In Wake of Broncos' Week 7 Debacle, OC Rich Scangarello on the Hot Seat
This is in no way a defense of Joe Flacco, the offensive line, execution or anything that is being seen on the field from the Denver Broncos offense.
With that said, OC Rich Scangarello deserves a whole lot of blame for the putrid offense the Broncos have fielded this season. There are multiple reasons for it, and I get that there is only so much he can do with the talent at his disposal, and I understand that he's inexperienced, but he just doesn’t have what it takes. Yet.
When he was hired by the Broncos, Scangarello had only four years of coaching experience at the NFL level. None of them were as an offensive coordinator.
While Scangarello was an offensive coordinator in college, it was for the likes of Wagner, Northern Arizona, Millsaps, and UC Davis. To put it another way, his experience as a play-caller was low-level experience.
Scangarello's time in the NFL has been as a quarterbacks coach, quality control assistant or quality control coach. With little experience and making a jump to being an offensive coordinator, it is safe to say he is in over his head. Basically, he got the job because of what San Francisco did with Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard and Scangarello's contributions in developing both young signal-callers.
That is all fine and dandy, but how much of that was Scangarello and how much of it was Kyle Shanahan and his scheme? What Scangarello is running in Denver is very different from what the Niners are using in San Francisco and far from what was expected when he was hired. Yes, Scangarello is limited by the players he has, but he has failed to make adjustments to the personnel limitations.
Watching the Broncos offense each and every week, it is a unit that is getting worse. There are no adjustments coming from the coaching staff, primarily Scangarello, to help this unit.
There are constant horrible play-calls from Scangarello and word is, there isn’t freedom to adjust the calls at the line. That is a huge limitation for a veteran quarterback.
There have been many things coming out from sources within the organization regarding Rich Scangarello and issues with players on the offense, as well as other coaches. There are many internally that are not happy with his calls, game-plans, and how he is using certain players.
This was made public after Vic Fangio and Emmanuel Sanders made comments after the 30-6 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs about the game-plan and play-calls.
Scangarello's inexperience is handicapping the team and causing a lot of frustration within. After watching this Broncos offense for seven games, it is clear he is over his head.
His hiring was a snap reaction and was probably affected by John Elway ruing his decision to pass on hiring Kyle Shanahan in January of 2017. Could Scangarello get better? Sure, but the seat for Scangarello has to be getting hot.
If he doesn’t improve, he must be gone after this season for someone who is more capable, adaptive and not beleaguered. After two years of Vance Joseph, Broncos fans should know what it looks like when a coach is completely in over his head.
Follow Erick on Twitter @ErickTrickel and @MileHighHuddle.
