The Denver Broncos announced Monday that Coach Gary Kubiak will sit out Thursday night’s game against the San Diego Chargers after he was taken to the hospital with “flu-like symptoms” after Denver’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Doctors say Kubiak has a complex migraine condition that caused extreme fatigue and body weakness and will need some time to recover properly, so Broncos General Manager John Elway handed the reins to special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis this week.
Wait, who? The special teams coordinator?
Even though the Broncos have a defensive coordinator in Wade Phillips who’s been an NFL head coach before, and an offensive coordinator in Rick Dennison who has spent nearly his whole career working with Kubiak, it’s actually a pretty logical choice if you know how the Broncos’ coaching staff is set up. Basically, Elway wants to keep those two in place so they can continue to do the play-calling.
“Joe has been involved with Gary and (with director of analytics) Mitch (Tanney) in the game management side of it. That was the biggest part of that, the game management,” Elway said Monday, per the Denver Post’s Cameron Wolfe. “With Rico taking over the play-calling on the offensive side full time now as well as Wade has had that on the defensive side, not to be able to take away from that (was important).”
The Broncos’ players admit the choice was a surprise but seem okay with it.
“Coming here and hearing about coach and then knowing that Joe D was going to coach us, I was like ‘what the heck is going on?’ ” wideout and special teams contributor Cody Latimer told Wolfe. “But it’s a good move for us and I think with Joe D we’ll get the job done. He’s already fired up. I think he’ll be even more fired up.”
DeCamillis, the son-in-law of former Broncos coach Dan Reeves, is in his second stint with the team. He led Denver’s special teams from 1988 to 1992, when Elway was in the midst of his Hall of Fame career as the Broncos’ quarterback, so there’s a pretty strong familiarity as well.
DeCamillis is probably best known — sadly — as one of 12 Dallas Cowboys coaches and players injured when the team’s practice facility collapsed during a windstorm in May 2009. He suffered several fractured vertebrae but was back coaching soon after.