Why the Denver Broncos moved on from Rich Scangarello

Why did the Denver Broncos kill continuity on the offensive coaching staff by firing first-year coordinator Rich Scangarello?

There were a lot of reasons the Denver Broncos could have and maybe should have simply held onto offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello in 2020.

The offense was bad in 2019, but so was the personnel. Joe Flacco was a horrid fit despite being pitched as ‘in his prime’ and injuries up front on the offensive line made matters way worse.

The Broncos traded one of their top playmakers midway through the season (Emmanuel Sanders) and didn’t have anyone healthy to adequately replace him.

The team cycled through three quarterbacks before landing on Drew Lock, and when Lock was inserted into the lineup, the offense seemed to do a whole lot better, at least in terms of converting third downs and putting the ball in the end zone, doing what matters most — scoring points.

It was reasonable to assume that with growth from young players, another offseason getting comfortable in the system, and upgraded personnel that Scangarello’s ability to call a game would also improve and the offense would get better simply with time.

There were rumors throughout the 2019 season of strife with the coaching staff, rumors that were squashed by both Vic Fangio and Rich Scangarello publicly.

There doesn’t have to be strife in order for a head coach to decide to move on from a coordinator, but obviously Fangio didn’t see the silver lining through the mud of 2019 and made the call to move on from Scangarello. In Scangarello’s place, Fangio and the Broncos hired recently fired New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur.

The move, as expected, was met head-on with equal parts confusion, optimism, and healthy skepticism from Broncos Country.

Was Scangarello seriously fired?

Will a recently fired coach really be the answer?

Why not keep continuity?

These were all of the questions going through my head as I watched the Kansas City Chiefs pull off what can only be described as a silly comeback against the Houston Texans in the playoffs as the Broncos’ coaching news none of us expected poured in seemingly all at once.

My first thought was, is this a real account? My next thought was, they’ve got to have something already in mind.

Turns out, they did.

So why fire Scangarello, especially considering all we just discussed? While I would have been on board with giving him another year to show improvements, I think there are actually a lot of valid reasons to move on based on what we saw in 2019, even with the Broncos’ poor QB play, injuries, and the fact that they traded away a player of Emmanuel Sanders’ caliber.

1. Scangarello as a play-caller

The main way to evaluate an offensive coordinator is obviously in the way they call plays.

Scangarello was an excellent play designer. This is not the same as being an excellent play caller.

In fact, it’s very different and was very frustrating throughout the season.

That tweet came from the Broncos’ road game against the Indianapolis Colts, which happened to be the last game Joe Flacco started for the team. Flacco’s postgame comments about the play calling at the time struck everyone as salty and perhaps poorly founded.

But if we add up all the evidence throughout the year, there were a number of players — including Emmanuel Sanders and Phillip Lindsay — and even head coach Vic Fangio calling out the offensive philosophy all throughout the season.

Looking back on it, we probably should have all seen this coming, right?

There were so many instances where play calling was called out, but there were also plenty of instances where play design was excellent and the upside was there.

While it was reasonable to expect improvement from the Broncos in year two with continuity, player progression, and upgraded personnel, it was apparently determined by Vic Fangio that Scangarello’s ability to call plays was not up to snuff, and he was replaceable in this regard.

This is the first and most important factor in the team’s decision to make this move.

2. Statistical production (cause)

In order to fire someone, you have to have cause.

As Mike Klis pointed out:

Finishing in the bottom five of those categories is not entirely Scangarello’s fault. It’s not entirely not his fault, either.

Throughout the season, Scangarello struggled with what I can only describe as game flow management. I don’t think he had a grasp on calling an NFL game after the scripted plays were finished.

The Broncos ran their scripted plays pretty well when Drew Lock was in the lineup, and even in Brandon Allen’s first game against the Browns. With that said, once the script was up, the Broncos’ offense sputtered, often for quarters at a time.

Their stretches of offensive ineptitude can’t strictly be attributed to talent.

Although at this point it’s hard to recall every specific sequence, there were plenty of times when Scangarello’s play calling felt like he was trying to shove square pegs in round holes throughout the course of a game.

When so many players are getting frustrated by it, it’s hard to keep such an emphasis on his play designs versus just calling a game and not only being aggressive but being in control.

3. Having an alternative/upgrade

This is not a move you make without having an alternative in place, and it has to be a clear and obvious upgrade.

The Broncos took an understandable, reasonable risk by signing Scangarello away from the 49ers. The 49ers’ quarterbacks coach and a disciple of Kyle Shanahan, it was reasonably assumed that Scangarello had learned and seen enough to be able to implement a similar type of offense in Denver.

Unfortunately, we saw nothing of the same type of aggressive play-calling, dominant game-managing from Scangarello that we had once seen from Kyle Shanahan. Shanahan is obviously in a league of his own at this point, but he’s got disciples around the league now doing a great job.

In order for the Broncos to break away from what John Elway wanted — continuity — there had to be a coach on the market who could present the team with an obvious upgrade in terms of experience, proven QB development, and play-calling.

Shurmur was apparently that for Fangio.

4. Shurmur’s availability

Sometimes good or great coordinators don’t make for good or great head coaches.

Shurmur got his shot with the Giants after a body of impressive work that included overseeing a dismal QB situation with the Minnesota Vikings in 2016-17.

He got the job with the dysfunctional New York Giants, who traded away his best player and didn’t draft a QB until this past offseason. Shurmur won’t get to see the fruits of the seeds that were planted in New York, but he can be part of the harvest in Denver, potentially.

Shurmur has a history of doing great work with quarterbacks, and I think Vic Fangio’s respect for him is an obvious reason this move was made.

Fangio has coached against Shurmur obviously for a number of years, but most recently, Shurmur was the OC for the Vikings in 2016-17 when Fangio was coaching the Bears, and then the Giants beat Chicago when Fangio was the DC there in 2018 as well, scoring 30 points to boot.

This move was made by Fangio because he obviously thinks highly of Shurmur, and so does a lot of the league. There were a number of teams interested in bringing on Shurmur as their coordinator, and he chose the Broncos.

Shurmur apparently liked Lock a lot coming out of the 2019 NFL Draft but the Giants went with Daniel Jones with their top selection.

If Shurmur selected the Broncos’ job opening over four others, I would say that is a strong indicator of how highly he thinks of the young quarterback in Denver and his ability to help him be successful immediately.

The Broncos made this move obviously believing that Lock’s development would not only continue but that Shurmur could put him in a better position to succeed than Scangarello.