The grand scheme

Broncos staff, coaches and players devote incredible hours and resources into providing a winning game plan By Adam Schefter Denver Post Sports Writer Two Denver coaches, offensive assistant Pat McPherson and defensive assistant Steve Watson, spend weeks breaking down every formation and personnel grouping from every situation of every play of the past six games every opponent has played. For each play, the two assistant coaches detail an astounding 30 categories, to better understand the opponent's tendencies. Assistant coaches secretary Dixie Greer enters the information into Denver's computer database and gets results only a true mastermind could spit out. A look at 284 of San Francisco's defensive plays shows that, on second downs between 1 and 6 yards, the 49ers play zone defense 52 percent of the time and man-to-man 48 percent of the time. On third downs between 5 and 7 yards, the 49ers play zone 66 percent of the time and man 34 percent. On and on it goes. Every situation San Francisco's defense has been in is spelled out over 100 pages. Shanahan is told how mind-boggling this is. "Oh," he said matter of factly, holding open his playbook, "I haven't gotten started yet." Not a simple plan Within each game plan is a look at the advance work done, the video produced and the brain power Shanahan, offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes and their army of assistants expend. It is hardly a simple plan. Denver quarterback Brian Griese said the game plan the Broncos prepared for their season opener against the St. Louis Rams was the most complex he ever witnessed. Tight end Shannon Sharpe said he did not remember the Broncos' game plans being this complicated when he left Denver after the 1999 season. Anyone looking at a Broncos game plan could be easily overwhelmed. "You wouldn't understand one thing," Broncos wide receiver Scottie Montgomery said, laughing. "You could give someone 10 minutes to look it over and tell them to go out on the field and line up in the right spot, and they could never do it. Never. They'd have no clue. But that's how it is." Section II - Runs (45 pages)Developing the plan A Denver Broncos game plan is the product of many hours, resources and information:

Video games: Video department produces 750 30-minute tapes - 350 hours of coverage - of Denver's upcoming opponent's past six games. Tendencies: Every formation and personnel grouping for an opponent's past six games is fed into a computer to determine tendencies. The plays: Computer database provides diagrams of Denver's chosen plays. It has about 1,000 running plays and 5,000 passing plays on file. For any given game, the quarterbacks must know more than 200 pass possibilities. The book: A blue binder, divided into 10 detailed sections including 264 pages. Paper chase: 50,000 sheets of paper per week, 800,000 sheets of per season. Itinerary: Road games include a minute-by-minute itinerary of the trip, including seat assignments and team bed check. Cliff's notes: Broncos coach Mike Shanahan transfers the most pertinent information to an oversized color-coded flipcard he carries on the sideline. Denver's attack kicks off with its running game, an amalgamation of each coach's ideas. The largest say, of course, belongs to Shanahan and Kubiak, who study film all day Monday, into Tuesday and begin conjuring up concepts they unveil Sunday. "When I leave the office Monday night," Kubiak said, "I have a pretty good idea in my mind of what I think we should do. I go home, get a night's sleep, come in Tuesday morning and go over my notes so I know I wasn't just tired in what I was seeing the night before. Then by about noon on Tuesday, I'll take a draft of things that I feel good about to (Shanahan)." The Broncos' head coach has been through the same process as Kubiak. Together they compile a list of about 25 running plays with more than 100 ways to implement them. Broncos offensive line coach Rick Dennison enters the rushing plays into the team's computer database, which has about 1,000 running plays on file. It spits out computerized drawings of each play against six defenses San Francisco could run against it. Each becomes a part of the game plan for Denver's players to learn. For the San Francisco game, Denver listed 44 running plays: 21 with two backs, 13 with one back, five in the nickel package, seven in short yardage, three in the goal-line set. Forty of the plays were run out of a specific formation, and four could be run with two formations. It must have worked. Against the 49ers, Denver rushed for a season-high 201 yards. The publishing house

The Broncos' headquarters is as much a publishing house as a training facility. The Broncos go through 10 cases of copying paper per week - 50,000 sheets of paper - to make up 18 game plans for the coaches and 53 for the players. With each coach and player given a new game plan for every Sunday, the Broncos go through 800,000 sheets of paper per season. The two hardest workers at the Broncos' training complex might be the copying machines, which are forced to retire from the team every two seasons. The machines work overtime, running into the night on Monday and Tuesday, and as early as 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, when Greer starts copying game plans for each player to have when he reports to the 9 a.m. team meeting. Section III - Passes (22 pages) Whereas Dennison prints out drawings of running plays, tight ends coach Brian Pariani does it for passing plays. The Broncos' database has about 5,000 passing plays on file. For the San Francisco game, Denver listed 64 passing plays, which could be used out of four or five formations depending on how the defense adjusted. For any given game, Griese has to know more than 200 pass possibilities. Denver Broncos video assistants Mike Mascenik, left, and Steve Boxer prepare a huge amount to tape for each game. At left are the tapes for the Broncos game against Buffalo on Sept. 22. "The game is so meticulous now," said Kubiak, a backup quarterback in Denver from 1983-91. "When I was a player and (Shanahan) was my offensive coordinator, the plays came to us and they were hand drawn. They were good, but different. Nowadays, there are computerized drawings. Every detail, every note. It's just amazing how the game is studied on a daily basis compared to when I played." Evidence comes from the Broncos' video department, which produces 750 30-minute tapes - 375 hours of coverage - of Denver's upcoming opponent each week. Want to see every third-and-2 play San Francisco's offense has run its past six games? Want to see every second-and-9 defense San Francisco has run its past six games? Denver's video department has it all on file. And after each game, the 750 tapes are returned to the department before a new batch of 750 is made up. "Until she passed away a couple of years ago, my grandmother (Theo Judd) would write one form letter every Christmas to send out to the family," said Denver's director of football technology, Kent Erickson. "And each year, she would write in the letter, "Kent's still recording the Broncos' games.' "My family would laugh about it and say to me, "Oh, so when are you going to get a real job?' "

Erickson's department produces the video that is the genesis of every play call. Two weeks ago, on the top bookshelf in Shanahan's office were 75 tapes of every offensive and defensive play San Francisco likely would run. It was no different for games against Buffalo, Baltimore or San Diego. "Coaches," Erickson said, "are tape-watching machines." Bit by bit "There are a lot of things that complicate a game plan, but the key is not to make it complicated," Shanahan said. "We've got a lot of different things to put in, but we've got guys that are smart enough to handle it." Sections IV and V - Nickel runs and nickel passes (five pages, four pages) - Detailed, diagrammed first-, second-, and third-down plays. Section VI - Short-yardage/Goal-line (13 pages) - Detailed, diagrammed third-and-1, thirdand-2 and inside-the-5-yard-line plays. Section VII - Red zone (14 pages) - Detailed, diagrammed plays the Broncos would run inside their 25-, 20-, 15-, 10-, and 5-yard lines. Section VIII - Two-minute (one page) - A description of what is expected out of the no-huddle offense. Section IX - Third-down situations (four pages) - Detailed, diagrammed descriptions of thirddown scenarios, as well as plays versus zone blitz, base blitz and nickel blitz. Like any house, a game plan is constructed in increments, coaches always a day ahead of the players. By Tuesday night, after intensive video review, the Broncos decide on the base game plan that is presented to players at Wednesday morning's team meeting and practiced that afternoon. By Wednesday night, coaches decide upon the nickel, short-yardage, goal-line and two-minute offense packages that are presented to players at Thursday morning's team meeting and practiced that afternoon. By Thursday night, coaches decide upon the red-zone plays that are presented to players at Friday morning's team meeting and practiced that afternoon. "You never want them to gather too much on any one day," Kubiak said. "True," Shanahan agreed. "It's a daily process, and you want them to isolate on one part of the game plan each day and Friday, even though the emphasis is red zone, we use it to review all aspects of the game plan."

Saturday is used to implement the first 15 plays of the game, as well as go through all audible situations and review Friday's practice. Sunday morning the players drop their game plans into an oversized bin inside the locker room. Sunday afternoon, the plan is put into action. The condensed version Positioned where they are, it would seem as if the Broncos' special teams are an afterthought. Though they are placed in the back of Denver's game plan, they hardly are treated in such a manner, even if they played that way Monday night in Baltimore. Denver devotes one more page of coverage to its special teams than its running game. Section X - Special teams (46 pages) With more finely tuned computerized drawings, the game plan includes diagrams of kickoff coverages, kickoff returns, punt protection, punt return and rush, field-goal and extra-point protection and field-goal and extra-point rush. By the time each week's game plan is complete, there is one slight complication. It is way too bulky for Shanahan to use on the sideline. So each week, after the game plan is installed, Shanahan sits in his office and transfers the most pertinent information from the Broncos' Bible onto an oversized color-coded flipcard he carries on the sideline. This is his version of Cliff's Notes. Under such categories as "Mike's Reminders," "Must Calls" and "Last Six Plays," the flipcard contains every imaginable situation that could arise Sunday. What to do on third-and-1, what to do on first-and-20, what to do versus max blitzes, what to do versus zone blitzes. What to do versus anything. If the defense abandons its customary look - as opposing defenses did four times during Shanahan's last season as the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator in 1994 - no problem. Shanahan looks down at his sheet and finds out what offensive plays would work against the new defense. The flipcard is as word-intensive as it is time-consuming. It takes Shanahan 15 laborious hours to fill it out. Its words are smaller than those found on an eye-exam chart. But its importance is bigger than almost any player. The flipcard is a condensed form of 264 pages of pure football science. ------------Tucked inside a thick blue binder, divided into 10 detailed sections, are 264 pages of pure football science. It is written in a language some would think English, but most would mistake for foreign.

"13 strong - 1 Lt Slot 'U' (HB) LT/Double Wing Lt (Motion)." "Fox 300 Solid Omaha (Nebraska)/Thunder (Train) - I Lt." "Key Cross/Spread 'Z' Dig ZEB - Empty SG." These are passages from the Broncos' Bible. Different Sunday verses are read each week when the Bible is revamped, but plenty more have been saved for today's game versus San Diego. How Denver formulates its game plan, such as the one it will use today, represents a foray into an ordinarily roped-off area. For the first time, outsiders are invited in. Private spots are made public. They are allowed to see a detailed account of X's, O's and why all this is needed for Sunday. Straight from the blue binder with a white sticker plastered to the front reading "Coach Shanahan, S.F. 9/15/02," comes a sneak peek inside a typical Broncos game plan. Section I - Scouting report (110 pages) The game plan's first pages include travel instructions the Broncos could not leave home without. Included is a minute-to-minute itinerary of the Broncos' trip to San Francisco - from the 9 a.m. treatments at Broncos headquarters in Englewood to the 11:15 p.m. bed check at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. Following the itinerary are United flight 9011's seat assignments. In Row 1 are Shanahan, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and wife Annabel Bowlen. In Row 16 - not the extra leg-room section, sadly - are defensive linemen Chester McGlockton and Trevor Pryce, and offensive linemen Matt Lepsis and Tom Nalen. Each coach, player and team official is assigned a seat. As Shanahan prefers, little is left to chance. But if the travel plans are thorough, they pale in comparison to the advance scouting work done on the 49ers. Coaches insist they like to take them one game at a time? Nonsense.

Script, please: Broncos follow man with plan

By Adam Schefter Denver Post Sports Writer

Sept. 12, 99 - They know the script the way all great performers do. They follow it line by line, just the way they rehearsed, hoping to stage the perfect play, the perfect performance. It's a scheme that has worked to near perfection for the Denver Broncos. They collected top honors in 1997, and again with their sequel in '98. Now they go for the trilogy. The director and screenwriter, a k a head coach Mike Shanahan and offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, have been as essential to the production as the leading men - Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith et al. But just like in Hollywood, every award-winning performance needs a good script. Which brings us to football, hardly a game predictable enough to be confined to a script. But that doesn't stop Kubiak from being the offensive playwright for each game. His actors practice it to perfection until the curtain rises Sunday afternoon or Monday night. With each script - usually 15 plays or so - they rehearse Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then visualize during the moments they are not on the field. It allows them to witness the performance before it even unfolds. The stage plays in San Francisco, Seattle and Green Bay as well. But nowhere do they do it as well as Denver. "Scripting, to me, is almost like double preparation," Kubiak said. "We drill in the player's head these 15 plays over and over again. And then their individual coach is going to drill those 15 plays in their head. And they're going to sit at their locker the day of the game and look at those 15 plays. They will be coached so hard on those 15 plays that it's just got to be a reason why they run them so much better and so clean. The preparation the double preparation, as I like to call it - makes them that much more successful." Scripting is not just a matter of helping players remember their assignments on a given set of plays. It boils down to exploiting, if not creating, your opponents' weaknesses. For instance, let's say the Broncos' bread-and-butter play runs Davis off left tackle, and they're playing a defense that reads and defends the play well. To create a bit a confusion a script might have the Broncos running right out of that Terrell Left formation for a decent gain, forcing an adjustment by the defense. The next time the defense sees that formation, it's ready to react right. Instead, the Broncos run Davis' money play to the left. Boom! Big gain. Just like they scripted it. Recently, Kubiak agreed to sit down and reveal the Broncos' mind-set for the script they used to earn football's Oscar, the Vince Lombardi Trophy, when they beat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII.

Let's see what Denver did to get the Falcons leaning right when they were going left. The Broncos' Super Bowl script: down/to go/yard line 1/10/DB20: With the Falcons expecting the Broncos to hand Davis the ball to start the game, Denver figured it could throw it to him. So on the first play of the game, as they rehearsed all week, the Broncos sent Davis in motion, acting as a receiver and not as a runner. Davis ran a little slant route outside tight end Shannon Sharpe. The Broncos knew they were throwing for Davis well before they left Denver for Miami. Not that John Elway couldn't have thrown to another receiver; he could have. But No. 30 clearly was option No. 1. The problem with the play was not the formation. It was the execution. Elway was, as Kubiak described, "geeked up and the ball came out smoking." The play did not go off as rehearsed. Result: Incomplete pass. 2/10/DB20: Just as Davis was the designated target on play No. 1, Sharpe was the designated target on play No. 2. Days before the game, Shanahan predicted to his son Kyle that either Elway or Sharpe - not Davis - would win Super Bowl XXXIII MVP. Shanahan figured the Falcons would be so intent on keying on Davis that Elway and Sharpe would have the chance to make some super history. No tight end had won a Super Bowl MVP, but the Broncos truly believed this could be the first. Right away, the Broncos tried to see if their instincts were correct. On their second offensive play of the game, they put Elway in a shotgun formation and spread the field with four wide receivers. But rather than play the zone defense Denver was expecting, Atlanta blitzed. The Falcons nearly got Elway. But just before they could sack him, Elway, as he had done so many times, backpedaled away from danger. Just before he was sacked, he got rid of the ball. And got it to the receiver who was running a hook route right in the middle of the field. Sharpe. Just as it was scripted. Result: 12-yard completion to Sharpe. Every now and then, the script, like a firecracker, is a dud. There have been times when the Broncos have run the first three or four plays of their script, realized nothing was working, and scrapped their week of preparation. "We'll say, 'Hey, these guys are playing us totally different than we thought they would play us, that's gone, let's go on to something else,'" Kubiak said. It happened last season at San Diego, when Denver played a Sunday night game there in late November. Right at the game's outset, the Chargers stuffed the Broncos cold, and Denver turned a cold shoulder to it script. "We went to a two-back shotgun (offense) and you can ask our players, it was a school-yard football game," Kubiak said. "We were calling stuff that was not in the game plan but we felt like that was the way we had to beat them. It was not only not scripted, it was not even part of the plan." Good, smart players adjust. They ad lib. And they find a way to make it work. 1/10/DB32: Even though there was a script - as there always is - Elway had the option to audible out of a play if the defense he saw wasn't what he was expecting. But when the Falcons stepped to the line of scrimmage in their base defense on their third defensive play of the game, Elway liked what he saw. He went right to the third play on the script. A Davis run around left end. "We knew we were going to have to throw the ball to win,"

Kubiak said. "But we also knew T.D. was going to get his carries." This was one. Result: Davis gains 1 yard. 2/9/DB33: Sticking with the script - designed to see how Atlanta planned to defend Denver's rushing attack - the Broncos stuck with Davis. "You're trying to find out what a defense is all about, so you do a lot of things," Kubiak said. "You try to find out how they're going to play you in various situations. So you're not only scripting plays for yourself, but your scripting plays that make them react to what you're going to do for the rest of the game. You might jump in a formation just to see how they would play that formation. Or how they're going to match up on some of your people so that when you get to quarters two, three and four you know now, early in the game, how they would play you. In a lot of ways, you're trying to get people to show their hand so to speak." This time the call was to run a little more inside than the previous play. This time the play ran Davis right over left tackle. Result: Davis gains 2 yards. "I know the argument for scripting plays," San Diego Chargers quarterback Jim Harbaugh said this summer after another one of his team's practices. "Everybody has a chance to think about them. There are less penalties. My only question is, what happens if on the first play of the game there's a bomb and it goes down to the 2-yard line? What if your second scripted play is another long pass? So it's obviously going to change. So do I like scripting? I'm not a big proponent of it. I think there are a lot of plays that can change by sequence. And it's going to happen. You can't just run 15 straight plays scripted out. Games just don't go that way." 3/7/DB35: If it is ever third down and 3 or more yards to go, the Broncos go off their main script right onto another. The one they shift to is their third-down script. For each game, the Broncos have a list of third-down plays they plan to use. Against the Falcons, the Broncos had one they wanted to use more than others. During the week of preparations, Kubiak approached Elway with a script specifically for third downs. "Mike and I have a list of plays here," Kubiak told Elway. "Which one do you want first?" Without hesitating, Elway responded, "Lion." Lion calls for Elway to line up in the shotgun and for Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith to run a deep slant route. Elway knew he was going to call it on the first third and long he faced, and, sure enough, he did. The call worked like a dream. Result: 41-yard completion to Smith. 1/10/AF24: Back to the script, and back to Davis. Even though it is play No. 6, it is only play No. 5 on the Broncos' script. A Davis run over right guard. The idea here is to mix it up, go to the other side of the field. The Broncos also still want to see how the Falcons are playing the run. And, with Falcons defensive tackle Shane Dronett leading a turbo-charged unit, this is the answer: tough. Result: Davis gains 1 yard. 2/9/AF23: Staying on the script - making it six of the seven plays it have been used - the Broncos send Davis back over left guard. Seeing how the Falcons have defensed him on his first three carries of the game, sensing how they're going to do it the rest of the time, the Broncos are able to make

the necessary blocking adjustments and free Davis. Result: Davis gains 9 yards. Back when he was an offensive coach at USC, before he became the San Diego Chargers head coach last January, Mike Riley tried scripting plays in two games. "As soon as I'd get off of it, the other coaches would start yelling, 'You're off the script! You're off the script!'" Riley recalled. "But scripting just didn't work as well for me. Our players know what our plays are in certain situations, so it's kind of the same way of having a script in my mind. I find it a little confining for a coach. Obviously Bill Walsh and Mike Shanahan have had great success with it, but I kind of like to go more with the flow of the game rather than the script." 1/10/AF14: Inside the opponent's 20-yard line is the area known as the red zone. After Davis' 9-yard run, the Broncos found themselves in the red zone. Whenever they arrive there, Shanahan goes off the script as often as he stays on it. "If the boss likes what's on the script, he may stay on it," Kubiak said. "But he also may say I don't like that play I have scripted. That was for a field play and we're down in the red zone. I want to go to my red zone play." But here gut instincts tell Shanahan to decide to stick with the script. It is another handoff to Davis, this one up the middle. Result: Davis loses 1 yard. 2/11/AF15: Undaunted, even facing second and long, Shanahan stays on the script for the eighth time in his team's first nine plays and goes back to the player he is expecting to have the biggest game. He calls for Sharpe to run a slant route down the middle of the field. Just as he expected, the play is wide-open. Elway completes the pass to Sharpe, who is running toward pay dirt. But just short of the end zone, Falcons cornerback Ray Buchanan slams into Sharpe. The violent collision saves a touchdown for the Falcons and costs Sharpe the rest of the game. Sharpe limps to the sideline with a torn ligament in his knee, and his hopes of becoming the first tight end Super Bowl MVP equally wounded. But Sharpe can take comfort in this: The play was not a total loss. Result: 14-yard completion to Sharpe. 1/1/AF1: Just as the Broncos have a 15-play script to open games, just as they have a lengthy script of plays solely for third-down plays, they also have a mental script for goal-line plays. "Mike was going to go to the first play in our minds that we decided to call on the goal line," Kubiak said. "This play was No. 1. We knew we were giving the ball to Howard Griffith on the goal line in this game. We knew everybody thought 30 would get the ball, that's why we went to Howard." So even the plays that are not scripted are scripted in a lot of ways. It shows. Result: Griffith gains 1 yard and a touchdown. Like many things in life - from eating sushi to bungee jumping scripting plays is not for everyone. But it is for the Broncos. "I just think it's a hell of a deal," Kubiak said. "As a coach, it makes you so comfortable because you've really called the first quarter of the football game. Now you've got to go find out if you're right or wrong. But you're preparation is such that when the ball's being kicked off and you're saying, "OK, what am I going to call?' We know what we're going to call. Here's what we're running. You could almost say, 'I'll be

back in 15 plays, somebody else call this game.' Because you're going to stay with that script unless it doesn't work." Copyright 1999 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.

n inside look at how Denver's 'Script' works

September 26, 2000 Paul Attner The Sporting News
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.