview simply to satisfy the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority coaches, per Bleacher Report.
The reason he claimed it was a "sham" interview was due to the level of respect Ellis and Elway showed the coach. He claimed they showed up an hour late and looked "disheveled," like they had been "drinking heavily the night before."
According to Nicki Jhabvala on Twitter, the team denied the accusations, calling them "blatently false." They claimed the interview ran three and a half hours. They pointed to "pages of detailed notes" as evidence of their commitment to the interview.
In a statement, the Denver Broncos say Brian Flores's allegations against the team are "blatantly false." https://t.co/YMrMrkDGQa
What evidence could validate Brian Flores' claims against John Elway?
At this point, most of the argument is a classic case of "he said/she said," but one potential smoking gun could tentatively put the alcohol argument to bed. If the notes taken were handwritten, there's a chance that a handwriting expert could compare those notes to others and identify any extra tremble as a result of dehydration or lack of sleep.
Also, camera footage from the building could prove in better detail what "disheveled" means. Did the former quarterback simply forget to comb his hair, or did he show up in a sweatshirt with stains on it?
According to Colorado Public Radio, the lawsuit is ongoing and still remains locked in its infancy stages, with a judge ruling out arbitration with the league for most of the claims. The case is now being sent to court.