AP

John Elway is “the man” in Denver, and every quarterback who has come since him, aside from maybe Peyton Manning, has played in his shadow.

Joe Flacco grew up watching Elway win two Super Bowls for the Broncos, including a Super Bowl MVP performance. Flacco has a Super Bowl ring and Super Bowl MVP award of his own.

He would like to join Elway and Manning in bringing a title to Denver.

First, though, Flacco has to get accustomed to playing for and in front of Elway.

“You don’t think about it,” Flacco said, via Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com. “A lot of that stuff, you don’t think about it in that way. For me, I grew up watching John Elway. So while we’re kind of colleagues now, and we’re sharing the same field, there’s still a little bit of that little kid in you like, ‘Oh, man, John Elway is standing right next to me.’ So you try to act as normal as possible and shoot the breeze and just act like you’re a normal person.

“I think it’s a really cool opportunity, to be honest with you. Listen, I know John is the man around here. Hopefully, there’s room for a couple more people.”