Coaching at eye level, Mike Mccoy gets real
ADAPTATION IS KEY FOR THE BRONCOS’ OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR. THIS SEASON WILL BE NO DIFFERENT.
Mike Mccoy tried it once. During his first stint as offensive coordinator for the Broncos, in 2009, he communicated his brand of football X’s and O’s from a coaching booth high above the field.
He felt a million miles from the action. “I didn’t like it,” he said. “I prefer to be down on the field just to be involved in everything when the players come in. I like to interact with all of the players. You can look in their eyes if you’re struggling as an offense.”
If the Broncos are to improve in 2017 on offense — the unit largely responsible from keeping them out of the playoffs last season — Mccoy’s fingerprints will paint the effort. As the Broncos’ offensive coordinator from 2009 to 2012 he crafted game plans around the diverse quarterback skill-sets of Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning. He was so successful that he became the “it” head coaching candidate early in 2013. Several teams showed interest and he chose the San Diego Chargers, where he went 27-37 in four seasons before being let go last year.
Now, Mccoy is returning to his roots as a coach. His task is simple in description if unenviable in execution: turn a relatively blank canvas into an explosive offense. The blueprint for such a job? That’s the part that has Mccoy excited.
“We want to do whatever it takes to win and score as many points as fast as we can week in and week out until the coach tells us to slow it down,” Mccoy said. “We’re going to play up-tempo and it’s going to change from week to week, too. You’re going to see a different plan. You’re not always going to see the same
“We want to do whatever it takes to win and score as many points as fast as we can week in and week out until the coach tells us to slow it down.” Mike Mccoy, Broncos offensive coordinator
thing over and over again, and I can’t tell you this is exactly what we’re going to be yet. But we want to have an exciting offense for our fans and score a ton of points — whatever that is — running, throwing, whatever we have to do.”
Mccoy may not possess the magic elixir that will restore the Broncos offense to the level of 2013, when Manning led Denver to the Super Bowl with the highest scoring offense in NFL history. That’s also not Mccoy’s mandate. The defense that led the Broncos to a championship 19 months ago still steers the ship.
But the offensive woes that sunk the Broncos in 2016, lowlighted by a defining late-season, three-game losing streak in which Denver averaged fewer than eight points per game, must be corrected in order for the championship goals general manager John Elway preaches to be realized.
The mission starts up front. Attention during Broncos training camp centered on the quarterback competition. But Trevor Siemian, who ultimately won the starting job, will face an uphill battle should a running game that finished 27th in the 32-team NFL last season (averaging 92.8 yards per game) not show great improvement.
The Broncos signed veteran free-agent linemen Ron Leary (guard) and Menelik Watson (tackle), drafted left tackle Garett Bolles and traded for veteran guard Allen
Barbre at the start of training camp to revamp the offensive line for the second consecutive season. With new blood — the Broncos have three new starters on the offensive line — comes increased expectations.
“There were players that we drafted in this scheme that are playing now and have the opportunity,” running back C.J. Anderson said. “Guys who were on the practice squad like (center) Matt Paradis. He was drafted when Peyton was here for this scheme (under Mccoy in 2012). That’s just the complete difference. We brought in Menelik for this scheme. We brought in Ron Leary, who did a little bit of both over there in Dallas. I think scheme fits our O-line really well.”
Mccoy’s approach won’t be the same as it was under Manning. He’s got a second-year starter with Siemian for one, but change has been his greatest constant. He ran difference schemes for Orton, Tebow and Manning.
Defensive end Derek Wolfe was a rookie with the Broncos when he faced Mccoy’s offense daily during practices in 2012. But facing Mccoy’s offense again in training this year was like returning to a city he previously visited only to find out the streets had new names.
“It’s a different offense,” Wolfe said. “Mike’s a genius. He does a good job of scheming up against every defense.”
Siemian likes the changes that have been made from a year ago, when the Broncos ran more of West Coast offense with a zone blocking scheme. “It gives you the opportunity to be pretty multiple,” Siemian said. “We’re doing a lot of different things, but at the same time we know what we’re good at. We have a lot of chances to attack defenses in a lot of different ways.”
Cornerback Aqib Talib, who faced Mccoy’s offenses at San Diego the past four seasons, said: “He knows how to beat every coverage. If you show anything, what coverage you’re in, he’s going to have a good chance of beating you. You add Mike Mccoy to any offense, they’re going to be that much better automatically.”
Keeping the No Fly Zone guessing? It can’t be a bad place for the new Broncos offense to start.