ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Today’s NFL is a dream for fans, the league and television ratings.
Built around high-flying, pass-first offenses, teams have frantically shifted their philosophies to making the run game a nice addition to go along with the rest of their offense that rides on their quarterback’s arm.
This offseason, however, many believe John Elway and Vic Fangio have put the kibosh on the Broncos falling victim to this fad, as some would call it.
Rich Scangarello was brought in to run an under-center offense, viewed favorably for the run game.
Joe Flacco was acquired for his ability to command an offense from under center.
But have these moves truly been to build a slower, run-first offense?
Early signs point to that not being the case.
“We’ve got so many guys that we can get the ball in their hands in this offense and with Coach ‘Scangs,’ his offense, his philosophy and things like that is about getting guys open, getting premier guys open,” DaeSean Hamilton said on Tuesday, explaining how the team’s new offense is built.
But where’s the part about the running game? Sure, it’s coming from a receiver’s mouth, but the run part of the offense was barely in the second-year player’s mind.
“Getting guys the ball in space, running between the tackles, setting up play action,” Hamilton said, continuing to explain the offense as the team works their way through the second week of OTAs. “Then, when you set up the play action with a good run game, guys are going to be open way farther down the field.”
An aspect that will certainly be new to this offense is the “guys are going to be open way farther down the field.” Deep passes haven’t been in the Broncos’ arsenal in quite some time, to say the least.
“Great arm. Great touch as well,” Hamilton said about his new quarterback, adding he, “loves catching his passes.”
“Through minicamp and OTAs, he’s had a great command of the offense and delivering a good ball and putting us in the right position as an offense as a whole.”
During Monday’s OTA practice, which was open to the media, Flacco not only threw the ball 60 and 70 yards downfield in back-to-back pass plays, he overthrew his receivers on both plays. That’s not exactly what you’re hoping for, but it’s certainly nice for the coaches to know he still has that juice.
But the run game? Who? What?
Yes, the Broncos will run the ball, and could very well run the ball at a higher percentage than most of the NFL. But to think it will be a run-first, run-heavy offense and completely go against the modern-day, high-flying NFL offensive philosophies is just not what the early returns are indicating.
“I’m excited about Coach ‘Scangs’ offense and basically his philosophy and what he’s installing right now,” Hamilton said with excitement. “A lot of the plays have been fun to run, been fun to go against the defense and see how they work out. It’ll be good.
“I think it’s an offense, with the guys that we have, can be like a well-oiled machine, to be honest.”
A well-oiled machine that slings the rock, that is.
