Following Monday’s rumors that John Elway has accepted a “high” role in the Denver Broncos office, the team will hire a new GM. The future of the franchise is very much in question.
However, Vic Fangio’s position as head coach is not. Broncos does not “blow everything up”, but keeps Fangio in search of continuity.
Just a day after the biggest news that hit Broncos Country in nearly a decade spread like wildfire, Fangio talked about the job security of his current staff and whether there will be coaches fired after the end. team 5-11.
“No, I anticipate that he will return completely,” Fangio said on Tuesday. “As is always the case in the first part of the off-season, some guys may have some opportunities to advance. We will always look at this, but other than that I anticipate the staff coming back. “
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It was only last week ESPN Adam Schefter reported that Fangio will return to Denver for the third season. While the announcement was not necessarily a surprise to those on the field in Mile High City, the timing was odd because of the significant areas for improvement that Fangio and his staff have not yet fully mastered.
At the end of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders, Fangio once again proved his difficulty in managing the game as head coach. In the Raiders’ final race, the defensive guru opted to use both of Denver’s remaining timeouts, which Las Vegas used to regroup and exploit with a touchdown and a two-point conversion in consecutive games. .
The Broncos offense had 24 seconds left to try a race that hopefully would set a winning goal. It was not in the books, as the Broncos lost the 11th loss of the season, falling 32-31 to the Raiders.
In the last two seasons, it has been painfully obvious that Fangio is uncomfortable with time management, offense and special teams. As with the loss to the Tennessee Titans at the start of the season, who saw that managing the clock and using Fangio’s timeouts in the clutch led directly to the team’s first loss, his 32 games as head coach revealed that his defensive X and Os’s insight, and play, interrupts his responsibilities as head coach.
Fangio compiled a 12-20 record with a gain percentage of .375. When asked if he was evaluating his own performance of the season, Fangio was wary.
“Absolutely. From A to Z we will evaluate everything and we have already started this,” said Fangio. “We will study other teams as much as we can in the allotted time and we will turn every stone in an effort to improve.”
Veteran coach Ed Donatell has been theorized that he has been severely underutilized as Denver’s defensive coordinator. With 30 years of NFL coaching experience, Donatell is now in his third stint with the Broncos and has worked with Fangio for the past 10 years in previous internships in San Francisco and Chicago.
Fangio said he preferred to resort to stand games, giving a vague answer when asked if he would consider donating Donatell.
“I don’t think that’s in line with what I said before,” Fangio said. “Anything we can do from A to Z to improve, we’ll analyze and evaluate and see if we think it’s the best thing to do. made.”
Another area for improvement is undoubtedly the unity of special teams, which has been abysmal under coordinator Tom McMahon. The 51-year veteran was hired by Denver in 2018 and many fans have publicly called for McMahon’s dismissal on social media, as can offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who will return.
The fact is that the last time the Broncos special team was ranked in the top-10 was in 2001. It can be argued that the special teams went by the wayside due to inconsistency and lack of depth of the list.
“I think the performance of our special teams is very similar to our offense and defense,” Fangio said on Tuesday. “It simply came to our notice then. We allowed too many negative games to happen against us in the return game. I had a blocked point or two that you can’t have. “
Fangio was also asked what gives him confidence in McMahon.
“I trust Tom will return,” Fangio said. “Tom was a guy that John [Elway] he highly recommended me when I took over this job and kept Tom. He is a tireless worker, very skilled in the shot game. We just have to push those things, just like in attack and defense, to avoid disastrous games. “
Led in the third season of Fangio, there seem to be more questions than answers. What is the identity of the team? What is the Fangio mission statement? How will Fangio improve?
Assuming the NFL and Broncos are better and better prepared for another extraordinarily bizarre season with potential COVID-19 restrictions, Fangio keeps an optimistic outlook for his future.
“We hope that the third year will be the magical year for me, in which everything goes smoothly again,” said Fangio.
Follow Luke on Twitter @LukePattersonLP and @MileHighHuddle.