Had Mike Shanahan decided to apply his creative writing skills in another field, he might have been yelling for rewrite.
For most of his Broncos’ coaching career, the Shanahan script was Spielberg-like, a highly touted, much-anticipated work of art. Only Shanahan unveiled his plays before much larger audiences.
“They’re not very highly touted right now,” Shanahan said.
Until this season, no NFL coach, save way-back-then Greasy Neal, more consistently produced first-quarter leads than had Shanahan in his first 11 seasons as the Broncos’ coach. And Greasy, the former Philadelphia Eagles coach, would have been second if Shanahan were allowed to count his three seasons of script-writing as the San Francisco 49ers’ offensive coordinator from 1992-94.
This year, there have been no first-quarter leads because the Broncos have no first-quarter points.
Four games, four first-quarters, zero points.
Naturally, such a drastic point correction focuses attention on the script. As has been well-publicized, Shanahan scripts the first 15 plays, give or take, of every game. Never did the script evolve into such beautiful, first-quarter offense as the 1998 season, when John Elway and Bubby Brister led the Broncos to their second consecutive Super Bowl title.
The Broncos scored a team-record 144 first-quarter points that season. This year’s team has 144 points to go. Eventually, everybody has a dud. What “1941” was to Steven Spielberg’s box office returns, 2006 has been to the Shanahan script.
“I take full responsibility,” Shanahan said. “It just takes a play or two. We’re not far away. We’ve just got to keep on working and good things will happen.”
That Shanahan takes blame is admirable, but blog and barroom chatter wonder if the departure of long-time offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak has had an impact, if not on the play-calling then in the performance of quarterback Jake Plummer.
Kubiak is now the Houston Texans’ head coach, replaced in Denver by Mike Heimerdinger.
“For many reasons I miss Kubiak,” Plummer said. “I don’t think any of them are lack of production in the first quarter. We just have to go out and do it.”
Even if Shanahan has always dictated his offense, the poor offensive starts have raised the possibility that perhaps the coach has yet to find his play-calling rhythm with his new right-hand man.
“I’ve been in the coaching family for a long time and I know everybody wants it pretty, but the bottom line, at the end of the day, is it in the left-hand column?” Heimerdinger said. “And it has been. If we keep winning, I don’t think anybody will look back at the end of the year and say, ‘Those first four games, they didn’t do anything in the first quarter.”‘
Mixed data shows NFL games are not won -or lost – on first quarters alone. Arizona and Green Bay have two of the most productive first-quarter offenses this year, yet are a combined 2-8. Then again, Seattle and Chicago have been starting fast and they are a combined 8-1.
Conversely, many teams who start poorly often reach unsatisfactory conclusions. A notable exception is the 3-1 Broncos.
“We might go four straight weeks and score 14 points in the first quarter and no one will worry about it,” Plummer said. “Or it might be a year where we struggle in the first quarter. We’ve been putting up some points in the fourth quarter. We’ve been producing late, which to me is more important.”
Plummer remembers how last year the Broncos often built large early leads, only to struggle to hang on near the end. The issue then was a second-half letdown.
This year, Plummer has played well late in victories against Kansas City and Baltimore and has an 89.9 passer rating after the third quarter. But it’s those zero points and a 42.5 rating in the first quarter that draws concern.
“Jake is a little like their defense,” said John Madden, the Hall of Fame coach who will broadcast the Bronco-Raiders game Sunday night on NBC. “You can get some things going against their defense but you can’t score. Jake is similar to that or the opposite of that in that he has problems getting things going and then he comes through and wins the game at the end. I’m impressed with that.”
But about that first quarter. Has the problem been the plays? Or the players executing the plays? The answer may be a little of both.
In the opener against St. Louis, the Rams’ defense may have blown up the script by taking the rollout from Plummer. Since then, the script, anticipating the opponents’ game plan, has seemingly given the boot to the Plummer bootleg.
Still, St. Louis might have been different had rookie Tony Scheffler caught a wide-open pass instead of losing sight of it and having it bounce off his helmet.
Heimerdinger said all first-quarter problems can be resolved if the team can execute on third downs.
“Sometimes things don’t always go exactly like you thought it would early, which is why third downs are so important,” Heimerdinger said. “You can stay out there and get those adjustments made faster. But if you’re going three-and-out, three-and-out, it’s hard to make adjustments.”
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com.
Best in first
The NFL’s highest- and lowest-scoring first-quarter teams this season:
Team-Avg pts. (Record)
1. Seattle-9.5 (3-1)
2. Arizona-9.0 (1-4)
3. Dallas-8.5 (2-2)
4. Green Bay-7.4 (1-4)
5. Chicago-6.6 (5-0)
29. Cleveland-1.2 (1-4)
30. Miami-0.6 (1-4)
31. Denver-0.0 (3-1)
31. NYJ-0.0 (2-3)
