When last we had seen John Elway he was being carried off the field by his victorious Broncos team-mates in San Diego last January, having more or less authored a fairytale ending to his own story with a 31-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl - the final game of his 15th and, many suspected, last National Football League season.

Several months later Elway revealed that he would (foolishly, some thought) be back to play one final season.

Thus it was that The Swan Song of John Elway: A Rhapsody in Sixteen Movements opened to rave reviews at the Mile High Stadium last Monday night, as the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer led the defending champions to a 27-21 victory over the New England Patriots.

It was the 10th career victory over New England in as many tries for the venerable quarterback. The Patriots, the defending AFC East champions, have not won at Mile High Stadium since Lyndon Johnson was president.

Elway, who contemplated retirement for several months after the win in San Diego, finally announced in June that 1998 would be his last season, setting the stage for his farewell tour.

He threw for 257 yards and a touchdown in the season opener, and the celebration had barely abated when he dropped another bombshell, hinting that under certain conditions he might not be ready to go gently into that good night after all.

Although earlier he had been less equivocal, saying: "I'm not going to be like one of those boxers who keeps retiring and then coming back," Elway brought confusion to his own farewell party when he said on Monday night "chances are I'm not coming back, but I haven't totally ruled it out. If I throw for 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns and we win the Super Bowl again . . ."

Elway's wife Janet has undergone two surgeries over the past six weeks, resulting in the removal of most of her large intestine.

"The situation is always tough when things are going on on other fronts, things more important than football. But when this came along I was able to spend time with her and do this," said Elway, who split time between the Broncos' Greeley training camp and Janet's bedside throughout the late summer. "If it had happened during the season I'm not so sure."

When he grins, which is often, it is to reveal what may be the most recognisable set of teeth in American sport (former adversary Brian Bosworth once nicknamed him Mr Ed). His face was already a familiar sight to American consumers, but the Super Bowl brought an all-out Elway blitz. Elway posed in a milk moustache in dairy ads. Elway pitching a satellite dish. Elway hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy over his head, a fist clenched in victory. Elway pitching CBS's reemergence into the NFL television market. A new autobiography, a life-story video . . .

It was an abrupt reversal of fortune for a man whose credentials had made him America's hardluck quarterback. The Broncos had been to four previous Super Bowls and lost them all. Elway had been at the controls for three of those losses. It could well have been his legacy.

"Losing a Super Bowl is about as bad as it gets," said Elway. "Even though you've had a great year, what you're remembered for is losing the Super Bowl, and the more of them you lose, the monkey on your back just gets bigger and bigger. That's all we heard for eight years, and no matter what I or the team had done, it would always be `but he hasn't won a Super Bowl'."

Now, he said on Monday night: "I don't feel any pressure to repeat. If anything, after the Super Bowl, the monkey is off our back. Now we've just got to play well, and we've got a good enough team for things to take care of themselves."

Elway finds himself excited every time he hears the phrase "World Champion Denver Broncos," but he realises the onus that brings.

"It's tough to stay on top when everyone is gunning for you," he says, "but it's nice to have everyone gunning for you for that reason. It sure beats the alternative."

That the opening of this year's NFL season was overshadowed by Mark McGwire's pursuit of baseball's home run record (McGwire hit homer number 61, tying Roger Maris' all-time record, just hours before the Broncos took the field against the Patriots) was surely a source of some irony for Elway. There is little doubt that he could have enjoyed an equally successful baseball career, probably at far less expense to his body.

They have already begun recording the milestones. When the Broncos broke camp in Greeley a couple of weeks ago, someone calculated that Elway had spent a year and a half of his 38 years on the planet in the same University of Northern Colorado dormitory.

Elway doesn't even need a great season to surpass a whole host of other career records. He needs 1,331 yards to reach 50,000 for his career, 22 touchdown passes for an even 300, 87 completions for 4,000, and 106 passing attempts to top 7,000. More remarkably still is Elway's track record at his career-long forte: the come-from-behind drive that breaks another team's heart. (The Broncos' fourth-quarter touchdown drive in the Super Bowl marked the 45th time Elway had performed his patented rabbit-from-the-hat miracle.)

Last year Elway's right biceps came unstrung. The muscle sits in a small ball atop his arm, but remarkably, his passing accuracy was unaffected. But after 16 seasons of pounding and countless knee surgeries and a tricky shoulder that still bothers him, there is some question about his ability to last one more season.

"The guy is amazing," said team-mate Ed McCaffrey, who was on the receiving end of seven Elway passes Monday night. "He's in better shape than ever, and he's making plays like he's 21 years old."

"I think mentally I'm a better quarterback now than I was at 28," said Elway last week. "But physically? Well, it'd be nice if I could feel the way I do right now for the rest of the season, but I know it's all downhill from here."

Or, as one Denver scribe put it a few days ago, "if Elway is carried off the field this season, it could be on a stretcher."