Broncos' OC Pat Shurmur Defends his Short-of-the-Sticks Passing Calls on Third Down

Should the guillotine fall on the Denver Broncos coaching staff come Black Monday, the prospect of that day of reckoning isn’t scaring them out of presenting a united front. First, it was head coach Vic Fangio imploring his receivers to turn throws short of the sticks into gutsy first-down conversions, and on Thursday, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur echoed that when he appeared to ask for more from that group.

“There are times in longer yardage situations where they don’t allow you to throw the ball past the sticks so you’re in a situation where you have to catch in and run for it,” Shurmur said. “You’ve seen this year—earlier in the year we had that scenario. The middle of the year not so much, then that popped up again last Sunday.”

That sounds like an admission that the Broncos are still struggling to find something that works in the passing game, but pick any fan out of the crowd and they could point to the same problem. At the core of the issue is how passive the Broncos' offense has been all season long.

That predictable brand of offense wasn't manifested at some point mid-season when the Broncos started to regress as Shurmur is claiming. Denver has consistently failed to push the ball past the sticks which has led to opposing defenses being able to anticipate what's coming on first and second down, and rally to the ball with impunity on third. 

Injuries certainly haven’t helped matters and you can add losing speedster wideout KJ Hamler to a season-ending knee injury into what has become a who's who of 2021 Broncos casualties. Perhaps Shurmur is just a little too long in the tooth to come up with anything creative to scheme the Broncos' receivers open a bit more effectively.

For now, the plan seems to be to rely on making the run after the catch in order to move the chains. Going on the basis of last week’s evidence, Shurmur clearly wants to see individual effort improve above all else.

“There were a couple of other times—because there are times when you have to throw it below the sticks to get a completion and then you’ve got to run for it,” Shurmur said. “Each one of those plays you’re talking about we had options past the sticks that maybe were covered, and then there were a couple of those opportunities where it just didn’t get done.”

It's going to take a minor miracle for Shurmur to save his bacon with the Broncos. Cruising for another playoff-less season, insiders expect to see changes on the coaching staff. Even if Fangio was to be spared, it would likely come with the condition of making a change on offense. 

Fans can dare to dream that a more vertical passing approach can be in place in time for next season and maybe a new quarterback to execute it.