Rich Scangarello made John Elway look like a genius
Dec 10, 2019, 6:31 AM | Updated: Dec 11, 2019, 1:00 pm
For most of the season, smart football minds (and myself) have criticized Rich Scangarello for head-scratching play calls, conservative game plans and an overall inability to get the Broncos offense going. Sunday, he silenced those critics with something we hadn’t seen through the first 13 weeks of the season.
Scangarello gave us something the Broncos have needed from their offensive coordinator for years: A willingness to go off-script.
I’m not talking about the “script” that makes up the first 10 to 15 plays of the game. When I say Scangarello went off-script, I mean that he broke the conventional rules of the Broncos offense, at least as we’ve become accustomed to it.
Gone was a reliance on the traditional Mike Shanahan scheme with the quarterback under center. This week featured more than 60 percent of the plays out of shotgun. Scangarello scrapped the team’s identity in favor of something that better suited his rookie quarterback (a novel concept, right?) and wouldn’t you know it, the team found success to the tune of 38 points and a massive victory.
Instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, Scangarello took a jigsaw and carved a couple right angles into the board.
Look, I have no idea why it’s taken so long for a Broncos play-caller to do this. Frankly, those reasons don’t matter much. What does matter, though, is that it did happen and it will likely save Scangarello’s job.
Had the Broncos finished 3-13 or 4-12, with an underperforming offense and a rumored disconnect between Scangarello and head coach Vic Fangio, the offensive coordinator was the obvious scapegoat at the end of the season.
Likely, the blame should be pointed elsewhere. First and foremost, the front office should get most of it for putting together a sub-par roster and setting expectations far too high. But it’s safe to assume John Elway wouldn’t be first in line for the chopping block.
With that said, No. 7 probably owes his OC a thank you for stepping outside the Broncos box and making him look like a genius once again.
With this one performance, Scangarello helped to prove that Elway was right on the money when he hired the relatively young, inexperienced, forward-thinking (at least that’s what we were told) quarterbacks coach away from Kyle Shanahan to call plays for the first time. It also validates the decision to draft Drew Lock as the team’s potential franchise quarterback, especially considering the team was still able to take a top tight end and an already dominant offensive lineman in the process.
Could all of this disappear next year if things fall apart again? Sure, but in a “what have you done for me lately?” league, the Broncos dominant win over a really good Texans team buys everyone some time. Is that what’s best for the organization long term? Maybe not, but at least for now there’s some semblance of hope for the first time in almost a half-decade.
Call it knee-jerk if you will, but what Rich Scangarello and the Broncos offense did in Houston on Sunday is a massive deal and a sign of great things to come for the organization. Here’s hoping that notion proves to be right.
