Jerry Rosburg had his first press conference as the Denver Broncos’ interim coach on Wednesday, and its safe to say that Coach Rosburg made quite the impression.
It immediately became clear that Rosburg was well-spoken and thoughtful figure, as he hosted one of the more thorough and lengthy media sessions of the Broncos season, during which he laid out a fairly compelling case about what he can bring to the table as the team’s head coach.
“These next two games, I want this team to play like how I envision a football team playing,” Coach Rosburg said. “I want us to be offensively, defensively, and [on] special teams [playing] the way I envision NFL football being played. I’m going to try and do that in a very short period of time. The good news is, that we’re already heading in that direction. This is where this club is going, so I feel that’s something that will happen organically”
That statement was relatively surprising. Rosburg’s statements make it clear that he’s interested in making changes, and in some cases, dramatic changes, which is fairly atypical for the interim head coach, who often feel like a sort of substitute teacher, merely shepherding the team towards the season’s end.
Rosburg appears to want to make this team better now.
“We have had to make changes. The changes in the staff that we made have been my decisions,” Rosburg said of the decision to part with offensive line coach Butch Barry and special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes.
“I know special teams,” Rosburg continued. “I’ve been coaching special teams for a long time. We weren’t good enough. We were 32nd in the league in one of the metrics that I follow, and, if I’m not mistaken, there are 32 teams in this league. So, that had to change. And the only way it was going to change would be for me to insert myself right into the middle of that thing. We just did that this morning, and I understand players build relationships with coaches, because I have lasting, meaningful relationships with men that I’ve worked with over these many years, so I respect the fact that players would have relationships with coaches that I’ve released, but we’re making these changes for the good of this team, so we can win two football games. And, with regard to Butch [Barry], I have great respect for Butch, and affection. He’s a good man and, really, a fine coach. I made that move because I wanted to move in a different direction with the offensive line. I wanted to make an impactful move with the offensive line. We need to get better there to help all aspects of it, and I made that decision, and I take full responsibility for it. I’ve talked to Butch and I’ve talked to the players and it’s something we’re going to move forward from at this point, and that’s the nature of the National Football League. We’re trying to win.”
Ultimately, the decisions to move on from Stukes and Barry aren’t surprising ones, but it is fairly surprising that Rosburg was given so much power by the organization so quickly. That’s an aspect that prospective head coaching candidates could find appealing.
While Rosburg takes over the special teams responsibilities, Ben Steele will take over coaching the offensive lines.
Now, it seems unlikely that the Coach Rosburg era lasts long in Denver, but if he keeps this up, it should at least be memorable.
