Flacco's Public Criticism of Scangarello Might Set the Wheels of Change in Motion for Broncos
It's beginning to get ugly in the Mile High City. When a team's starting quarterback publicly criticizes and questions the play-calling of a team's top offensive coach, it's usually a harbinger of change.
After all, we're not talking about a five-time NFL MVP throwing his offensive coordinator under the bus. Let's face it. Joe Flacco is no Peyton Manning.
Flacco's play in 2019 hasn't been nearly good enough for the Broncos' team brass to look the other way on something of this magnitude. Saying that Flacco has been pedestrian in year one with the Broncos would be putting too positive a spin on his body of work thus far.
No, Flacco has been a bottom-5 QB. One of the worst in the NFL in all of 2019. The Broncos went into Week 8 averaging 16 points per game, for crying out loud. Denver couldn't even put that many points on the board vs. Indianapolis.
The Broncos aren't the type of team to take a public comment that embarrasses the organization, such as the one perpetrated by Flacco following the team's 15-13 collapse at the hands of the Colts, lightly.
Just last week, Emmanuel Sanders publicly criticized the play-calling of OC Rich Scangarello and just a few days later, the veteran wideout was dealt to the San Francisco 49ers. After the trade, GM John Elway said that there were "issues" on both sides, between the Broncos and Sanders.
Believe me when I say, Flacco's shade at Scangarello will cause a fair amount of issues up the chain of command at Broncos HQ. It feels like a QB who let loose on his coordinator because at 2-6, he sees the writing on the wall.
Teams who draft a QB in the top-50 don't typically tolerate a 2-6 start without making a QB change at some point during the season. Flacco is smart enough to recognize that. His criticism of Scangarello just made the Broncos' potential decision to make a QB change a little easier to sell in the court of public opinion.
Or could it be Scangarello who needs to be replaced? As deserving of some sort of consequences as Scangarello surely is for his lackluster X's and O's production on gamedays, unlike the QB situation, the Broncos don't have a backup coordinator waiting in the wings. Denver's hands are tied at OC, at least in-season.
But there is a rookie QB by the name of Drew Lock champing at the bit to get off of injured reserve and out on the grid-iron for the Broncos. Were Flacco's words enough to set these wheels of change in motion? Check out the video above.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
