Coordinator Musgrave’s pre-snap shifts challenge Broncos’ defense

It took only two organized team activity practices last month for Broncos inside linebacker Todd Davis to be impressed with the newlook offense coordinated by Bill Musgrave.

“They definitely throw a lot at us, so we have to be prepared,” Davis said. “We’ll have an exciting team to watch.”

The verdict on if the Broncos will be exciting — and successful — won’t come for several months, but it was interesting how other members of the defense confirmed Davis’ analysis.

“Bill is giving us some difficult things,” defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson said. “We’re adjusting to them and are able to win during the course (of practice).”

So how did Musgrave and his offensive staff challenge the defense?

“It’s been fun to watch Billy with his shifts and motions,” coach Vance Joseph said. “When you play a defense like ours — manfree (man coverage and free safety plays deep middle), fiveman (pass) rush, aggressive — the shifts and motions really slow you down a little bit because you have to get aligned.”

The shifts and motions are really just “smoke and mirrors.”

Presnap shifting and motion are a coordinator’s way of ascertaining the defensive coverage (man or zone), creating a favorable matchup (burly linebacker vs. shifty tailback) or gain a numbers advantage (more blockers to one side than defenders) on one side of the field.

So what does a Musgrave offense look like in terms of presnap movement? We went back to 2016, when he was Oakland’s offensive coordinator and running his system.

In a 4235 win over Carolina, Musgrave did not run a single presnap shift. The Raiders ran motion on 27 snaps and did nothing presnap on 42 plays.

Musgrave used a tailback in motion on 12 snaps, usually out wide (against a linebacker), which emptied the backfield. He rarely used motion that had the receiver crossing the field. One big takeaway was how he used tailback Latavius Murray as a receiver once he motioned out of the backfield.

With the Broncos, Musgrave may see the benefit of shifts that lead into motion.

For his part, Musgrave returned the compliment about being tested by the Broncos’ defense.

“It’s been very challenging, which is good,” he said. “We’re anticipating it being very good training for the season.” in pro football. When asked if the zoneread had been figured out. Shanahan delivered a 296word answer. An excerpt: “It’s not that (defenses) have caught up, you just need the right people, the right commitment, you have to stay healthy and you’ve got to have the whole package together,” he said. “Is your quarterback good enough at running with the football to make them commit to stopping it? Once they do, is he good enough to make the passes that he has to that they just opened up? If he is, that’s a huge issue (for defenses). It’s tough to find that guy.”