With Pat Shurmur potentially out after positive COVID-19 test, whoever calls plays must continue Broncos’ ground momentum

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In the wake of a flurry of COVID-19 positive tests that included backup quarterback Drew Lock, the Broncos took steps to try and increase social distancing this week. The offensive meetings were moved to the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse. Social-distancing measures were put in place for position meetings.

“[We’re] just making the meeting rooms bigger and enforcing guys to wear the mask, even if you are vaccinated,” quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said Wednesday.

“Yeah, we’re spaced out. We’ve been doing that even before all this. We went into the indoor [facility] and only the big rooms where everybody could be spaced out,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Friday.

All that wasn’t enough to prevent the issue from spreading further. Offensive lineman Austin Schlottmann was placed in the COVID-19 protocols Thursday, and a day later, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur followed after testing positive for COVID-19.

“We’ve got to prepare as if he’s not available,” Fangio said.

Quarterbacks coach Mike Shula will be the coach tasked with making and relaying the play calls to Bridgewater. Fangio was mum after practice Friday about who would handle the duties, but two hours later, the Broncos confirmed that Shula would handle the work.

Shula served as Shurmur’s offensive coordinator with the New York Giants and called plays for the Carolina Panthers during the salad days of Cam Newton’s time as quarterback, including their run to Super Bowl 50.

He is tasked with continuing the momentum the Broncos established in their second-and-long work on the ground last Sunday.

It began early. Barely two minutes of clock time had passed last Sunday in the Dallas Cowboys’ dazzling edifice rising above the Metroplex’s strip-mall-and-suburban sprawl when the Broncos went to the ground on second-and-long — for a loss of 2 yards.

The Broncos would run on second-and-8-yards-or-longer seven more times against the Cowboys prior to an end-game, second-and-11 kneel down. They found plenty of success after their initial stumble:

• First quarter, 7:35 left, second-and-13: Javonte Williams, 11-yard gain
• Second quarter, 13:39 left, second-and-10: Williams, no gain
• Second quarter, 10:22 left, second-and-22: Melvin Gordon, 12-yard gain
• Third quarter, 12:30 left, second-and-10: Williams, 30-yard gain
• Third quarter, 9:36 left, second-and-10: Gordon, 1-yard gain
• Third quarter, 3:19 left, second-and-17: Gordon, 14-yard gain
• Fourth quarter, 3:59 left, second-and-9: Gordon, 1-yard gain

Eight second-and-long runs. An average of 9.85 yards per attempt.

For the season, the Broncos have averaged 4.63 yards per non-kneeldown rushing attempt on second-and-8-or-longer. Just three of those 38 runs moved the chains — one of which came last week on Williams’ 30-yard gallop.

But it’s not about moving the chains on that play.

Second-and-long runs may rankle some onlookers, but a successful-second-and-long run creates — at minimum – third-and-manageable distance. All three of the Broncos’ touchdowns followed second-and-long runs — which turned an average of second-and-13 into third-and-5.

“We caught them in some favorable fronts and coverages,” Shurmur said Thursday. “I like to think when it’s a fair fight run, when it’s six-[on]-six, we should gain yards. When they screw down and play the run, sometimes it’s not as easy. We hit on some things.”

The ability of second-and-long runs is enhanced by Williams’ ability to amass yardage after contact, which he displayed last week.

Consider this:

• In forced-missed tackle rate, per Pro Football Focus, Williams ranks first in the NFL, forcing missed tackles at a 37-percent clip.
• In attempts per broken tackle, per SportRadar.com, Williams is second in the NFL among 98 players with at least 20 rushing attempts, with one missed tackle every 5.94 carries. Only Buffalo’s Zack Moss is better.
• In yardage after contact per attempt, Williams is 11th among those 98 players with at least 20 attempts, averaging 2.42 yards after contact per carry.

So, if the Eagles shuffle their personnel and set up an emptier box on second-and-long, it’s the time for Shurmur — or Shula — to run.