Cedric Hardman was an end rusher, a 49er sacker, who took his jollies from busting up the quarterback. And he loved jawing about them. Joe Theismann was a whiner; and Dan Fouts — you could flatten his nose to his face and he'd still beat you; and the one he pitied most was Archie Manning, who spent every Sunday in the shark tank, fighting off the fins and the teeth and counting his stitches.

And as I watched the Denver Broncos play New England last Sunday I thought about something else Hardman said — about a so-so passer who helped the Baltimore Ravens win a championship years ago, pretty much by not screwing things up.

"The common denominator of all great teams, no matter what the sport," Hardman said, "is chemistry. A glaring example of that occurred when Brian Billick had the nerve to think his system was so great that he didn't need to invite his own quarterback, Trent Dilfer, back the year after winning the Super Bowl.

"I don't know what's wrong with these damn people, messing with Dilfer. The boy had won the last 15 or 18 games he'd started, and Billick wouldn't even invite him back the next season. They talked about what Dilfer couldn't do, but they didn't talk about what he could do — and that was win, dammit! That's the bottom line.

"Rule No. 1: Don't mess with chemistry!"

And in Denver a Dilfer-ish quarterback named Kyle Orton gunned down the Pats with a pair of late 90-plus-yard drives, and a shocking Broncos defense wiped Tom Brady off the second-half scoreboard, and when it was over you couldn't help but sense something special was brewing out there — chemistry.

You can feel it with these Broncos. The tumblers are clicking. They're somehow getting the tips and the breaks and the bounces, and they're stacking them up in the win column.

How did they get here, and so quickly? When you eyed their late-summer roster it was pure hodgepodge, a shish-kabob team … trade here, free agent there, rookies over here … then all the tension with the new head coach. 5-11, maybe 6-10 was the coming forecast.

Instead, a mysterious alchemy went to work. What gives?

"I guess we're lucky. The altitude — who knows?" said DRE Vonnie Holiday (three tackles and forced a Brady fumble), a Miami reject. "It was amazing going into [the Pats] game, listening to the prognosticators saying we're the underdogs once again in our house after beating Dallas last week. … We feel like we've got a good team here. We're doing some good things. The guys in the locker room believe; the coaches believe; guys believe in each other and are fighting."

Orton believes he finally has the right coaching to drill into his strengths — that's Josh McDaniels and a new offensive coordinator, Mike McCoy.

"This is a great offense I can thrive in," says Orton, "that is really suited well for me. You've got to think, you've got to handle the operation correctly and then you've got to be accurate.

"Mike is a good mix with Josh because Josh is certainly intense and sometimes can be in your face a little bit. … I like that, but Mike is a very calming factor. He's played and he knows the position."

Orton was a low-level bomber at Purdue (522 yds. vs Indiana … 385 at Notre Dame), winging it around in the frenzy of the Joe Tiller scheme. It stirred enough attention to earn him a mid-round draft slot.

But Orton's had to scale things back to survive in the pros. Nothing fancy. The arm strength — just OK. He won't force things over the middle, and he won't cut you up deep.

But he won't turn it over either (one interception this season), and that's been the glue in holding the Broncos together thus far. It's also called self-preservation.

"The way I evaluate a quarterback," says McDaniels, "is wins, production, taking care of the football, helping your team do what it needs to do."

Chemistry — you won't hear McDaniels throw the word around much. His mantra is preparation — and picking the right guests for the party.

Former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, who won back-to-back titles in Dallas, echoes the mindset.

"Everybody talks about chemistry of a football team and experience and leadership," says Johnson. "Well, what wins in this league is talent. And what wins in this league is individuals that don't make mistakes."

So you grab some good players and you coach the hell out of them and sometimes it still won't come together, e.g., San Diego, Dallas, the Coughlin Giants … with Shockey and Strahan and Tiki. Flop clubs.

Maybe there really is a third leg to all of this, the relationship biz?

"Oh, I believe very much in team chemistry … or espirit de corps … or karma … whatever you want to call it," says Dick Vermeil, former head coach of the Eagles, Rams and Chiefs. "I tried to cultivate that when I was coaching. You want your players to look out for one another, to care for each other, not letting the other guy down. It mainly happens on teams that are enjoying success, but I've seen losing ones develop it as a way to get through adversity. Everyone pulling together. The collective goal.

"Another way to say it is 'psychological momentum.' One year with the Chiefs we won nine straight. We won games we had no business winning. It was incredible. We'd just find ways to do it. Our players just expected to win."

Vermeil says sometimes it only takes a shot of new blood to make a difference on a club.

"In Denver you've had coaching changes, new coordinators," says Vermeil. "So right away a new level of enthusiasm gets created. Expectations change, there's a different way of doing things. That can energize a team. Then you start looking for guys that fit your profile. You keep the ones that do, and whoever doesn't buy into it — you eliminate.

"Over the years we passed over many talented guys in the draft because someone I knew on the college staff would say, 'Coach, he won't fit. Skip him. He won't fit in your program.' "

So far, Orton fits the Denver formula, and as he filled out the postgame questionnaire, he whipped the word "great" around the room in describing his team's big day — great talent, great line, great kick, etc.

Well, it's not a great club — yet. Orton's a swell story, and the running game is trying, and that defense — second in the league — has a head start on everybody.

But it's been chemistry that's held it all in place, the juice that's lifted a dead-look team onto a fast track toward the playoffs. Players caring. The right fit.

Trent Dilfer would raise a glass to that.