Good morning, Broncos Country!
Last week in this space, I talked about the “show me” approach from Vic Fangio.
The comparison thrown out was the clean slate for the Denver Broncos to show Fangio and his staff what they can and cannot do. As I was talking about that with Adam Malnati on the MHR Radio Podcast (iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher), I realized it wasn’t just a fresh canvas for the players but also for Fangio.
As I told Adam, the new Broncos staff is able to see what the players do well and what they need help with. By not watching anything on their new players, Fangio and his staff don’t have preconceived notions on what they think is a strength or weakness. By seeing it in real time, they’re able to put forth a plan that best helps the player and the team.
While the clean slate is exciting and fun for the players, it’s even more so for the coaches. That’s what makes great coaches and teachers.
“Any time you get new coaching staff everything is so new,” Broncos tight end Jeff Heuerman told the media this week at OTAs. “They’ve never been on the field with you and you’ve never been on the field with them. Coach Fangio is awesome. I really like him and how he handles himself. We’re just excited to get this thing rolling. It’s only Day 2. The 13th training camp practice, we’ll really start to figure out each other. You get into the grind of that and stuff. We’re Day 2 of OTAs so we’ve got a lot to still put in and go from there.”
The #Broncos have started OTAs, so @AdamMalnati16 & I highlight what's stood out. We're also joined by @docllv to go over the Chris Harris contract drama, & the epic @MileHighReport Radio Podcast rants make a triumphant return!
— Ian St. Clair (@IanStClair) May 17, 2019
@ApplePodcas: https://t.co/9fo8qtZoYQ
Added edge Von Miller: “What did coach Fangio say (laughing)? Whatever coach Fangio said, I’m right there with him. We can learn stuff from it, that’s what he said. We can definitely learn stuff from it. You’d rather make all of the mistakes here in the spring rather than make all of the mistakes in training camp. A lot of guys have different takes, but our coach is a great coach. Whatever his mindset is about it, that’s mine and that’s the mindset I’m going to trickle down to my teammates.”
Even if the success isn’t seen right away, you can finally see a foundation in place that will lead to it in the seasons to come.
A 2014 redux?
You may have missed this great quote from Heuerman earlier this week because of the “mentor” nonsense that he was also asked about. But it highlights why fans are right to feel excited about Joe Flacco.
“I wouldn’t say he’s a step ahead, he’s probably six years ahead,” Heuerman said of Flacco in Rich Scangarello’s offense. “He’s been around. He’s seen a lot of football and played a lot of football. Like I was saying, his experience factor is huge for us. To have a guy calling plays that’s been around — what year is he on? Twelve? Yeah, he’s got a lot of experience on a lot of guys. That’s huge at the quarterback position. There are a lot of us that really appreciate that and it helps kind of the flow of the offense and getting everybody where they need to be and what they need to do.”
What should aid in that excitement is the success Flacco had in a similar offense in 2014. That was the season Gary Kubiak was the Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator and almost (should have) beaten the New England Patriots in the AFC divisional playoffs.
“There are a lot of similarities,” Flacco said. “The good thing about that is there is a lot of similarities with how the plays are called and the lingo. I think it’s obviously a little bit different, but I think at the core there are a lot of similarities and a lot of things that carry over.”
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