The stats might not have looked like anything special in the Denver Broncos’  321 total yards of offense Monday night against the Los Angeles Chargers, but for anyone who’s been watching the Denver offense for a prolonged period of time, the difference was plain to see.

With the arrival of veteran minds like Mike McCoy and Bill Musgrave, you could expect things to be different, but not quite this way, and not with such immediate results.

Of course, it’s early, and it’s worth remembering that, given McCoy’s past employment, he may have had unique insights in the Chargers defense that he won’t have with other teams, but things just looked smoother and more efficient. The chains were moving, and while the Bolts’ talented defense certainly made plays, the Broncos ran the ball effectively and found crucial passes when they needed it most on third down and in the red zone.

Part of that success derived from the team’s ability to execute, as Trevor Siemian made clutch throws and the run blocking was much better. A lot of it, though, came down to the play calling and diverse personnel sets that allowed Denver to keep LA’s talented defense on its toes.

We went back to the tape to see what McCoy did to change the offensive look and feel in such a short period of time, highlighting some of the schematic themes that most stood out in Denver’s Week 1 win.

Multiple tight end sets

If it seemed like the Broncos used the tight ends an awful lot, it’s because, well, they did. The Broncos had 68 plays on offense Monday night, and Denver’s three tight ends were on that field a majority of the time. Virgil Green got the bulk of the work, playing 45 snaps, while A.J. Derby had 29 and Jeff Heuerman added 17.

In a very Bill Belichick way, McCoy decided to ignore his perceived lack of quality tight ends and instead relied on the position heavily. The impact was felt everywhere as all three TE’s came up with clutch receptions in tight windows and were also crucial in the running game, where they were a big help to the offensive line.

More interestingly, the three were all used differently. Green was primarily used in-line, where his impact as a blocker was extraordinary—he might have even been graded a tad low now that I’ve rewatched the game for a third and fourth time. He didn’t look out of place in pass protection against Melvin Ingram, arguably the best defender in the game, and was crucial in creating push against the run where he was asked to block in 30 snaps.

Derby’s success as a receiver came mostly when lined up in the slot in spread out formations, though he did have this big catch in a very unique looking two tight end set, with the wideouts up on the line and the TE’s off.

Derby found ways to get open and brought down every target that was thrown his way, playing one of his best games as a Bronco. The former New England Patriot was also used in-line as the second tight end and was a serviceable blocker for the run game.

Heuerman was used a lot as the second tight end and was asked to block in the run game (nine snaps) more than he was used as a receiver. But he was targeted twice, used in motion, and had a nice 20-yard gainer on a tough reception while in double coverage.

As a blocker, while he’s not Green, Heuerman is no slouch and impacted the game there as well. He too had a nice showing, maybe his best in Orange and Blue.

Denver’s staff kept the Chargers defense off balance all day with all these variations and were able to have success running and passing the ball which was crucial. All the different personnel sets really stood out, including conventional ones like 2WRs, 1FB, 1TE, and 1RB or 3WRs, 1TE, and 1RB on top of spread out formations and jumbo packages. We haven’t seen this variety in formations and personnel packages in a while, and it really helped Denver’s offense.

Jumbo packages with Jano and Stephenson

Two and three tight end sets weren’t the only way in which the Broncos added power and size up close to the line of scrimmage; fullback Andy Janovich was also used in 17 snaps. 14 of Jano’s snaps were as a run blocker, one in pass protection, and two more as a target in the receiving game. While Janovich’s impact wasn’t felt as much as the three TE’s, he was featured a decent amount as a blocker, sometimes up on the line and others as a conventional fullback in the backfield.

Jano was, at times, added to two tight end sets, creating a similarly heavy formation with potentially three added blockers—like a three TE set—when running out of the formation, and other times featured in a jumbo package.

In these “jumbo” packages the Broncos brought in back up offensive tackle Donald Stephenson, who had to be declared as an eligible receiver. Thus having eight guys stacked up on the line.

This Belichick-style tactic was very successful for Bill Musgrave against the Broncos a year ago, in a convincing win for Oakland 30-20 Week 9—which we analyzed in depth here.

Denver utilized this formation three times with limited success, though they gained yardage in short down situations, but it put the Chargers on their toes as they had to alternate covering multiple tight end sets to jumbo sets and then spread out formations. It’s also just another wrinkle for this offense that could be especially helpful in steadying pass protection against elite NFL edge rushers if the Broncos offensive tackles continue to struggle.

Spreading them out

The Broncos didn’t just utilize heavy formations. In fact, a lot of the offense’s early success came out of spread looks as, a tactic that worked particularly well in the Broncos first touchdown drive. Bennie Fowler proved to be a key to the drive, coming out of the slot in spread out formations that came up clutch on third down.

This is a tactic we highlighted as a solution to going away from the Chargers talented outside cornerbacks in our pre-game scouting report, and it proved to be crucial with Fowler coming up big. Bennie earned himself 38 snaps in the game, a sign that three-receiver sets were utilized a decent amount. Cody Latimer also saw the field for 12 snaps.

Denver also used an up-tempo attack, once the offense got going, that was particularly successful and could be another great way of keeping defenses off-balance espeically when the team struggles to protect the passer.

What this means for the future

It should come as no surprise that this all aided the run game heavily while also allowing Siemian to have more time to pass out of shotgun or in play action. The Chargers defense simply didn’t know what to expect.

With that said, formations won’t fix all, and there remain some questions concerning the ability to sustain this type of performance.

It’s also worth remembering that it’s just one game. Last year, after the Broncos first win against the Carolina Panthers, I wrote about the “return of the Kubiak run game” which didn’t last for long as C.J. Anderson got injured and the offensive line was unable to sustain their Week-1 output. The tight ends played well this week, as did the quarterback, that will have to continue and questions about Anderson’s health and the O-line’s play are legitimate this year as well.

There’s no denying, though, that this game was different. The play calls, formations, and personnel sets were more diverse and creative than we’ve seen in a long while.

Even though this offense might not get you too excited, the important thing is if things continue, few opposing defenses will be anything but excited to have to play against this Mike McCoy attack. A McCoy attack that could be the best we’ve seen in Denver without Peyton Manning.