How Did Rich Scangarello Show Improvement in Year One as Broncos' OC?
Early in the 2019 season, I was highly critical of Rich Scangarello's body of work as the Denver Broncos offensive coordinator. I said then that if he failed to improve, the Broncos would need to part ways with him.
As the season wore on, Scangarello began to show improvements in how he called games, as well as in his overall aggressiveness.
Scangarello's lack of aggression was a big issue that led to him being called out by then-starting quarterback Joe Flacco following Week 8's loss to Indianapolis but it didn't end there. The OC saw starting running back Phillip Lindsay, head coach Vic Fangio, and former stud receiver Emmanuel Sanders also pile on with criticism at different times in the year.
When coaches start being called out by players, suffice to say, they start to take notice. It wasn’t long before Scangarello really turned things around.
It wasn’t perfect from the first-time offensive coordinator to close out the season, but the improvements he made are worth giving him next year to see if he can continue to grow in tandem with Drew Lock. Some of the big areas that concerned me initially saw great improvement under Scangarello's adjustments.
The improvements didn’t just come because of a change at quarterback because we saw many of those issues that the Broncos had with Flacco continue with Brandon Allen under center and Lock to a lesser degree.
Just where did Scangarello improve? I break it down in the video above.
If he can continue to grow as a play-caller and game-planner, he could still end up as a quality offensive coordinator. Scangarello isn’t there yet, but he has the potential to reach that level.
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