1987 Denver Broncos Statistics

National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 10-4-1
Finishing 1st in the NFL's West Division of the American Football Conference
Postseason: 2-1 Lost Super Bowl
Coach: Dan Reeves (10-4-1)
Location: Denver, Colorado

1987 Denver Broncos Roster
1987 Denver Broncos Results

The Denver Broncos of the National Football League ended the 1987 season with a record of 10 wins and 4 losses and 1 ties, finishing first in the NFL's West Division of the American Football Conference. The team compiled a postseason mark of 2-1.

Denver piled up points with 379 points, while the defense conceded 288. John Elway threw for 3,198 yards. Vance Johnson hauled in 42 passes for 684 yards. Ricky Nattiel was targeted regularly, too.

Sammy Winder ran for a team-best 741 yards for the Broncos.

The sticky-fingered defense manufactured 47 turnovers. Mike Harden picked off 4 errant tosses from the opposition. Rulon Jones and Karl Mecklenburg each sacked opposing passers 7 times.

Dan Reeves coached the team. The 1987 Denver Broncos lost in the Super Bowl.

Click on column headings to sort.

Passing:

Player	Att	Comp	Comp %	Yds	Yds/Att	TDs	TD %	Ints	Int %	Long	Sacked	Yds Lost	Rating
John Elway	410	224	54.6	3198	7.8	19	4.6	12	2.9	72	20	138	83.4
Ken Karcher	102	56	54.9	628	6.2	5	4.9	4	3.9	49	5	45	73.5
Gary Kubiak	7	3	42.9	25	3.6	0	0.0	2	28.6	17	2	14	13.1
Monte McGuire	3	2	66.7	23	7.7	0	0.0	0	0.0	13	0	0	89.6
Gerald Willhite	1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0	0	39.6
Gene Lang	1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	1	7	39.6
Steve Sewell	0	0		0		0		0		0	1	9	0.0
Vance Johnson	1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0	0	39.6
Dean May	5	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	1	20.0	0	1	7	0.0
Totals	530	285	53.8	3874	7.3	24	4.5	19	3.6	72	30	220

Rushing:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long	TDs
Sammy Winder	196	741	3.8	19	6
John Elway	66	304	4.6	29	4
Gene Lang	89	303	3.4	28	2
Joe Dudek	35	154	4.4	16	2
Gerald Willhite	26	141	5.4	29	0
Nathan Poole	28	126	4.5	15	1
Steve Sewell	19	83	4.4	17	2
Scott Caldwell	16	53	3.3	7	0
Ken Bell	13	43	3.3	11	0
Ricky Nattiel	2	13	6.5	10	0
Bobby Micho	4	8	2.0	5	0
Tony Boddie	3	7	2.3	4	1
Gary Kubiak	1	3	3.0	3	0
Ken Karcher	9	3	0.3	8	0
Dean May	2	-4	-2.0	-2	0
Vance Johnson	1	-8	-8.0	-8	0
Totals	510	1970	3.9	29	18

Receiving:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long	TDs
Vance Johnson	42	684	16.3	59	7
Ricky Nattiel	31	630	20.3	54	2
Clarence Kay	31	440	14.2	30	0
Mark Jackson	26	436	16.8	52	2
Bobby Micho	25	242	9.7	26	2
Gene Lang	17	130	7.6	29	2
Orson Mobley	16	228	14.2	28	1
Sammy Winder	14	74	5.3	13	1
Rick Massie	13	244	18.8	39	4
Steve Sewell	13	209	16.1	72	1
Steve Watson	11	167	15.2	49	1
Tony Boddie	9	85	9.4	26	0
Gerald Willhite	9	25	2.8	6	0
Joe Dudek	7	41	5.9	19	0
Shane Swanson	6	87	14.5	35	1
Mitch Andrews	4	53	13.2	20	0
Laron Brown	4	40	10.0	18	0
Scott Caldwell	4	34	8.5	14	0
Nathan Poole	1	9	9.0	9	0
Russell Payne	1	8	8.0	8	0
Ken Bell	1	8	8.0	8	0
Totals	285	3874	13.6	72	24

Kicking:

Player	X/CA	X/CM	X/CP %	FGA	FGM	FG %	Pts.
Rich Karlis	37	37	100.0	25	18	72.0	91
Mike Clendenen	7	7	100.0	4	3	75.0	16
Totals	44	44	100.0	29	21	72.4	107

Punting:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long
Mike Horan	44	1807	41.1	61
Ralph Giacomarro	18	757	42.1	50
John Elway	1	31	31.0	31
Totals	63	2595	41.2	61

Punt Returns:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long	TDs
Kevin Clark	18	233	12.9	71	1
Shane Swanson	9	132	14.7	33	0
Ricky Nattiel	12	73	6.1	14	0
Gerald Willhite	4	22	5.5	9	0
Mike Harden	2	11	5.5	7	0
Vance Johnson	1	9	9.0	9	0
Tony Lilly	2	6	3.0	4	0
Totals	48	486	10.1	71	1

Kick Returns:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long
Ken Bell	15	323	21.5	42
Shane Swanson	9	234	26.0	50
Vance Johnson	7	140	20.0	34
Gene Lang	4	78	19.5	25
Ricky Nattiel	4	78	19.5	25
Laron Brown	3	57	19.0	28
Kevin Clark	2	33	16.5	25
Jim Ryan	2	9	4.5	9
Totals	46	952	20.7	50

Interceptions:

Player	No.	Yds	Avg.	Long	TDs
Mike Harden	4	85	21.2	32	0
Kevin Clark	3	105	35.0	50	0
Mark Haynes	3	39	13.0	25	1
Tony Lilly	3	29	9.7	24	0
Karl Mecklenburg	3	23	7.7	16	0
Randy Robbins	3	9	3.0	9	0
Jim Ryan	3	7	2.3	5	0
Ricky Hunley	2	64	32.0	52	1
Dennis Smith	2	21	10.5	15	0
Tim Lucas	1	11	11.0	11	0
Rick Dennison	1	10	10.0	10	0
Totals	28	403	14.4	52	2

Sacks:

Player	No.	Yds
Rulon Jones	7.0
Karl Mecklenburg	7.0
Simon Fletcher	4.0
Greg Kragen	2.0
Tim Lucas	2.0
Jim Ryan	1.5
Jeff Tupper	1.5
Ricky Hunley	1.0
Michael Brooks	1.0
Andre Townsend	1.0
Randy Robbins	1.0
Steve Wilson	1.0
Ray Woodard	0.5
Walt Bowyer	0.5
Totals	31.0	0

Defense and Fumbles:

Player	Tackle	Solo	Ast	Brup	Fum	FRec	FYds	FTD	FF
Karl Mecklenburg	97	97	0	0	0	1	0	0	2
Greg Kragen	78	78	0		0	1	0	0	0
Simon Fletcher	70	70	0		0	1	0	0	0
Dennis Smith	35	35	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Michael Brooks	8	8	0		0	1	0	0	1
Ken Karcher					2	3	-11	0	0
Leonard Jones					0	2	24	0	0
Jim Ryan				0	1	2	0		0
Sammy Winder					5	2	0		0
Marc Munford					0	2	0	0	0
Bill Bryan					0	1	0	0	0
Ken Bell					2	1	0	0	0
Tony Lilly				0	0	1	0	0	0
Kevin Clark				0	1	1	0		0
Joe Dudek					4	1	0		0
Ricky Nattiel					2	1	0		0
Freddie Gilbert					0	1	0	0	0
Mike Harden				0	0	1	14	0	0
Mark Haynes				0	0	1	24		0
Bryant Winn					0	1	0	0	0
John Ayers					0	1	0	0	0
Tim Lucas				0	0	1	0	0	0
Tony Boddie					0	1	0		0
Larry Lee					0	1	0	0	0
John Elway					2	0	-1		0
Jack Peavey					1	0	-16	0	0
Shane Swanson					1	0	0		0
Bobby Micho					1	0	0		0
Gerald Willhite					1	0	0	0	0
Steve Sewell					1	0	0		0
Vance Johnson					1	0	0		0
Orson Mobley					1	0	0		0
Clarence Kay					3	0	0	0	0
Totals	288	288	0	0	29	31	34	0	3

Total Scoring:

	Touchdowns								Other					Total
Player	Rush	Rec	Punt	Kick	MFG	Int	Fum	Other	FG	X/C	Single	2Pt	Saf	Points
Rich Karlis									18	37	0			91
Vance Johnson	0	7	0	0					0	0	0			42
Sammy Winder	6	1							0	0	0			42
John Elway	4								0	0	0			24
Rick Massie		4							0	0	0			24
Gene Lang	2	2		0					0	0	0			24
Steve Sewell	2	1							0	0	0			18
Mike Clendenen									3	7	0			16
Bobby Micho	0	2							0	0	0			12
Mark Jackson		2							0	0	0			12
Ricky Nattiel	0	2	0	0					0	0	0			12
Joe Dudek	2	0							0	0	0			12
Kevin Clark			1	0		0			0	0	0			6
Ricky Hunley						1			0	0	0			6
Nathan Poole	1	0							0	0	0			6
Shane Swanson		1	0	0					0	0	0			6
Mark Haynes						1			0	0	0			6
Orson Mobley		1							0	0	0			6
Steve Watson		1							0	0	0			6
Tony Boddie	1	0							0	0	0			6
Jim Ryan				0		0			0	0	0		1	2
Totals	18	24	1	0	0	2	0	0	21	44	0	0	1	379