Last season the Broncos defense began the season in a dominant fashion, preventing teams from reaching the end zone. They finished the season 8th in points allowed, with 305 and 14th in yards per game.
The offense on the other hand was 17th in points scored and 21st in yards per game.
Mike Shanahan is in near total control of the offense for this football team. In fact, the Broncos did not even have an offensive coordinator in 2006. He passed blame onto Jake Plummer halfway through the season and switched to Jay Cutler with the stated justification that Cutler gave the team the best chance to win. That didn't occur, and the team had the same offensive short coming.
In response to the team missing the playoffs, the organization decided to take the following steps in regards to the coaching staff:
1) Fire defensive coordinator Larry Coyer
2) Fire defensive line coach Andre Patterson
3) Extend Mike Shanahan's contract three years.
Once again reality was ignored and another defensive coordinator took the blame for Shanahan's inability to manage games.
How do the Broncos stack up this year in the aforementioned categories?
Defense:
28th in points allowed (227)
26th in yards per game.
Offense:
28th in points scored (126) -100 DIFFERENTIAL
10th in yards per game
The difference in the offensive rankings of points scored to yards gained is a simple one to explain. The Broncos have terrible special teams and horrible red zone play calling.
The response to last year's offensive problems was to fire the defensive coaching staff. As a result, the Broncos have their worst defense in recent memory.
