Broncos' OC Rich Scangarello: Niners' D 'got after us' today

Holding joint-practice sessions with the San Francisco 49ers is already providing a utility for the Denver Broncos.

Believe it or not, despite the violent nature of football, practicing against teammates snap-in, snap-out for entire month's time can lull a team into sleep. Call it a false sense of complacency.

With the Niners in town, the Broncos' offense, especially, received a rude awakening on Friday and that's a good thing. On both the individual and the collective level, football is about setting the tone.

In practice session No. 1, it was San Francisco who set the tone, as the aggressors, not the Broncos. The Niners' intensity seemed to shell-shock the Broncos' offense somewhat, with Rich Scangarello's unit committing multiple faux pas, from bad snaps to dropped passes to fumbles and even interceptions.

“I thought it was very choppy," Scangarello said following Friday's practice, "and it felt like they got after us upfront a little bit.”

The Niners do have some animals on the defensive line, including DeForest Buckner. But the Broncos were the team who got punched in the mouth on Friday, on their own turf, and as the home team, it's not a good look.

“My message to the offense is we have to meet their intensity obviously," Scangarello said. "Part of it is they’re playing a different style than they’ve played in the past and they’re doing a good job of it and it’s different for us, so you’re not game-planning necessarily for the practice. We have to adapt and adjust.”

Friday's slopfest wasn't a matter of X's and O's. It was a simple matter of 'want-to', or lack thereof for the Broncos. The Niners wanted it more, played with intensity and got into the collective id of the Broncos' offense.

"It’s entirely different than they see every day in practice. And that’s how it is week-to-week in the NFL, and when you’re playing with three groups of offensive lines, a couple of those guys haven’t gotten as many reps lately as well, too," Scangarello tried to explain. "It’s different. You have to adapt and adjust and that’s the league and that’s how it is week-to-week, so for us to adapt and feel comfortable and match that speed and intensity, we’ll be just fine.”

Echoing Scangarello, Joe Flacco's message following practice made it clear that in order for the Broncos to be the ones to set the tone on Saturday, it has to start with the big boys upfront. The O-line has to put on their bully hats and get after it.

“Listen, a lot of it starts up front," Flacco said following practice. "You have to get those guys going and make sure that we set the tone early—usually that's the way it goes. The defense always comes out with a little more energy. And even in games, that's how it is."

It's important to remember that the Broncos' first-team offense is still working to find their identity, and with multiple new starters in the unit, they're also searching for cohesion and working to establish chemistry. It's opportunities to be tested by an intense opponent like the Niners that can bring a unit together and help them figure out who they're going to be.

"What good offenses do is they put a good first drive together and they get everything set to their pace and their tone," Flacco said. "That carries them for the rest of the game. I think we just have to learn how to do that a little bit.”

Again, these joint-practice sessions are already providing the Broncos with a valuable utility. These are lessons that need to be collectively learned and I would think that most fans would prefer those things to be learned during the preseason than in September, when the games actually count.

Vic Fangio spent the day on the Broncos' defensive practice field. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Fangio breaks down the film with the offensive guys.

Scangarello, in a perfect world, would like his unit to acquit itself with more pride tomorrow, considering that San Francisco was his previous NFL coaching stop. We'll see what type of energy the Broncos' offense comes out with on day two of these joint-practice sessions.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.