Fangio Backs Pat Shurmur, Remains Confident Broncos' Offense Will 'Get Turned Around Soon'
Entering Week 9, the Denver Broncos' offense ranked in the bottom-10 in almost every major statistical category, with particularly sad third-down and red-zone efficiency numbers. Against the Atlanta Falcons, once again, the Broncos were extremely uneven and inconsistent offensively, going three quarters and scoring only six points, while putting three touchdowns on the board in the final frame.
It wasn't enough. The Falcons beat the Broncos 34-27.
With the Las Vegas Raiders next up on the schedule, many Broncos fans have soured on offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur. The overall feeling in Broncos Country is that the offensive play-calling is lacking and that Shurmur is not maximizing the young, dynamic talent at his disposal.
How much of the blame falls at QB Drew Lock's feet, or even that of the offensive line, is open for debate. However, Shurmur's unit is yet to turn in a full-bodied 60-minute performance and the Broncos have crossed the midway point of the season.
Is Shurmur the right guy to coordinate this offense? Can he figure out how to get the fourth-quarter version of Lock and company to make an appearance in the first, second, and third frame of games?
Head coach Vic Fangio remains adamant that Shurmur is the man for the job. And that success is just around the corner.
“My confidence is good," Fangio said on Monday following the Broncos' Week 9 loss. "Pat is an experienced guy. He’s been through this before. The good thing about being experienced is you’ve seen the highs and the lows. Unfortunately, we’re going through the lows right now, but he’s had plenty of highs in his career."
Fangio is backing Shurmur and it should come as no surprise, as it was Fangio's fateful decision to fire Rich Scangarello back in January — the coordinator responsible for shepherding Lock through his rookie learning curve with gusto — and hiring Shurmur. Fangio's decision came on the heels of the New York Giants firing Shurmur as head coach after consecutive seasons of impotence.
Shurmur's star is now hitched to Fangio's wagon, for better or worse. However, Denver's QBs Coach Mike Shula is also an accomplished play-caller and offensive coordinator. Shula was the brainchild behind Carolina's explosive 2015 offense that vaulted Cam Newton to MVP status and led the Panthers to Super Bowl 50.
I wouldn't expect Fangio to turn to Shula at any point this season but the outside pressure on Shurmur is going to continue to mount if he can't figure out how to get this offense working earlier in games. The silver lining through it all, though, is that Shurmur's offense with Lock as the triggerman has been prolific when the chips have been down.
There's a lesson there for Shurmur in terms of realizing what has allowed Lock to play to his strengths and produce on the field. Garbage time heroes make it difficult to extrapolate but there's obviously been an uptick in production from Lock when the Broncos run tempo and cease being so predictable on offense.
"We’re optimistic that we’ll get this thing turned around soon," Fangio said of the offense. "We’re going to be working to that end, both the players and the coaches. It’s a cumulative effort between both players and coaches and we’re going to work hard to get that fixed.”
No doubt, the Broncos have talent on offense. It's an exceeding young unit but talented all the same.
Fangio recognizes that talent and potential. A carpenter can't blame his tools if he does a bad job, sure. But if he has good tools, any carpenter worth his salt should be able to craft something of high quality.
That's the onus on Shurmur right now. But Fangio thinks he'll get there.
“I think they have a chance to be really, really good, but they have a lot of growing to do also," Fangio said of the Broncos' young offensive players. "Part of that growing is just playing together. Playing together means practicing. The more these guys can rep together on the practice field and in the games, the better off we’ll be.”
Shurmur seems to have finally realized what he has in Jerry Jeudy, who's garnered a whopping 24 targets in the past two games. KJ Hamler has started to emerge, totaling 90 yards from scrimmage in Week 9.
The horses are there. It's time for Shurmur to unleash them.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
