Netflix’s John Elway documentary runs a conservative playbook

You can make a compelling case that John Elway belongs on the Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks. Few possessed his physical skills, blessed with a tremendous arm and terrific mobility. Even fewer had his innate ability to turn a nothing play into something extraordinary.

Before Tom Brady (10) and Patrick Mahomes (5) came along, Elway was the only QB in league history with five trips to the Super Bowl. But because he lost the first three embarrassingly, Elway is sometimes overlooked.

Netflix’s Elway gives the Denver Broncos Hall of Famer his due. It’s a look back at a career marked by great expectations that weren’t met until his final seasons. Elway was 37 and 38 when he won back-to-back Super Bowls, the oldest to do so at the time. For someone who was the first overall pick of the 1983 draft, that was an excruciatingly long wait. Elway was known as the guy who couldn’t win the big one, to the point that he was a pop-culture punchline on The Simpsons.

Directors Ken Rodgers and Chris Weaver shed no new light on Elway’s path. Still, the documentary serves as a solid refresher on his perseverance and the personal cost of greatness. If you’re a Broncos fan who wants to watch John Elway highlights and hear his perspective on his career, this will suffice. However, most sports fans will wish this documentary had dug deeper. If you’re in the second group, read American Kings by Seth Wickersham, which offers great insight and anecdotes about the qaurterback.

Elway is a typical Netflix sports documentary. If HBO made it, we would get a more well-rounded narrative. There would be funny stories illustrating who Elway was as a player and a person. The details make the difference, and we usually don’t get enough of those from Netflix.

This conservative method may be by design. Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions produced Elway, and Elway’s most important post-playing contribution to the Broncos as general manager was luring Manning to Denver as a free agent. The franchise won its third Super Bowl with Manning at quarterback.

It takes a while, but we do eventually see a vulnerable John Elway in the Netflix documentary. For all the focus Elway puts on The Drive and his helicopter scramble for a key first down in Super Bowl XXXII, the best parts of the film are the final 22 minutes. During that time, Elway, his ex-wife, Janet Elway, and his son, Jack, discuss the toll his football career took on the family. Elway also speaks about the death of his twin sister and his father. The footage at the end is the most insightful and emotional in the 1-hour, 39-minute feature.

Greatness takes sacrifice, and the most poignant quote comes from Elway’s former teammate, Shannon Sharpe, on the work-life balance of a professional athlete: “You can’t be great between the hours of nine to five.”