Is Rich Scangarello tempering expectations for his Denver offense?

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On Monday night, in front of the entire country on what used to be Jon Gruden’s Monday Night Football, John Elway and Vic Fangio will unveil who they believe can be the next Kyle Shanahan.

After holding the reigns back in preseason, Rich Scangarello and the dynamic Broncos offense will be released on Monday night against the Raiders to march up and down the field for one last time at the Oakland Coliseum.

Or maybe not.

“I like to say we’re cautiously optimistic,” the man Scangarello himself said on Friday, when asked what to expect from his offense in its debut. “There’s always an unknown going into something like this… Until you get out there and the bullets are flying, you’re not exactly sure how it’ll all play out.”

Grab ahold of those loose reigns, John and Vic, and pull them right back in.

But to be fair to the first-time coordinator, he’s only speaking the truth. In fact, most teams in the league come across this multiple times a year. During the start of OTAs in the spring, most defenses have the upper hand. The same is true at the start of training camp. The same is true at the start of preseason. And, believe it or not, the same is true at the start of the regular season.

“That’s part of it. It takes a little time, no matter who you are, to shake the rust off,” Scangarello acknowledged on Friday, three days before making his debut as offensive coordinator of the Broncos.

The only real NFL game played so far this season would point to exactly that being the case. Led by two offensive-minded head coaches, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears put up a whopping 13 combined points on Thursday night.

Thirteen.

Despite having Aaron Rodgers and former No. 2 overall pick Mitchell Trubisky leading each team’s offense, the output was pathetic, to say the least.

Their running games weren’t any better, either. The Bears ran for a total of 46 yards on the ground on a 3.1 yards per carry average, while the Packers just topped that tiny number, running for 47 yards on a 2.1 average.

“When you don’t take a lot of preseason reps, when you don’t do a lot of live-action, sometimes the run game takes some time to get flowing. It could be a quarter, it could be a half, it could be a game. You don’t know that. But you can’t give up on it,” Scangarello said, putting another pit in the stomach of Broncos fans. “Sometimes, it can look sluggish. Eventually, it’ll pop.”

Well, if Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman can’t have a hot start, there’s always the passing game led by Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco to fall back on to pickup the reigns for the start of the season.

Right, Rich?

“The ultimate goal is to find a way to win, regardless of the score and the output of the offense,” Scangarello said when asked what fans can expect out of Flacco in his Broncos debut. “It’s to take care of the football, to help people around you be better players by putting them in the right position.”

The Broncos appear to agree with Jim Irsay on at least one thing—they’re not looking for Star Wars numbers, sorry Peyton.

In Scangarello’s eyes, the Packers’ output of 10 points on Thursday night was a thing of beauty because the offense did what it needed to do to make them 1-0.

If you were looking for an uplifting piece entering the season opener, well, move along, this likely isn’t it. But if you’re into winning, well, it appears that’s the Broncos’ game plan for Monday night—Do whatever is needed to come out of Oakland for the final time with a dub.