Gary Kubiak must rediscover the offensive mastermind within himself

 

Just two days after a shocking and magnificent Super Bowl 50 win the often called, “offensive- genius” Gary Kubiak spoke from the podium as he returned to Denver. He was not detailing how the famous Peyton Manning vanquished the mighty Carolina Panthers with a greatly executed game-plan built by himself but on the contrary, he thanked his defense for saving his season.

“You go up to the Super Bowl and we were a great defensive football team this year regardless,” he said Feb. 9th. “They were relentless to the football, all of them. You knew they had control of the football game. That’s amazing, especially against the quarterback and the group that they were playing against. Just really, really proud of their efforts— [Defensive Coordinator] Wade [Phillips], the staff, the players. It was special.”

Kubiak’s first season with the Broncos was certainly a memorable one but not offensively. He is known as an offensive mastermind and yet the 2015-16 Broncos were far from a great offense. His hands were tied and intertwined with the great Peyton Manning’s and a compromise between No. 18’s shotgun, pre-snap, audible-filled style and Kubiak’s scripted, balanced approach was the only solution. Those days are gone and now much more pressure and expectations are and should be heaped on Kubiak.

The Broncos road to Super Bowl 50, and ultimately the astonishing win, was riddled with an inept offense and a spectacular defense enriched by timely forced turnovers and touchdowns. Kubiak was not brought back to resume his job as offensive coordinator, a job he held from 1995-2005, but to lead the entire team. Therefore, to be fair, he returned the Broncos to glory in part, due to his hand in bringing back Wade Phillips, his defensive coordinator while he was head coach of the Houston Texans and he also probably heavily influenced the decision to bring over safety Darian Stewart from Baltimore where he coached the Ravens for a season as offensive coordinator but surely Kubiak expected more out of his offense, his true forte, than he got.

Therefore, to be fair, he returned the Broncos to glory in part, due to his hand in bringing back Wade Phillips, his defensive coordinator while he was head coach of the Houston Texans. And he heavily influenced the decision to bring over safety Darian Stewart from Baltimore, where he coached the Ravens for a season as offensive coordinator.

But surely, Kubiak expected more out of his offense, the thing he’s known for, than what we saw last season.

As the Broncos regular season came to a close, they did not belong in the top-ten of any major offensive category. They ranked 17th in rush yards per game, 14th in pass yards per game, had the 28th ranked red zone touchdown percentage along with the 23rd ranked third-down conversion percentage.

They struggled mightily to put up their 19th ranked 22.2 points per game and squeaked by week-after-week in incredibly close games. The postseason was not much different, if at all. Kubiak’s end-of-season press conference detailed how they  had to rely on the defense and simply make due with what they had on offense.

“You don’t force something on them, he said. “We knew exactly what we were. As the season went along, we really held true to our identity as a football team and what we were doing. We had a lot of things going on offensively throughout the course of the year, but we hung in there and battled.”

Their offensive failures were not due to a lack of effort or practice. Kubiak tried nearly every feasible strategy. He began his tenure with clear intentions of bringing on fullbacks and tight ends to blend his and Manning’s style. James Casey and Joe Don Duncan came to camp with Kubiak’s expectation of playing Manning under center and fullbacks leading the way for his running backs. He had a stable of tight ends, yet by the end of camp that number dwindled.

A few weeks into the season, after Manning appeared under center more often than he ever had in his previous three seasons with the team, he moved into a hybrid formation called the pistol. From there, Kubiak could keep the running back behind the quarterback and Manning could still look over the defense from a shotgun-like position.

Ultimately, the offense became much more balanced but worked from mostly the shotgun position. They ran the ball 411 times and passed 606 times during the regular season, much more than past seasons, but not to the success Kubiak had seen at other points of his career.

He is starting anew in 2016 and the past suggests it will benefit the team greatly.

Before Kubiak became the 15th head coach of the Broncos, he made a name for himself as a coordinator and had some excellent seasons as head coach of the Texans. His offenses were almost always one of the league’s best and most balanced.

A year before his return to the Broncos, the Ravens ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing and quarterback Joe Flacco had career highs in passing yards (3,986) and touchdowns (27). In Houston, he inherited a 30th ranked offense and promptly turned it around. He had a top-7 offense in four of his eight seasons there. A staple during those years was not a one-sided pass or run offenses but a near-tops of the league total offense.

Prior to Houston, he developed his style as an offensive mind during his 11 years coaching in Denver. Under Shanahan, a mentor he still admits to speaking with regularly regarding the current team, the Broncos led the NFL in scoring (24.8 ppg) and total yards (360.3 ypg) during that entire span.

The team’s recent moves hint at a return to the style Kubiak has become accustomed to and the one he was hired to bring back. Look no further than their 6th round pick in the NFL draft. The Broncos selected the first of only three fullbacks taken in the entire draft, selecting Andy Janovich with Kubiak saying after the selection, “We have some two-back in what we do offensively.”

With Manning, that was seldom the case. Before the draft, they let go of several heavier veteran linemen while retaining small, more youthful players that seem to fit the run-blocking scheme Kubiak is known for. All told, the shift from the Manning aerial show of 2013 is over, the compromised offense of 2015 is gone and it is Kubiak’s turn to complete the overhaul.

Make no mistake, Kubiak would take the season he just had 10 times out of 10 just due to the end result but counting on that type of magic is not realistic. This year, with a season under his belt as head coach, Kubiak drafted the offensive players, particularly the quarterback, that may lead them back to a balanced and hopefully dominating offense to pair with their already elite defense.

If Kubiak struggles in this regard, the criticism will be more than fair, it will be warranted. However, history suggests that the Broncos will be an even better version of a team that just won it all.

Kubiak’s true task begins now.