It is last Saturday, 18 hours before kickoff against
the Chiefs,
and the Broncos gather for a meeting in
a suburban Denver
hotel, where they will spend the
night. For the offense, the
next 30 minutes will be
particularly significant. For the final
time this
group will be reviewing "The Script," that
mysterious, ever-changing list of 15 plays the Broncos use to
orchestrate the opening part of every game.
If each contest is, in reality, a weekly term paper
for the
Denver offense, then The Script serves as a
thesis. It helps to
energize both players and
coaches and forces the team to
focus on what plays
should work best against this next
opponent. This is
the feel-good part of the game plan; if The
Script
is effective, usually the plan winds up working well,
too.
On this night, the theme is two-edged: Be patient,
and protect
the ball. The Broncos know their
division rival intimately. The
Chiefs' defense is
physical and resourceful. It rarely
surrenders big
plays, so Shanahan and Gary Kubiak, his
offensive
coordinator, emphasize the need for long drives. And
they also know, because they will be starting reserve
quarterback Gus Frerotte instead of the injured
Brian Griese,
the team must guard even more than
usual against turnovers.
"We've got some long calls for Gus (in the huddle),
and you
guys must listen and help him out and get
out of that huddle
efficiently," Kubiak tells them.
"We've got to stay on schedule. We want to stay out
of
third-and-12 or -14. We need lots of third-and-5
or -6s. And
it's crucial we protect the ball. They
are one of the best
ball-stripping teams we play. No
early mistakes."
This is the first year that Kubiak has called the
Bronco plays.
Shanahan, one of the game's elite
offensive minds, gave up
those duties, hoping it
would enable his longtime assistant to
emerge from
his boss' shadow and help him get a head
coaching
job. But this has been an especially tough week for
Kubiak, who doubles as quarterbacks coach. Griese had been
outstanding in the first three games, the
highest-rated passer in
the league, but he hurt a
shoulder the week before against
Oakland and can't
throw. The veteran Frerotte joined the club
in the
offseason as a free agent and still isn't deeply versed in
the Broncos' intricate offense.
Kubiak has confidence Frerotte can perform well
enough to
win, but this is the first time they have
been through The
Script together. The coaches have
strived to make sure they
call plays that will allow
him to excel. They want to make him
feel comfortable
quickly, but they warn him constantly not to
force
any passes. And most important, they don't want him to
feel he must carry the team by himself.
In the meeting room, Kubiak slowly works through The
Script
play by play. Shanahan sits in an
audio-visual booth located
between the offensive and
defensive rooms. He runs a control
panel that allows
him to listen to both rooms. He turns up the
volume
as an assistant puts up individual diagrams of each
play on a screen and Kubiak uses a laser pointer to discuss the
intricate elements, emphasizing adjustments in
routes, reads,
audibles and blocking schemes. Most
of his reminders are
directed at Frerotte, who sits
by himself in the middle of the
room, feet propped
up on a chair. Frerotte nods his head
frequently.
Teammates follow along in their playbook; some
take
notes. None takes his gaze away from the screen.
The first two plays will be runs, giving Frerotte
time to settle
down and disperse some of his
adrenaline. But Kubiak also
doesn't want the players
to think the coaches are afraid to let
Frerotte
throw. So the next three calls will be passes. The
review is rapid, filled with the jargon of the Broncos' offensive
play-calling. The adjustments even on a simple
running play
are mind-boggling. It is this attention
to detail that necessitates
the hours of meetings
every week, both for players and
coaches.
By the time the review is finished, Kubiak wants
every player
stimulated by The Script. "We've got
touches for everyone,
the receivers, the tight end,
the fullback, the running back," he
says. "They
can't sit there and say, 'I've got nothing to do for
the first five plays.' They get involved immediately." Kubiak
expects his players to leave the meeting and focus
on those
first 15.
"Gus, it is your turn," Kubiak finally tells
Frerotte. "This is
what you are here for, buddy."
By the time Frerotte and the offense touch the ball
Sunday, the
Chiefs lead, 7-0. The Broncos begin as
had been scripted,
calling two straight running
plays for Mike Anderson, who
again is starting for
Terrell Davis, who is just coming back
from an
injury. The Script now calls for a pass, H 2 Smash 'Y'
China; Frerotte connects with wide receiver
Rod Smith for 23
yards. Kubiak, sitting in an
upstairs booth, is relieved. His new
quarterback has
passed his first test.
For the next seven plays, Kubiak stays within the
framework,
if not the order, of The Script. No
reason to change. He
bypasses one run call that
doesn't seem suited for the
defensive schemes being
employed by the Chiefs. And once he
uses the fourth
play on The Script, he bounces around a bit
among
the listed plays, starting to respond to the feel of the
game.
Indeed, The Script works so well on this first
possession that
by the 11th snap, the Broncos are in
the red zone, with a
first-and-goal at the Kansas
City 6 after a 15-yard completion
to tight end
Dwayne Carswell. Now Kubiak leaves The Script
and
turns to a prioritized list of plays Denver wants to call
inside the 20. Kansas City stuffs two runs, and
Frerotte is
pressured on third down and throws away
a pass toward
fullback Howard Griffith. The Chiefs
are giving Denver some
new third-down blitzes; they
are trying to unnerve Frerotte.
The Broncos have to
settle for a 22-yard field goal despite a
14-play,
79-yard drive. At least they produced the long
possession Kubiak wanted.
Shanahan first became enamored of The Script when he
was a
graduate assistant at Oklahoma. In 1975, he
attended a football
coaches convention in Chicago.
Bill Walsh was a guest
speaker; his topic was The
Script. To the young Shanahan,
Walsh's lecture was
mesmerizing. It all made perfect sense,
coming as it
did from an acknowledged creative force. Here
was a
way to introduce a theme to your players, to crystallize
and summarize your offensive thinking in 15 plays,
to throw
both your best and your most reasoned plays
at the defense.
"I can remember the moment to this day," says
Shanahan,
sitting in his office, 48 hours before
Sunday's kickoff. "I was
this young kid, just
getting started. What Bill said really caught
my
attention. It was so reasonable, so intelligent."
Shanahan eventually wound up working for the 49ers,
where
he served as offensive coordinator for three
years, perfecting
not only the nuances of Walsh's
West Coast philosophies but
the intricacies of The
Script. It has become the absolute of the
Denver
game plan. The Broncos wouldn't dare leave the locker
room without it.
"We use it because it works," says Shanahan. "It's
been
proven over time. It's not fail-safe, for sure.
Sometimes, when
a team comes out and defenses you
entirely different than you
expected, you have to
acknowledge it and change. And out
goes The Script.
But the vast majority of the time, you are able
to
stay with it and use it."
The Broncos' Script always has 15 plays, all
predetermined
and written down on their game-plan
sheet that the offensive
coaches carry on the
sideline. But as the first series against the
Chiefs
demonstrated, that doesn't mean each of their first 15
offensive plays in every game is on The Script. The
coaches
move off The Script according to the game
situation. Inside
the opponents' 20, they will
switch to their best red-zone calls.
On short
yardage, particularly on third down, they will move
to another set of calls. If they are backed up inside their 10,
they have a specific list for that problem.
Depending on
third-down yardage, they have yet
another set of calls.
But as much as the contest allows, they will
methodically push
through the 15 plays. They will
start each series picking up
The Script from where
they left off the previous possession,
occasionally
skipping a play or two if their personnel on the
field has changed or if Shanahan and Kubiak feel a later play is
absolutely perfect for that particular occasion. Yet
it is the
discipline that comes with The Script that
encourages
Shanahan to remain with it if at all
possible.
"If we follow it and don't get off of it at a
moment's notice, it
serves to break our tendencies,"
he says.
So let's say the Broncos face a second-and-15. The
next play
on The Script is a run. The defense likely
would expect a
pass, but Denver will stick with the
run. And if the defense
blitzes and the Broncos
catch them right and their inside
blocks work, it
could lead to a big play. And opponents who
break
down the tape afterward have to wonder what Denver
will call the next time in the same circumstances.
In the opener this season against the Rams, the
Broncos
decided not to risk a big mistake on the
first series in the noisy
Trans World Dome. So The
Script called for an initial three
running plays. On
the third one, they needed 5 yards for a first
down.
The Rams, with reason, anticipated pass. And blitzed.
Which the Broncos anticipated. Their scripted run, a
sweep by
Davis, got outside the containment and
gained 12 yards. And
the crowd quieted noticeably,
allowing the Broncos to
successfully move to the
next phase of The Script, which
included two
straight Griese completions. They wound up
scoring,
just as they scored on their first possessions in earlier
games against both the Falcons and the Raiders.
Besides this anti-tendency plus, The Script serves
other major
functions for the Broncos:
It allows the coaches to gain insight into how the
defense
will react to various formations and
personnel packages. For
the Chiefs, Kubiak had
tossed up 15 different alignments in
those 15 plays
-- "every formation in the freaking book" --
hoping
to see every check-off and change Kansas City has
planned for the Broncos. After each series, the offensive
coaches receive a packet of pictures showing two
pictures of
each play that was just run. One picture
shows the snap, the
second is a second after the
snap. They study these pictures
and determine how
the Chiefs reacted. Even if the particular
play on
The Script didn't work, the coaches can make
adjustments with a particular formation that they can exploit
later in the game, either because of a weakness in
the
defensive structure or because of a particular
defender who
they believe is vulnerable.
"What we see in the first 15 goes a long way to
helping us be
successful in the third and fourth
quarters," says Kubiak. "We
go in thinking the
defense will react in certain ways to what
we are
doing. Then we, in turn, react to how they react. So
even if we don't get any scores because of The Script, or even
if we don't do much, it is still extremely valuable
to us. That's
what people don't understand."
Secondly, it forces the coaches to sum up their
game-planning into a neat package. They had 60
passes in the
Kansas City game plan. The Script
contained the eight very
best of those passes.
Shanahan doesn't want to come out in a
grab-bag
approach, where you have dozens of plays ready to
go
and just pick and choose at random.
"It's a matter of specific organization," he says.
"It makes you
wrap things up and focus your
thinking. If you can't verbalize
what you want to
do, it probably won't work." This is the
climax of
intense study. And here are our results of all our
study; let's see how they work.
Most important, it forces the players to focus on
the task at
hand. By telling them the first 15 plays
ahead of time, they are
given time to study their
assignments on each, including every
potential
adjustment. So, surprises should be eliminated. And
that should eliminate mistakes.
"If you are right about the plays on The Script,"
says Kubiak,
"you should really reduce your mental
problems. I have a
group of guys who are studying
those 15 plays like there is no
end to them. We
shouldn't have any mistakes in the first
quarter or
in the first half. It makes the players very
accountable for those plays."
Indeed, The Script is intended to give the Broncos
control
over the game. Since they also script the
first eight plays of
the second half (that handiwork
is done at intermission),
Shanahan and Kubiak are
dictating a minimum of 23 plays out
of about 60 to
65 a game. Toss in those predetermined calls in
various specialty situations -- short yardage, red zone,
third-and-long -- and they could have orchestrated
50 percent
of their play selections before the
opening kickoff.
That eliminates a huge chunk of guesswork, and it
forces the
Broncos to stay with their elite play
selections. That is one
reason the Broncos annually
have one of the league's best
offenses.
Before their second possession, Kubiak reviews The
Script.
Davis, who is coming off a bad ankle sprain,
looked good
enough in practice Friday to get playing
time in this game. It's
now his turn to come in.
Kubiak also likes No. 8, a waggle
pass that should
work.
The Broncos start the series at their own 38, still
down by
four points. Kubiak calls for the waggle
play, Waggle Right 'Z'
Out. Receiver
Ed McCaffrey goes in motion to his right and
runs an
out pattern. Smith, split wide left, runs an in pattern.
Frerotte rolls slightly to his right and fires back
to Smith
downfield. The completion nets 14 yards.
Then Kubiak calls 19 HO Strong. Griffith is
split to the left,
and Smith and McCaffrey are set
right. Davis takes the
handoff and cuts to his left.
The Broncos catch the Chiefs
in just the right
defense -- "Those are the times," says
Griese, "when
you get to the line and say, 'Golly gosh,
we've got
them'" --and Davis moves untouched through the
secondary. He finally is stopped after a 24-yard gain. Two
plays later, Davis sprints for another nine and a
first down
at the Chiefs' 10. But again, the
Broncos' red-zone calls
don't work. Even with the
aid of a 5-yard penalty, they
can't get into the end
zone. They thought they could
overwhelm the Chiefs
with runs inside the 5, but Kansas
City balks and
stops three straight rushes. So, despite a
nine-play, 60-yard march, Denver again winds up with only
three points.
The Script is formalized on Friday. That morning, two
days
before kickoff, Kubiak and Alex Gibbs, the line
coach,
meet. Gibbs, the overseer of the NFL's most
consistent
and dangerous running game, gives Kubiak
his list of the
best running plays for the Chiefs'
game. They talk about his
reasons, then Kubiak takes
those eight plays along with the
eight passes he
believes will be most effective, and he
works until
8:45 a.m. on a chronological order. He places
them
according to how he wants to exploit the Chiefs, and
adds various formations from which they will be run. He
then gives The Script to Shanahan and heads for two
hours
of meetings.
When he returns to his office, The Script is on his
desk.
Kubiak wonders every week how his boss will
grade his
handiwork. Sometimes, he has been
15-for-15, other times
not even 50 percent. On this
day, Shanahan has made
three changes. He meets with
Kubiak and Gibbs to
persuade them on his
suggestions. They agree; after all, this
is Shanahan
making the suggestions. Once practice is
finished,
Frerotte receives the entire play-call sheet, which
includes The Script. The quarterback then takes home the
call sheet and begins even more intense study that
began
with the introduction of the game plan on
Wednesday.
Still, despite all this preparation, The Script
sometimes just
doesn't work. During Shanahan's last
season in San
Francisco, three opponents scrapped
their normal defenses
and drastically changed their
schemes for the 49ers.
Shanahan had to toss out The
Script after a few plays and
regroup.
"The year we won our second Super Bowl," says Kubiak,
"we played San Diego and they came at us with stuff
we
didn't expect. We went to the shotgun and almost
had to
playground it. When that happens, you have to
be honest
as a coach and tell your players what is
going on. Then you
try to find a way for them to
win. And that day we did."
But on this Sunday, The Script isn't enough. It has
been
extremely effective against the Chiefs. Serving
as the basis
of the first two possessions, and using
all but three plays on
the list of 15, it set up two
long drives, without any
turnovers, leading to two
red-zone opportunities. But the
Broncos couldn't
fully capitalize on either. The two field
goals gave
them an empty feeling, and gave the Chiefs
confidence.
The Script gave Frerotte a chance to settle in. But
he
seemed rusty and unsure of his decision-making as
the
game wore on, and hesitated too much on his
releases. His
two fourth-quarter turnovers -- a
fumble off a sack at
midfield and an interception on
his team's last possession --
coupled with a
turnover by Smith allowed the Chiefs to
rally from a
22-14 third-period deficit to a 23-22 victory.
In
their first three games, with Griese at quarterback,
Denver had just one turnover--and no interceptions.
"We did what we wanted to early except score
touchdowns," says Kubiak. "When you work that hard
and
don't get touchdowns, it serves as a downer. It
affected us
the rest of the game."
The theme of the term paper had been successful; the
Broncos just failed to write a winning conclusion.
Senior writer Paul Attner covers the NFL for The
Sporting News.