Are the Broncos actually running the Gary Kubiak offense?
Nov 12, 2019, 3:41 PM
When Vic Fangio was hired to be the Broncos head coach, the assumption was that Gary Kubiak would become the team’s offensive coordinator. Even though it wasn’t official, almost everyone who covers the team thought it was a foregone conclusion.
Thus, it came as a shock when that plan didn’t materialize. When it was announced that Kubiak wouldn’t be staying in Denver, a place where he played and coached for more than 20 years of his professional career, Broncos Country was stunned.
Once the amazement wore off, however, the reality of the situation set in. Denver still needed to find an offensive coordinator.
The Broncos clearly wanted someone who ran the Mike Shanahan offense, which was in place for all three of the franchise’s three Super Bowl victories. So if they couldn’t get Kubiak, they’d find someone who had worked within the system.
Enter Rich Scangarello, who had been a part of Kyle Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco for two seasons. Surely, he’d bring the Shanahan/Kubiak offense to Denver.
Maybe, maybe not.
Through the first eight games of the season, the Broncos attack was anemic. With Joe Flacco at quarterback, they averaged just 15.0 points per game, posting a 3-6 record in the process.
In their last outing, Denver’s offense was better. With a more mobile signal caller at the helm, the Broncos were able to score 24 points in Brandon Allen’s NFL debut, getting a win against the Browns in Week 9.
At times, Scangarello’s system has looked like the Shanahan/Kubiak offense. But through large stretches of the season, it’s looked nothing like the X’s and O’s that have become so familiar in the Mile High City during the past 20-plus years.
This week offers a unique chance for a head-to-head comparison, as Denver travels to Minnesota to take on a Vikings team that features Kubiak on their offensive coaching staff. On Sunday, it’ll be easy to juxtapose the two systems.
Until then, the players who were here when Kubiak was the team’s head coach in 2015-16 can offer some insight. Today, Chris Harris Jr. did just that when asked about the Vikings attack.
“(Kirk Cousins is) running (Kubiak’s offense) to perfection right now,” the veteran quarterback said. “They keep him under the center on first and second down. From there, they can do a lot of play action, a lot of boots and a lot of screens. It’s throwing people off guard the way they’re running the football.”
To some extent that sounds like what Scangarello is doing. It’s certainly a lot of under center, with an emphasis on play action. And they like to run the ball, as the Broncos have the fourth-fewest passing attempts in the league this season. But there hasn’t been a ton of boots and screens, especially with Flacco at quarterback.
“They do way more zone than our offense,” Harris added. “You know how Kubes is; he runs his zone offense, trying to make everything look the same. That’s what they’ve done a good job at. Kirk has done a good job of playing out the fakes, having great plays that look similar to drop to screens and get them open. I think they’re one of the better screen teams that we play.”
That’s where the Broncos offense veers away from what the Vikings are doing. Under Scangarello, Denver doesn’t seem to be setting up plays by doing things that look similar earlier in the game. That part of the Kubiak system seems to be missing.
“You’ve got to be able to cover the deep ball,” Harris continued. “When you play Kubes, he takes big shots and he likes to go down the field, so you’ve got to be ready to take that away. That’s just what he does, he takes shots and he likes to go deep.”
That doesn’t sound at all like the Broncos in 2019. In fact, Denver has been a dink-and-dunk machine, averaging just 7.1 yards per completion. By comparison, the Vikings are averaging 8.6 yards per completion, which is tied with the Chiefs for second-best in the NFL.
Conventional wisdom suggests the Broncos are running the Gary Kubiak offense. It’s been said so many times in Denver that it’s just accepted as a fact.
But that might not be the case. It certainly doesn’t sound like they are operating in a Kubiak-like manner in 2019. On Sunday, the eye test will answer that question once and for all.
