In 1983, John Elway took the field against the Steelers in Pittsburgh during the first half of the first game of his first season in the NFL. In that half, Elway completed one of eight passes for 14 yards and threw one interception. Elway was taken out of the game in the second half and replaced by Steve DeBerg, who engineered a come-from-behind victory. The Broncos were 1-0.
The Next week the Broncos traveled to Baltimore to take on the Colts. Elway started the game again, this time completing nine of 21 passes for 106 yards and didn't turn the ball over or throw a touchdown. Once again, DeBerg had to come in at halftime to help dig the Broncos out of a whole. The Broncos won by a score of 17-10. They were 2-0.
While Elway certainly didn't break any records in his first two starts, he's the last quarterback to win the first two games of his rookie season on the road. It's been 28 years.
Andy Dalton has a chance to be the first rookie quarterback to win his first two games in his rookie season on the road since Elway, right in front of the man himself.
Even though he didn't finish the game against the Browns, he was the first rookie quarterback to start for the Bengals since Greg Cook started against the Miami Dolphins in 1969. The Bengals won the game by a score of 27-17. Even though the Broncos are favored by four points in Sunday's matchup, it wouldn't be too hard to see the Bengals coming away with a win. The Broncos injury report looks more like a team in week 15 of the season instead of week two and if the Bengals can take the field in Denver and do what the Oakland Raiders did on Monday night -- limit the mistakes and turnovers, run all over the place and play tough defense -- they can find themselves heading into week three with a 2-0 record.
Elway went on to lead his team to a 9-7 record his rookie season after finishing with a 2-0 record in two straight road games. They even made the playoffs, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in a Wild Card matchup.
Nobody's saying that Dalton can do the same thing in his rookie year, but starting off with a 2-0 record after two straight road games would be a nice start.