Mile High Report

I agree

next year is going to surprise everyone with the expanded play book…this year was make shift and with everyone, including the coaching staff improving dramatically over the off season, the sky is the limit.

This is!

PearlJamBroncoGFunk - January 20, 2012 reply

Go hilariously GREEN!

topnation - January 20, 2012 reply

Darth Vader

would be pissed.

Laughed my giant ass off!!!!

I think I lost 4lbs laughing at this.

The kicker is Al Davis down in the lower right corner, laughing his ass off at McCoy being retained….just classic Al.

Zogernaut - January 20, 2012 reply

I can't decide if this is good or bad news. Good for continuity sake but I suppose that could also mean bad from a production standpoint.

Ugh, well, here’s hoping.

Actually I'm glad

McCoy simplified our playcalling last year because that’s all Tebow could handle.

yibberat - January 20, 2012 reply

not to mention

It would be nice for Tebow and the offense to have some consistency.

Hopefully both McCoy and Tebow can grow this offseason.

trumanj - January 20, 2012 reply

Rec'd both of you for being level headed and making sense

http://www.davusx.net/assets/db/la_la_land.gif

True THAT!

Agreed!!!

BroncoSense72 - January 21, 2012 reply

Sorry to disagree, but....

if Tebow is so dense that you have to run a triple option run play on every down then he shouldn’t be our QB. I don’t believe that is the case. The offense installed for 2012 needs to be more pass oriented and fast paced. McCoy doesn’t understand how to exploit a defensive scheme. He forces things and hopes they work out.

That's why Tim's numbers were better in 3 games at the end of 2010 than this year?

They stopped spreading the field and got ridiculously predictable……oh well…

Mike needs to grow as much as TT this offseason.

Broncotodd - January 20, 2012 reply

EXACTLY

i said that every game. Spread the Field!!!!!

broncosfan1129 - January 21, 2012 reply

McCoy's problems have NOTHING to do with having to utilize 'simple plays.'

It has everything to do with not utilizing the plays he DOES have at his disposal at the appropriate time.

This I will recommend...

Now that

Tebow is more seasoned, perhaps McCoy can give him more responsibility, with great power comes great responsibility

spider-man.

oxmouth - January 21, 2012 reply

Im glad he's back

for continuity’s sake and for Tebow’s development. Im willing to give McCoy a pass for last season, since it was his first real season calling plays. As bad as a micromanager as McD was, Im fairly confident 09 and 10 was mostly McD’s playcalls, not McC’s

The only reason im happy, i mean okay with him back is his relationship with Tebow

otherwise i want him gone

Bingo

I'd rather have Jim Fassel though

I think with another year together we will see better things

If not, then we will have to search for another. One more thing to consider is that 4 different teams considered McCoy, so they must see something in him. More than McD, he went and ruined STL and then ran back to his daddy Bill

He might be a good coach, im not denying that

but his boring, predictable play calling is what got to me. Running every 1st down when the Defense had 9 in the box.

Having every WR route be deep routes, no screens, rarely used the TE’s and QB draws on 3rd down. Thats my problem with him. Hope he gets better, but im not betting on it

Should've read this before I posted the exact same thing below.

thats depressing. :(

True but

One more thing to consider is that 4 different teams considered McCoy, so they must see something in him.

True but no one hired him. At the end of the day he ran one of the poorer offenses this year, and it wasn’t that great other years either regardless of whether he officially called the plays or not. I didn’t expect he’d get hired, even though I was rooting for him. He isn’t that good. There isn’t much evidence that he is.

When Mike McCoy was in college

Ron McBride let him do whatever he wanted, let’s see him give Tebow the same privilege, this is McCoy in college!

If not then we might be searching for another QB as well as OC. This season might be make or break for both

True.

At worst we’ll have a QB carousel until McCoy is given his walking papers and at best he and Tebow improve and make something great. I’m really hoping for the latter.

i am not alone

he would be perfect for this young offense, and tebow. why exactly is fassell officially blacklisted from the nfl, anyway? seriously

davecheffy - January 20, 2012 reply

I'm with you

I haven’t been super impressed overall by McCoy. Last year I thought he called plays much better than this year (I mean the last three games of last year compared to this year, all with Tebow as QB), but he’s had some really good games as well. Bottom line though, continuity. While trying to develop a young QB and let that QB prove himself, continuity is a good thing. No new offense, new terminology, etc. to have to learn on top of the pressure of continuous improvement and trying to be “the guy.” I think overall it’s for the best. Now after next year??? Not so sure.

Sinthor - January 20, 2012 reply

he also had better recievers

CenCalBronco - January 21, 2012 via mobile reply

if you're going to give him a pass

please ensure he DOES pass

Maybe he'll put his hat back in for the Raider's job and Allen Withdraws from Raider's search

diehardbronco2 - January 20, 2012 reply

This makes me happy

The hate that McCoy gets here is hilarious to me. I love Tebow but he’s still a moving target in terms of consistency (and that’s okay), and McCoy did a generally good job of handling this young and vastly inexperienced offense. A full offseason with the whole offensive coaching staff intact will do wonders for this offense.

scooter17 - January 20, 2012 reply

Yeah its pretty ridiculous but people have their own means for forming their opinions i guess

ShyandObese - January 20, 2012 reply

I mean, I get being frustrated over some of the predictable stuff, but you have to have some perspective. As much as I love Tebow, the facts are that only 50% of his passes this year turned out to be completions, which is one of the worst marks in the league. That doesn’t mean he sucks (and it’s not all his fault), but the facts are that this offense struggled this year when it passed, and it was very good when it ran. So it’s not exactly illogical of McCoy to lean heavy on the run.

Besides, we were literally the only team in the NFL that could believably run play-action on 3rd and long. That was so hilarious to me all year that it made it all worth it. ;)

scooter17 - January 20, 2012 reply

It doesn't matter who the QB is.

Predictable isn’t good regardless of who’s at QB and it’s especially bad when you have a raw QB like Tebow. McCoy playcalling couldn’t produce points when Orton was QB either. It has nothing to do with who the QB is (for me at least).

Though it works on the first play in overtime :)

trumanj - January 20, 2012 reply

+1

mtnbikinbronc - January 21, 2012 via Android app reply

This offense also struggled this year when passng with Orton.

What no one wants to say is,,,,,,,John Fox is a run oriented , ground game coach. That philosphy starts at the top, . Do you really think McCoy just does exactly what he wants? Of course not!

The pther sleeping elephant people might not want to acknowlege is that the Broncos are still a team of very little talent. Thank God for McGahee.

Boiler etc - January 21, 2012 reply

The Patriots used to be a run-oriented ground game team. Check Tom Brady’s first Super Bowl. He was getting tons of labels like “game manager” and stuff.

Not at ALL saying Tebow = Brady, but rather saying as talent (on your roster and in your players) changes, scheme changes.

Thank you!

That’s exactly what I said! Our offense will not change as long as John Fox is around. However, I disagree about us having very little talent. We have a lot of YOUNG talent. It will take time for it to mature.

broncofan91 - January 21, 2012 reply

He didn't really get that much out of Orton either who knew the system. I'm sorry but maybe McCoy just isn't that great of a play-caller/OC.

Ya think? Pretty bland and predictable...

That said…..he needs to rethink successful 3 and outs.

Broncotodd - January 20, 2012 reply

Willing to give him another season

And see if the motive all along has been to improve and increase the impact of the passing game. But even the few passing plays he did call, they weren’t exactly QB-friendly: long progressing routes, no consistent check-down option..

I'm glad he's back

and I hope that he stays along with Allen. I just like most people out there would get frustrated with his play calling, but as a coach myself, albeit the high school level, I understand that there is in fact a reason and game plan for everything. They were doing what they were doing for reasons that they felt were best for the team.

I think this is a good thing for our players and organization. It’s good to have assistants as candidates for head coaching positions because that means they doing a good job.

wiebrod - January 20, 2012 reply

Good points

It just makes it painfully obvious how little trust they have in Tebow with the plays they call. With that little trust, why are they pretending to commit to him instead of shooting the fans straight and getting a QB they feel comfortable with throwing the ball. I am a HUGE Tebow supporter, but I can’t be a fan of an offense that hides their QB’s ability to pass the ball.

After a real offseason of working together and gettting more comfortable with each other Im sure we'll see improvement next year

hides their QB's ability to pass the ball

OR maybe the playcalling was forced due to the inconsistency of their QB’s ability to pass the ball. Trust comes from being able to make the plays callled AND then the plays will hange. Maybe it was the QB not the OC?

Or...

maybe it was BOTH.

To that I ask:

Why then don’t they get a QB that THEY think can execute the offense properly? They claim they believe in Tebow, but sure didn’t show it at any point. They make the personnel decisions…

The inefficiencies of offense was a shared deal....QB, stone hand WR's and inconsistent Pass blocking....

But none of it falls on the coaches?

No progression in those areas through the course of the season, the smallest amount of short easy passes for any NFL team…that’s coaching. Players share blame for sure, but my argument is that McCoy should be given his share of the fault, and he doesn’t have a lack of experience to blame it on.

RoxWS2014 - January 21, 2012 reply

Give it a break bro!

The fact is that this entire last year was abnormal! This group out performed all expectations and with an offseason will show us an about face like we are not even expecting either.

Give what a break?

Arguing a point like the rest of the people on this site?

RoxWS2014 - January 21, 2012 reply

I give him another year.

He created an entirely new offense halfway through the year and won seen games with it. Add that to the fact that he only has a season and 4 games of calling plays, it will get better with an entire offseason. I don’t understand the love for allen but hate for McCoy, in scoring, the offense was 25th and the defense was 24th, not a huge difference. As I said McCoy only has had 4 more games of calling plays than Allen does. I think both of them have good futures, but this year coming up is big for the entire offense as everyone needs to be good and that starts with the coaching staff.

All I can say, even as a fan of rip scherer, there was no evidence that the offense would be better with another year of new playcalling, look what happened to Bradford after his favorite coach and playcaller left.

Bloynoys - January 20, 2012 reply

Why Allen over McCoy?

Last year our D was dead last – Allen improved it. Our O didn’t really improve in the first few games with Orton, so apples to apples he didn’t do to hot

si_ice - January 20, 2012 reply

I'm not saying Allen isn't awesome, and McCoy is Sean Peyton

but he is a perfectly apt o coordinator that I am glad is back to have a full offseason to instill an offense rather than 4 days at a time.

Bloynoys - January 20, 2012 reply

Allen > McCoy

Allen’s unit improved from last year. McCoy’s not so much, even though Allen’s unit spent a lot of time on the field because McCoy’s couldn’t get anything going till the end.

I like him as a coach but what makes you think he is a perfectly apt OC? What did he do the deserve perfectly apt?

littletinybroncos - January 20, 2012 reply

I'm on thd fence

I’m proud of McCoy when he does good. They put a lot of resources into adding personnel on defenste and dumped offensive personnel left and right.

I am with you there. I am more on the fence about him and that makes me nervous.

I want to give him another full offseason and season to see if he improves. I think he is a fantastic teacher and coach but his play calling left me frustrated and with a lot of doubts and questions. I hope he puts those to rest.

Yes, I'm a fencesitter

I will give McCoy another chance, after all we were a playoff team and I know we’re only going to get better

Hooray! Another Season of Running on Every 1st Down and every 3rd and Long!

Damnit.

Linmoo - January 20, 2012 reply

You should be thanking the heavens that he is back

It really amazes me that you somehow expect him to call plays like Tebow is Tom Brady, he ran and changed the offense to highlite what Tebow can do well now, and minimize his chances for failure. You saw what you get when you try to call plays like a normal offense in a game like Detroit. You blame him for Tebow not hitting an open WR or even throwing the ball to an open WR, who the hell would blame the dude for playing it safe. Give him a year to work with Tebow and see what happens. People in the NFL are not stupid, the fact he was considered for three HC positions shows he has talent, be happy we have him for another year, I told you all he would be getting HC offers after this season.

Broncoman - January 20, 2012 reply

Absolutely Broncoman...

yeah, i really don’t see the broncos as a much better team with a different play caller. mccoy will get surprisingly better at calling plays as the offense executes better and tebow earns more throwing cred. it’ll be good that tebow can just concentrate on fundamental passing without worrying about learning an entire new playbook as well.

oxmouth - January 20, 2012 reply

It all comes down to development of the offense, but people get so impatient that they can't wait until the final product rises to the top...

The oldest starter we had on the offense were Willis McGahee (9) and Chris Kuper (6)! The rest are 1-2 years except for Clady (5) and that’s way to young to claiming any fame. This offense will do a lot of developing this offseason and it will be interesting where we stand this fall.

I agree oxmouth

The problem is though, that McCoy also called plays prior to Tebow, and even with a better passer, his playcalling left a lot to be desired. Our offense stunk under Orton/McCoy too.

mccoy was pretty creative as a play caller. he pulled some crazy stuff out of his hat that reminded me of the shanny/kubiak days. the main problem was with the first and second downs in the first half. no way around the fact that that stuff was overly predictable. i really think a lot of that had to do with the broncos having no idea how each new defense would play them, so there was always at least a quarter of feeling out the situation and playing safe. my opinion anyway.

as tebow develops into a reliable passer, i really believe mccoy will trust him a lot more and become less predictable.

oh, as far as orton. eh. i don’t know—i’m not a huge orton fan so i guess i’d say that orton was the main stank on that duo. could be wrong…

oxmouth - January 20, 2012 reply

Ha!

I thought Orton was the main problem at the time and I do think Tebow is part of the problem. The part I can’t understand is why any OC in the professional league should be unable to gameplan better in the first half? I don’t see other teams take 30 minutes of football before they see what the D is going to do. Most teams look at tape and have an idea what a D tends to do. It was almost like McCoy was seeing things for the first time and had no access to scouting reports beforehand. It was weird.

Glad to know I wasn't alone. :)

Broncotodd - January 20, 2012 reply

It's because there IS NO FILM to watch based on how they must react to what we do!

you forgot to put quotations around "surprisingly."

I love sarcasm as much as the next guy :) No, really….

hah!

good call, brad. i actually had the quotes in the first edition, but decided to edit them out so as not to appear overly sardonic. saw right through me.

oxmouth - January 21, 2012 reply

Let’s not try on some revisionist history here. McCoy didn’t just “play it safe” for Tebow’s sake. He pretty much telegraphed his run play selection, allowing defenses effectively run blitz throughout the game. Part of the reason for our atrocious 3rd down completion percentage was because McCoy was utterly predictable on 1st down, especially deep in our own territor. This kept our offense off schedule and our defense on the field.

Credit where due, McCoy did a great job revising the offense to fit Tebow mid-season. But he has NO feel for the momentum of the game and keeping defenses off balance with play action on early downs. I pray that McCoy does as much improvement as Tebow does this offseason.

Linmoo - January 20, 2012 reply

As great player grow so do great coaches. We'll see.

for sure

you can’t tell me that Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi one day became great coaches, it’s a process, like anything else

So your solution would be to have Tebow throw incompletions on 1st down

And have 2nd and 10? Somehow that poor play calls on first down lead to the best rushing yardage season in Broncos history, so how were the play calls that bad? The fact was where Tebow was developmentaly as a QB this season, McCoy was handcuffed by what he could call, how many plays did he call where guys were wide open and Tebow didn’t see them or wouldn’t throw the ball, or threw it over their head or in the ground, there is only so much you can do, the bottom line is Tebow has to execute better for McCoy to be able to call more pass plays and have confidence that he can make those plays. Give them a season together and lets see what happens, McCoy showed an incredible patience this season and could of just as easily forced Tebow to play the McDaniels system and make it where Tebow fell flat on his face like the Detroit game and then put him on the bench for Quinn, but he put his ego aside and tried to do what was best for Tebow and the team.

Broncoman - January 20, 2012 reply

I don’t see McCoy ever taking those conservative gloves off. He had plenty of opportunities to make easy pass play calls that Tebow can execute (screens, TE or RB in the flat) with a stacked box, particularly early in the game.. He relentlessly called slow-developing pitch plays in short yardage situations. He would run the ball up the middle for multiple offensive series late in the game when we were down by a touchdown or more (see: Bears game). In the KC game, he played not to lose the whole game with our season on the line. And to be honest, the offense has been lopsided (pass-oriented under Orton, run-oriented under Tebow) for McCoy’s ENTIRE time as OC. He just doesn’t know how to be balanced on offense and keep the defense off balance. He doesn’t have the killer instinct. He just doesn’t want to turn the ball over.

Linmoo - January 20, 2012 reply

Absolutely right.

The irony in all this is that we turned the ball over a lot running the ball. Tebow doesn’t throw many picks. So while Orton was under center running the ball was safer and while Tebow is under center passing was safer from a turnover perspective (not necessarily from a moving the ball perspective). To me the stat that is most alarming about McCoy is how many plays it takes for our offense to score. We’re one of the worst in the league and that didn’t start with Tebow. If our offense would have moved the ball at all we’d have won our first 3 games of the year. We only won 8 games because of late game Tebow antics and that had little to do with McCoy.

Tebow's made some good throws out into the flat and is very good at selling the screen

Ahh seent it…

Horsepower - January 21, 2012 reply

Respectfully...disagree

“He pretty much telegraphed his run play selection….” Uhmmm, it wasn’t McCoy doing the handing off and running the plays, it was the players on the field. Fans in the NFL need to have more patience and understanding of what is going on, on the field. Tebow definitely needs to work on his mechanics, footwork, play action, etc. Patience, people, patience!

atwater27rules - January 21, 2012 reply

a screen pass every now and then or a bootleg/play action on 1st down doesn't have to mean he thinks his QB is Tom Brady.

+1

Screen passes and bootlegs don’t really work when teams are playing contain around the pocket rather than rushing you hard.

Right

but you call plays that set them up to crash inside. Once they do that (saw that a number of times this past year) then you pull out a screen play. Also, I hate to say it, but as much as we hated the bubble screens in 2009, it wouldn’t hurt to use those at any time in a game either.

Horsepower - January 21, 2012 reply

Thank you Broncoman

You said it nicely

And that makes green

JohnCalvinKnox - January 20, 2012 reply

Sorry don't buy it - I didn't see Tebow doing that well in 4 of the last five games

Exactly

I mean people forget that our whole coaching staff didn’t have a full offseason too and Tebow was the starter mid-season. With that said I am interested to see what they can do now that there will be a real offseason. I mean who knows, they may surprise us, so they at least deserve a chance to try and change things. Just like Tebow deserves time to improve.

weazel - January 20, 2012 reply

Well said Broncoman

BroncoSense72 - January 21, 2012 reply

This is good news...in a way!!!

McCoy and Tebow need to spend the offseason TRUSTING each other. McCoy needs to trust that Tebow will deliver the ball in a timely manner. Tebow needs to trust McCoy will call plays to win the game…not just the first 3 quarters. Mix it up next year and pass the ball on 1st down from time to time.

Hopefully Allen doesn’t get the Oakland job. That would be worse then lossing McCoy.

GO BRONCOS!!! AFC WEST CHAMPIONS…until we aren’t!!!

Bron#1 Fan - January 20, 2012 reply

+1

If Dennis Allen moves on coach Fox will get a like minded DC. IMO Allen and McCoy need a couple of years at success before they venture off, because the NFL with head coaches can be very cruel to young assistant coaches, i.e. Steve Spagnuolo, Josh McDaniels, Todd Haley, Mike Singletary, Raheem Morris and others have failed because they probably we’ren’t really ready to take on the big picture.

Poor old Samurai Mike

I thought he was going to be a good one, until he started mooning his own team.

PaleHorse78 - January 20, 2012 reply

Mike Singletary has no business being a head coach, position maybe...

He expects to much out of his players and wants them to be just like Mike. That won’t work for most and it almost destroyed Vernon Davis. Davis was able to overcome being stomped on by his coach and has turned out to be one of the best TEs in the business. Good for him. Just like Mike Nolan, he can out scheme opposing OCs most of the time, but he can’t control the whole team as the head coach.

This is the best news I've heard all week!

Some of you are butt hurt because of his non-departure, and most of your contempt is unfounded. Mike McCoy did the impossible with Tebow and the offense when the screams from the stands and the media insisted that Tebow be given a chance. He did the miraculous turn around with the offensive play scheme and it worked for the most part, it was the only way Tebow was ever going to be successful at that time. Over the length of the season we saw progression with Tebow in his pocket awareness and delivering the ball in tighter spaces, especially in the playoff game aginst the Steelers. That game was something to grow on and they will this offseason where they have a full regiment of OTAs and hands on quarterback teachings. I look for nothing less than a much improved Tim Tebow in TC and in preseason, I don’t think us as fans deserve anything less. He has to show that he is a Pro style quarterback or we’ll be looking for one in the 2013 draft. I’m hedging my bets on Tebow getting the job done with Mike McCoy as his OC…

Spot on buddy!!!

PaleHorse78 - January 20, 2012 reply

I think I agree with this assessment

I can live with McCoy being the OC one more year.

Allen — stay put!

NYCBronx - January 20, 2012 reply

Yep, I am on the fence...

I think he needs time to develop just like our young offense does, but I also have my concerns as to whether he has any feel for the flow of a football game.
We will see.

True- McCoy doesn't seem to have that killer instinct that makes for an effective offense

But that OT Steelers play seem to have a bit of that.

NYCBronx - January 21, 2012 reply

He needs the tools to conduct a killer program.

His receivers O-line and QB all need to improve so that it CAN be done.

Wish I had another Rec for you Bill to make this Green...You speak truth

BroncoSense72 - January 21, 2012 reply

Now Tim has all offseason to work on the basics, not learning a new offense. Full time footwork and short passing game practice.

chikndnnr - January 20, 2012 reply

That's the short game that wasn't in our offense this year

si_ice - January 20, 2012 reply

Good news, Timmy should be elated, he has a chance now.

REAL need is a QB coach.

DLMyers - January 20, 2012 reply

I think our conservative offense had more to do with Fox than McCoy

Every one of his teams have had the same style. I think next year will be a much better indicator of the kind offense McCoy likes to run. I’m glad he’s staying.

broncofan91 - January 20, 2012 reply

or more to do with Tebow

than Fox or McCoy

They make the personnel decisions.

They didn’t and don’t have to stick with Tebow…They are (thankfully), But they need to find a way to make it work,

Continuity doesn't hurt

He’s got room to improve as a playcaller, but at least the system, terminology, and what was set as a foundation in 2011 can now be built upon.

He also has a chance to prove that he was scaling things back for Tebow this past season, in order to help minimize his mistakes. Little by little, he needs to open things up, not to mention mix up his plays to make the offense much less predictable.

If he doesn’t take a step forward and the offense regresses, 2012 will be his last year in Denver.

You know.

We can knock his playcalling all we want, but there were a ton of open guys this season that Tim never saw or hit…

Alexander Wall - January 20, 2012 via mobile reply

Why is it

that if McCoy takes any criticism, somehow that automatically means Tebow did nothing wrong? Where is this logic coming from? IAOFM does this daily and it’s incredibly annoying.

It's what people do.

You blame someone, they get defensive and go straight to tebow. It is quite annoying

YES, It's what people do.

You blame someone, they get defensive and go straight to Elway or Fox or McCoy or Gase or …….. It is quite annoying (go back to posts from preseason throughout the entire season to read the blame to Elway, Fox, and McCoy. Tebow did get some blame from fans as well. It may not be you but there was plenty of posters playing the blame game. It is peculiar aboutall this blame: Broncos made the playoff and beat Pittsburgh. Something went right)

And a lot of drops, and missed assignments on O line...things are not black and white...

yes - all of those

I don’t understand why we can’t get everyone to agree on the following:

1. Tebow missed a lot of open guys this year and struggled with consistency
2. WRs dropped a lot of balls
3. OL was raw at times – especially Orlando Franklin (wasn’t terrible but did have some bad games)
4. McCoy was at times predictable and/or seemed to struggle with how to use Tebow at times

Why do we assume that it’s ONLY McCoy’s fault or ONLY Tebow’s fault or ONLY our meh WRs. Why can’t we just acknowledge the logical thing – we have probably the youngest offense in the NFL and an OC who hasn’t really called plays before this year. I fully expect all 4 of those things to improve, but it’s foolish to not acknowledge that all of them are still true.

This wasn’t aimed at you boydy, I just had to write this somewhere. :)

well said

rec’d

Sean in Pa. - January 21, 2012 reply

2 more recs and this goes green

Horsepower - January 21, 2012 reply

I wonder if Mike regrets canceling his interview with the Raiders since he thought he was the "favorite" in Miami.

I don’t think anyone should ever regret turning down the Raiders.

So does this mean I still have to listen

to how much he sucks everyday? That and how much of a genious he is?

T.Dot_Bronco - January 20, 2012 reply

lol it seems there really isn't a middle ground huh?

There's a few of us there

but apparently no one sees us from all of the noise on one side or the other.

I like Mike McCoy and I think he can be a really good play caller. He showed some creativity (Pittsburgh game)

but more often than not he was

1) too predictable
2) too conservative (especially when we had a lead). I hated seeing the “play to not lose mode”.

If he can play a little more aggressively and a lot less predictably then I think he can really become a great OC and a great play caller. It all depends on how willing he is to change and if he feels like some of the blame is on him and not all on the players and their execution.

QB sometime make or break OC

It is funny how Tom Brady can make an OC look good. Broncos are there yet.

It's funny how Bill Bellicheat makes Brady look good. See how that works? Rediculous premise.

JohnCalvinKnox - January 20, 2012 reply

It's actually not ridiculous

Tom Brady is likely the best QB of this generation and will go down as one of the best 5 of all time. He’s unbelievably good. The guy owns that offense. I fully believe an intelligent llama could be the Pats OC and they would win 10+ games as long as Brady was the QB.

OK, an intelligent llama you say

let Pau Gasol be the Pats’ offensive coordinator and we shall see

Except Matt Cassel completely DESTOYS your entire theory. Checkmate.

JohnCalvinKnox - January 21, 2012 reply

I've been hard on McCoy, but I feel pretty bad for the guy

For him it might be a blessing in disguise——the dolphins are a mickey mouse organization with a complete tool as an owner, the guy has no idea what the hell he’s doing.

For everyone that’s been on McCoy’s ass for everything, I say this. The guy is a good teacher and influence for Tebow. If you’ve seen some of the footage when Tebow is mic-ed up for sound, there has been clips of he and McCoy on the sidelines looking at pictures and talking together. McCoy constantly helps Tebow with where his reads are and gives him advice of what to do IF.

Personally, I say if we cut Tim a break and allow him an offseason to improve then we should do the same for McCoy.

One final thought. Conservativism in playcalling has been a result and direct impact of what players we have on offense and their lack of experience——period. Even with Fox’s “conservative approach” with Orton and Lloyd starting, the pass to run ratio was much more in favor of the pass——I’ll probably do a post on this here soon. So really what we are talking about is coaches trying to put their players in the best positions to learn and be successful——-NOT TRYING TO HINDER OR UNDERMINE THEM.

If Tebow and our receivers were further along then they were I’m pretty sure the playcalling would have been a little bit different.

Patience folks, McCoy staying here is a good thing. We need Tebow and our offense to have consistency with the people around them. We’ve already seen defensively what happens when you have a different coordinator every year.

Bronco Mike - January 20, 2012 reply

Oh one final thought

When the Ravens beat the Patriots in the playoffs a few years back in Flacco’s first playoff start as a pro, they threw the ball 10 times all game. I doubt people were up in arms about it and wishing their OC was gone.

Bronco Mike - January 20, 2012 reply

Good point Mike, Was the media screaming that Flacco must be the "worst QB in the NFL"

I highly doubt it, Teobw has heard a lof of that crap this year.

Boiler etc - January 21, 2012 reply

LOL

There is a story today on Yahoo about Flacco being the worst QB to win a SB outdoing Dilfer :P

Sean in Pa. - January 21, 2012 reply

No, but Ravens fans do

many of them, just visit baltimore Beatdown tomorrow and see what you find

This is a really good post.

Not much else to add, this was just really well done. I’m definitely interested in a more extended post like you alluded to.

Fine with this

Continuity. Best thing for Tebow is to minimize the change. Let him become familiar with everything. I’m fine with it.

Sayre Bedinger - January 20, 2012 reply

Let's all take a deep breath

And remember a couple of things that have been repeatedly stated above:

1)McCoy is not a genius, neither is he a complete failure

2)McCoy was technically only in his first full season of directing the offense — according to most accounts, McDaniels was in charge of play-calling while he was here.

3)The Broncos made a radical change to the offense after game 5.

4)Our offensive starters, beginning in game 6, were very young:
4a)our offensive line had a combined 141 starts going into 2011
4b)45% of those starts were by Kuper, 34% were by Clady, the remaining three players — Walton, Beadles & Franklin had 21% of the starts, or if you prefer exactly 30 with Franklin having 0 NFL starts to begin the season.
4c)Our two main WR — Decker & Thomas entered 2011 with a combined 2 NFL starts.
4d)Our QB had 3 NFL starts.
4e)McGahee was the old man of the group with 66 starts.

5)Now, unless something very unexpected happens, our OC, and our offense will have an entire off season to install whatever offense they are planning to run.

Personally, I would love to see a hybrid read-option offense. One in which you never know if the QB is going to hand the ball off, keep it & run, keep & pitch out, or keep it & throw.

Brian Shrout - January 21, 2012 reply

Something else to think about

According to NFL GSIS – a site which breaks down team’s stats based on different scenarios such as down & distance, etc.

In 2011, on 1st & 10
Denver ran the ball 58% of the time & passed it 42%.
However, in the Red Zone on 1st & 10, that figure reversed with Denver running the ball 43% of the time & passing it 57%.

Brian Shrout - January 21, 2012 reply

FWIW by way of comparison, the four teams playing this weekend

on 1st & 10 (rushing/passing)

NE – 45%/55%
BAL – 51%/48%
NYG – 42%/57%
SF – 55%/45%

Brian Shrout - January 21, 2012 reply

thanks for that info Brian.

Should put things in persective for some of the posters,

Boiler etc - January 21, 2012 reply

Thanks for that

Interesting that we really didn’t rush THAT much more than SF. Though if I’m not mistaken, SF had the 2nd least amount of pass attempts in the league so I guess that makes sense.

All I remember is running the ball on first down something like 23 out of 24 times

against the Steelers… And the overtime win happened to be the 2nd pass on first down for the whole game.

ThorpeBroncosfan - January 21, 2012 reply

I think most people think look what he was able to do despite having Tebow to work with.

I’m not saying I agree. I think many other coaches around the league would rather work with a prototypical QB.

The 'Pro-McCoy' guys seem to be missing the point...

I hear a lot of arguing FOR McCoy by knocking Tebow and the offense. Please, let McCoy’s merits stand on their own. If you want to make an argument for keeping the guy, then just like you would do with a player, let his decisions and what he brought to the table speak for itself.

A) Did he install an offense not seen since the 70s? Yes, the speed/zone read option. Was it innovative, absolutely not. It’s been done at the college level for years. But credit McCoy for having the balls to try it again in the NFL.

B) Did McCoy have a young offense to work with that didn’t execute as often as a veteran team, absolutely. HOWEVER, that is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for his inability diagnose the situation, circumstance, and defensive scheme and make more appropriate calls. Running the ball on 3 straight downs from the i-formation when down by 30 points just so we could punt on 4th carries with it, NO EXCUSE (Patriots game). Tebow’s arm carried us during that win streak, go back and look at the games. The run-game only ate up clock and kept our defense fresh, it rarely (if ever) ended in POINTS outside of Tebow making a play with his legs. We scored during that win streak out of a 5 WR set. It allowed Tebow to survey the field better because he didn’t have to worry about the defense stacking the box with 8-10 people, wondering were the blitzer was going to come from.

C) Does McCoy get some credit for helping this team become a solid running team, absolutely. Did that #1 rushing offense lead to a lot of scoring, NO! On top of that, McCoy and Fox both relied on the run game, and spoke of it as though it was some sort of beastly machine racking up points – when in reality, it was only racking up yards. Time after time we saw McCoy miss basic calls that could have changed the outcome of the game had he made some minor adjustments to play calls he had already been succesful with earlier in the year. Example: Patriots were beating the O-Line all game and had DL’s crashing upfield all game. Not once did he call a SCREEN play. This is simply UNACCEPTABLE. A more savy OC would have had a field day with that.

PLEASE don’t use the excuse that, ‘Tebow limited McCoy,’ this is baloney. McCoy had enough in his ‘play-calling arsenal’ to be FAR more effective than he was. There were a number of calls and schemes that McCoy utilized during our win streak that he abondoned during our last 5 games.

Screens. 5 WR Spread (this one is huge, as it almost single handedly accounted for our come from behind wins).

Say what you want about continuity, but Mike McCoy (or Fox) truly failed in many aspects as a play caller. I could go on, but it doesn’t really matter.

McCoy needs to improve, or Fox needs to get out of McCoy’s way. Whatever it is – something has to change with the COACHING aspect of our offense.

Reader's digest version: McCoy's problems as OC have nothing to do with being limited by his young team, or Tebow.

It has everything to do with not utilizing the plays he DOES have at his disposal at the appropriate time.

Its all very well to talk about the lack of screens - but if the LB's are playing contain then screens get stuffed easily

The Pats D-Line may have been beating the Broncos O-LIne but if the Pats LB’s are still holding back then a screen is not the answer. We saw this a lot ion the last few weeks as Denver’s O stalled – linebackers played contain – screens are pointless in that situation.

I’d have to watch the Pats game again to see how many times the Pats bought more than 4 players and I’m not sure I want to sit through that game again, so I’m happy to be corrected on this but I’m pretty sure the Pats are not known for an agressive blitz style of defence.

The screen is designed to beat the blitz with linebackers out of position. If the other team ain’t blitzing and are still beating you then you have to find another answer.

British Bronco - January 21, 2012 reply

Check out Ninkovich then

He was living in the backfield. A simple screen to his side would have been devastating and slowed his motor down considerably. Now, make no mistake the Pats would have adjusted almost immediately had McCoy started screening but he would have had at least 2 or 3 successful plays to build from. McCoy was literally playing checkers in a game of chess. Bellichick is the master of taking away your strengths and then matching wits with your adjustments in real time. McCoy never made him adjust from his original gameplan.

asinsoin - January 21, 2012 reply

Yeah you are right - just re-watched the 1st half.

That was depressing – the things I do for MHR :)

Pats blitzed (5 players) 7 times on Denver passing plays – that was over 50%. That’s a very agressive approach and yes now I see it a few screens might have made them think twice.

Won’t bother with the second half – the game was out of control by then and your point is proven.

One thing that did strike me was how well when they saw it was run the Pats defenders played the outside contain.

In McCoy’s defence most of our 1st down runs in the first half were pretty successful.

British Bronco - January 21, 2012 reply

The team is good at racking up rushing yards...

but they don’t go anywhere. We led the league in rushing and had 5 TDs from our running backs.

That’s not productive to me. McCoy and Fox should know better than to strut around like they had a great run game when it produced 5 TDs all year (Tebow doesn’t count IMO)

AlwaysRightSometimes - January 23, 2012 reply

With an offense that uses the QB's ability to run as a weapon, you can't discount the rushing TDs from TT

It is what made the offense much better in the red zone this year than in 2010.

DE_BroncoFan - January 23, 2012 reply

Agreed - but when evaluating the production of the 'rushing game,'

I hesitate to throw the QB in there. He shouldn’t have to do that much work. If our ‘rushing game’ is sooooo good, like some believe, when are we forced to make things happen with Tim?

If you want Tim to be a ‘true pocket passer,’ as the coaches do, then they need to make sure that their ‘rushing game’ is productive with the RBs ALONE – not with Tim.

I think Tebow simply made this offense look better than it really is when it comes to the run game.

to follow your chess analogy

McCoy started the game with pawns in the place of bishop and a queen that couldn’t move to the right. I’d argue that he had fewer moves that he was able to make relative to Belicheat, but it could be argued that the Pats had a bunch of pawns in their secondary.

DE_BroncoFan - January 23, 2012 reply

I don't disagree with you, my point was I think that is why other people were giving him so much attention.

ThorpeBroncosfan - January 21, 2012 reply

Thorpe, my comments weren't directed at you buddy.

Just stating that McCoy needs to be evaluated on what he DID have to work with and how he was able to utilize it.

I think he did have the capability of having one of the most UNIQUE offenses in the league, that could have kept defenses off balance on nearly every play… but his designs, play calling, and lack of AWARENESS just weren’t that impressive to me.

Uh Yeah....

Our failing success had nothing to do with other teams figuring out how to beat… NO
Our failing success had nothing to do with limitations or lack of experience…. NO
Our failing success had nothing to do with all the changes this team has gone through recently NO!

You talk like McCoy has had an offense in place, a team that knows what it is doing and McCoy just doesn’t use it effectively. What you fail to realize is that not only do we have the second youngest offensive line in the NFL and a young QB with less than a year as starter. Shannahan to McDaniels to Fox in four years……… HELLO …. Maybe our offense is limited by the fact that NO ONE on our team has any idea what anyone else is able to do. Perhaps after giving them a season together and an offseason to learn we will see a more polished offense. At the very least we all need to just chill about who can or can’t do their job. The only thing you can judge at this point is our players and coaches ability to make something happen in the middle of this mess and on that scale I would say they blew the top off.
Let me be even more clear. The Broncos won games late in the fourth quarter or overtime, just barely winning games thanks to a very stingy defense and a lot of luck, with a fair amount of desire and some Tebow majic mixed in. There really wasn’t anything working on our offense during the win streak, our best offense was defense and special teams.
So, now I have said my piece. I mean no offense to anyone but I don’t think we can judge McCoy at this point having worked for two coaches and with two starting QB’s in two years. Maybe he should be given another year before we decide!!

Sean in Pa. - January 21, 2012 reply

+1

Great post Sean! This is it. What this team needed more than ANYTHING else was some stability in the FO and coaching staff. We were playing with house money this year, and it was great, and the Broncos did some great things….but now we get to see what an entire offseason of planning and workouts can accomplish.

cskilly - January 21, 2012 reply

Please re-read what I wrote Sean... you obviously didn't.

McCoy is to be judged on what HE did or didn’t do. The fact of the matter is that he had more at his disposal than many here at MHR say he had, and he under utilized it – or misutilized it.

And yes Sean, go back and watch the film. Watch the film in those 4th QT comebacks and watch and see what formations we were using and how often we were running/passing.

Then come back and talk to me.

K thanks

let's give McCoy and Tebow

a season bereft of a lockout preceding it and see what happens. I think we’ll be happy with the results :) This is Pietro Positive, over and out!

AlwaysRightSometimes - January 23, 2012 reply

Heh

The fact of the matter is that he had more at his disposal than many here at MHR say he had, and he under utilized it – or misutilized it.

So basically you want to argue opinion. No thanks. You had your say and I had mine. I disagree with the above statement. We can discuss next season when we will see if they open up the playbook and execute plays better. You may be right, but I don’t think we can make a definitive statement that McCoy mishandled the offense.

Sean in Pa. - January 22, 2012 reply

Running 23 of 24 first downs in one game

is mishandling an offense to me. We’re not talking about drawing up something that hasn’t been done before bud. This is about utilizing what you have, ie, screen passes, spread sets, etc.

As for opinion… when you have something like the 25th offense in scoring, you can bet that EVERYONE needs to get better… IE, Mike McCoy.

RE: "Tebow’s arm carried us during that win streak, go back and look at the games."

What????

I disagree with that, along with your simplistic hindsight critique of McCoy/Fox. To say a below 50% passer, carried us with his arm, defies logic – as well as what I saw on the field. l also disagree that our playcalling was unacceptable. We made the playoffs with a far far below average NFL passer at QB and a well below average defense.

What most needs to improve is not McCoy or Fox. I’d rank most field positions as more in need of improvement than either coach, by far. And the position most in need of improvement, if the Broncos are to be consistent winners going forward, is at QB; in part because that is the most important position, but also because none of our current QBs has demonstrated the ability to make/execute quick decisions on the field. Tebow is a great running QB, but unless he improves dramatically at decison making, footwark, releasing the ball quickly, and accuracy, he will not be a top NFL QB. I hope he does so, but that will not be easy, since he has been successful until now by doing what he does best. So he is far behind developing the typical skills that make top NFL QBs successful – and can those skills be developed enough at this stage of Tebow’s career???

I am not saying Tebow needs to develop all those skills to the degree of Brady/Brees/Mannings. No way will he ever develop a typical NFL short quick throwing release; so he will need to develop his decision making and accuracy to a very high level and then his running and leadership skills can take him to a high level. He needs to go a very long way in decision making and accuracy first!

cohiker - January 21, 2012 reply

Cohiker... how many touchdowns did the offense account for aside from Tebow?

The RBs had 5 touchdowns bro. FIVE.
Tebow, his legs, and his arm carried the offense in point production.

If you’d actually go back and watch the film of those 4th QT comebacks, you will see that Tebow’s ARM carried us… not our rushing game. I’m not suggesting that the defense didn’t do a great job in those games, but my post was inregard to Mike McCoy and the offense.

You’re throwing 50% passer out there like Tebow is a turn-over machine, when up until the second to last game I think he had something like 12 passing TDs to 2 INTs. So don’t give me this BS that McCoy just couldn’t make it work.

McCoy is responsible for HIS CALLS, just as Tebow is responsible for his throws. Ultimately, Mike McCoy had MUCH MORE he could have utilized than he did.

Like I said, we didn’t throw a single screen pass in the last 3 games… That is unacceptable. You don’t abandon what helped you win games. We also didn’t run a 5 WR set during those last few losses. THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE.

Blame Tebow all you want – but that has nothing to do with him.

I realize they were not enjoyable from a Broncos perspective, but how about watching the first 3+ quarters too?

How many points did the Broncos score in those games? Who was leading the Broncos offense in the first three quarters?

The come back wins were exciting. Me thinks you were blinded by that excitement (and/or worship of Tebow) and are unable to understand there were lots of reasons for those wins – and that Tebow’s arm (and overall deficiencies as a passer) was the primary reason we were a very low scoring team and TRAILING in those games, until his running (mostly, plus a few 4 qtr throws) helped make those comebacks possible.

I mentioned his low completion percentage as clear evidence of his current deficiency as a passer. But since you brought up turnovers – that is a weakness of Tebow too. Because he takes too long to decide what to do (especially on pass plays), takes too many hits, and has a long slow thowing motion.

cohiker - January 21, 2012 reply

This post was about McCoy - not Tebow, but since you have made it that way...

The first 3 QTs of each game utilized a different offensive scheme than the typical 4th QT did. It wasn’t a ‘miracle’ that was happening, it was Tebow and offense going to a 5 WR Spread, as opposed to the I-Form or Wing formation with 2 WRs that was used the rest of the game.

Tebow did utilize his legs in those comebacks, but if you watch them again you will find that Tebow passed more than he ran.

Again, you are ‘covering for McCoy’ by trying to diminish Tebow. The point of my post, which you clearly didn’t read, was that McCoy had MORE TO WORK WITH than people think he did.

His awareness is very low for an OC. He is slow to adapt, and even slower to utilize what is working from his past.

You can keep making it about Tebow – but McCoy has a lot he needs to improve on.

Also, while McCoy could have called a lot of different plays than he did – do you really continue to think it was because he is stupid, or not creative, or not adaptable, or ?

If Tebow was not good at executing lots of things in practice (as we have heard lots of evidence from other MHR posters), perhaps McCoy was calling the plays that gave us the best chance to win – given not just Tebow’s limitations, but the strengths/limitations of our other offensive players. And we did win – more than we should have – given the talent on the field.

But you think the problem is McCoy/Fox, even though several professionals running NFL teams thought enough of McCoy to interview him for a promotion????

cohiker - January 21, 2012 reply

cheaters

With Josh helping and Belechicks defensive schemes, they watched and broke down all the plays the Broncos ran this year and knew when they were going to do what most the time. They knew if you stayed on top of our receivers they couldn’t get open either. Elway knows this and he’ll get a new quarterback that can thread the needle, or a receiver that can’t be covered in my opinion.

Baghdad - January 21, 2012 reply

If McCoy is staying on then quit your bellyaching and get on board cause now is the time where this offense has to grow. The off season is where a young offence makes the most improvement.

always broncs - January 21, 2012 via mobile reply

Hurray for continuity!

Give McCoy credit for getting us to the playoffs, instead continuously banging his had against a wall trying to stick a square Tebow into round hole. Quit bitchin’, the guy is young and talented and will continue to improve, and so will Tebow. Last thing we need is a revolving door of OCs, with a young quarterback. If our O doesn’t improve next year, then by all means show him the door.

atwater27rules - January 21, 2012 reply

Will not be the same next year.

Does anyone really believe that John Elway is going to sit back and not have a qb that can pass from the pocket? He knows that the long term success for the Broncos depends on the qb being able to connect on at least 55% of passes. This means that Tebow will have to “improve” (footwork, better reads, quicker decision-making—including going to the short checkdown receiver when the downfield receivers are covered). If Tebow is the starter after camp, then yes, the Broncos will still have the read-option and pitchout in the playbook, but we won’t see McCoy calling run, run, pass 95% of the time. As Tebow develops, the playbook will open up for him. Look to the Broncos going to a modified West Coast offense, including no huddle offense—Steve Young is the best model for Tebow.

showtime01 - January 21, 2012 reply

it may surprise you

but Steve Young went through these exact same struggles. NFL Network showed America’s Game: the 88 49ers, and when Steve Young played, the Niners’ offense struggled mightily and Bill Walsh said Young only succeeded when he did because of his tremendous athleticism, where have we heard that before? Tebow will be great, just like Steve Young, I’m sure of it! Plus, Tebow had his epic TD run against the Jets and Young had one just like it against the Vikings