Change is in the air.
Many changes have already been unleashed on the Broncos’ offensive coaching staff, and many others are expected on the player personnel side.
What won’t change is the triumvirate of John Elway, the team’s main personnel evaluator, Vance Joseph, the team’s head coach and Bill Musgrave, the team’s offensive play caller for the final six games of the season. After a year of abysmal offense with fingers pointing all over the place, next season’s production will be squarely on the shoulders of those three.
Part of the challenge in figuring out the offensive conundrum lies in getting a quarterback, which doesn’t just mean finding the right man for the job but also building an offense around that signal-caller. In the age of spread-out collegiate attacks, finding an elite QB in the draft has become increasingly difficult, something the Broncos are all too familiar with.
It appears, though, that they are taking some of the onus on themselves.
“I’ll say this about the college game and the pro game,” explained Joseph. “You look at Philly and you look at Kansas City—we have to adjust also as pro coaches. We’re drafting these guys for their skillset that we see on tape. So we can’t take these guys and assume they can do something else. What we draft them for, we have to play to their strengths. You watch [Chiefs Head Coach] Andy Reid over the years, he’s evolved from being a typical West Coast [offense] guy to almost a straight college guy. You watch Philly. So we have to evolve as coaches also, take these kids’ skillsets and put it to work. So what we see in these players that we love, we have to apply to our game. It’s simple as that in my opinion.”
That statement should be music to Broncos fans’ ears as it’s exactly what Denver’s been missing on offense. Young players haven’t been put in the best situations to succeed, and it’s not just the quarterback.
The greater challenge to Denver is adapting to youth while also fulfilling an offensive formula that should be safer and more conducive to winning.
“I’ll say this about our offense this year,” said Joseph, side-by-side with Elway the other day. “Our first goal was to run the football. The first month of the season we ran the football, we threw it, scored points and moved the ball. But the turnovers were still there and that part I blame myself for, for not addressing that part of our offense. Our philosophy hasn’t changed offensively. It’s running the football, controlling the game and keeping third downs manageable for whoever’s playing quarterback. That’s the formula for winning football. That hasn’t changed—around playing great defense. We have a team formula that’s won here for a long time in Denver that hasn’t changed with all of the best teams.”
Elway’s followup to the same question was almost contradictory and quite telling of the challenges in establishing an identity while adapting to personnel.
“Offensive football is about getting the best players we can possibly get and then putting them in the best situation to be successful,” explained the GM, putting the onus on himself as an evaluator as well. “We have to do a better job with that. We didn’t do a great job of that this year. That is definitely something that we have to get better at with the offensive staff and the decisions Vance made there. Then, we have a better chance to get everybody on the same page and making sure that we’re taking full advantage of the guys that we have.”
Expect those to be two big mantras for the Broncos’ offense in the new year—establishing a ground-and-pound identity in better adapting better to their personnel. With a largely new staff and several changes expected to the offensive depth chart, it’ll be an uphill battle once again.
The Eagles showed how dangerous an offense with some collegiate concepts can be when executed at flawless high speed. The Broncos got a first-hand look at that this year in a 51-23 whooping that put the ‘No-Fly Zone’ and the rest of the defense on notice. The Chiefs have been one of the few teams to regularly score points on Denver over the last few years, and several other teams have adopted similar concepts to modernize their offenses.
Others are doing it and succeeding, why can’t the Broncos?
More than the lack of an identity, or turnovers, or anything else, not adapting to personnel or finding ways to get young players like Lynch, Devontae Booker, or De’Angelo Henderson more opportunities may have been the Broncos biggest downfall offensively.
The team needs an overhaul, and while it might not be in mentality, it should be in approach if Denver’s to once again be feared on the offensive side.
