Clayton: Firing Pat Shurmur would be a panic move by the Broncos

Don’t you find it crazy that after two losses people in Denver are calling for the firing of offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur? What a turn of events since the Broncos 3-0 start.

Shumur has been working without two of his top three receivers, Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler. In the loss to Baltimore, he had to use two young guards to hold back the Ravens big defensive line and their blitzing patterns. The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the best defenses in football and they held the Broncos for seven points.

Sure, some things need to be fixed. But to fire someone after two losses against good teams is pure panic and it’s unfair. Shurmur is a good play-caller with a good history. Don’t forget in the Baltimore game, he didn’t have Teddy Bridgewater for a while because a concussion.

Vic Fangio was asked about Shurmur on Monday and he was naturally supportive. Remember, one of the early successes of this team is how well Bridgewater did under Shurmur’s play-calling.

“We all have to do a better job,” Fangio said about himself and his coaches. “We have to do a better job of coaching these players. And we have to do a better job of playing. We’re all in it together. I have no qualms with Pat other than our results haven’t been good enough. We have to find a way to fix that.”

I don’t care how good of a coach you are, when you are missing key starters with injuries, there is going to be a drop off. They were down four starters in the Baltimore game.

I still keep saying the Broncos need to run the ball more while they are down two starting receivers. Against the Steelers, they ran the ball only 19 times and dropped back to pass 40 times.

Things do need to get fixed. But firing Shumur isn’t the answer.