GroveDiesel said:
Probably my least favorite hire so far. He's directly linked to Kubiak for pretty much his entire career, hasn't had much playcalling duties it seems, and the offenses have never been all that impressive. I would much rather have seen a guy like Dorsey be given the reins.
It's tough to look at 2015 & 2016 as an indicator of what this offense could look like. In 2015 Kubiak was the HC and the offense didn't mesh well with Peyton's skillset. Peyton also dramatically declined in that last year. Then in 2016 they ended up with Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. So both of those situations weren't great. They're also recent enough that nobody needs a reminder as to what happened on those offenses.
Here are his prior stints as OC:
Denver Broncos
2006:
Jake Plummer: 55.2%, 1,994 Yards, 11 TDs, 13 INT (Started 11 games)
Jay Cutler: 59.1%, 1,001 Yards, 9 TDs, 5 INT (Started 5 games)
Tatum Bell: 1,025 Yards, 4.4 YPC, 2 TDs, 24 Receptions, 115 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 13 games)
Mike Bell: 666 Yards, 4.3 YPC, 8 TDs, 20 Receptions, 158 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 3 games)
Javon Walker: 69 Receptions, 1,084 Yards, 8 TDs
Rod Smith: 52 Receptions, 512 Yards, 3 TDs
*Ranked 17th in points scored
2007:
Jay Cutler: 63.6%, 3,497 Yards, 20 TDs, 14 INT
Selvin Young: 729 Yards, 5.2 YPC, 1 TD, 35 Receptions, 231 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 8 games)
Travis Henry: 691 Yards, 4.1 YPC, 4 TDs, 7 Receptions, 65 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 7 games)
Brandon Marshall: 102 Receptions, 1,325 Yards, 7 TDs
Tony Scheffler: 49 Receptions, 549 Yards, 5 TDs (Started 7 games)
Brandon Stokley: 40 Receptions, 635 Yards, 5 TDs (Started 9 games)
*Ranked 21st in points scored
2008:
Jay Cutler: 62.3%, 4,526 Yards, 25 TDs, 18 INTs
Peyton Hillis: 343 Yards, 5.0 YPC, 5 TDs, 14 Receptions, 179 Yards, 1 TD (Started 6 games)
Michael Pittman: 320 Yards, 4.2 YPC, 4 TDs, 10 Receptions, 112 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 3 games)
Selvin Young: 303 Yards, 5.0 YPC, 1 TDs, 3 Receptions, 16 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 5 games)
Tatum Bell: 249 Yards, 5.7 YPC, 2 TDs, 10 Receptions, 57 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 3 games)
Brandon Marshall: 104 Receptions, 1,265 Yards, 6 TDs
Eddie Royal: 91 Receptions, 980 Yards, 5 TDs
Brandon Stokley: 49 Receptions, 528 Yards, 3 TDs
Tony Scheffler: 40 Receptions, 645 Yards, 3 TDs
*Ranked 16th in points scored
2009:
Mike McCoy took over as OC and the offense was ranked 20th in points scored, followed by 19th and 25th in the proceeding years, respectively.
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These seasons were during the Jake Plummer to rookie Jay Cutler transition. After the 2008 season, Jay Cutler ended up going to Chicago where he is the same QB he is today. 2008 was probably the best year of his career. The teams had a thrown together squad of RBs and the only true receiving threat was Brandon Marshall who emerged in 2007.
Houston Texans
2010:
Matt Schaub: 63.6%, 4,370 Yards, 24 TDs, 12 INT
Arian Foster: 1,616 Yards, 4.9 YPC, 16 TDs, 66 Receptions, 604 Yards, 2 TDs (Started 13 games)
Andre Johnson: 86 Receptions, 1,216 Yards, 8 TDs (Started 13 games)
Kevin Walter: 51 Receptions, 621 Yards, 5 TDs
Owen Daniels: 38 Receptions, 471 Yards, 2 TDs (Started 10 Games)
*Ranked 9th in points scored
2011:
Matt Schaub: 61%, 2,479 Yards, 15 TDs, 6 INTs (Started 10 games)
TJ Yates: 61.2%, 949 Yards, 3 TDs, 3 INTs (Started 5 games)
Arian Foster: 1,224 Yards, 4.4 YPC, 10 TDs, 53 Receptions, 617 Yards, 2 TDs (Started 13 games)
Ben Tate: 942 Yards, 5.4 YPC, 4 TDs, 13 Receptions, 98 Yards, 0 TDs
Andre Johnson: 33 Receptions, 492 Yards, 2 TDs (Started 7 games)
Owen Daniels: 54 Receptions, 677 Yards, 3 TDs
*Ranked 10th in points scored despite injuries to Schaub, Foster and Johnson.
2012:
Matt Schaub: 64.3%, 4,008 Yards, 22 TDs, 12 INTs
Arian Foster: 1,424 Yards, 4.1 YPC, 15 TDs, 40 Receptions, 217 Yards, 2 TDs
Andre Johnson: 112 Receptions, 1,598 Yards, 4 TDs
Owen Daniels: 62 Receptions, 716 Yards, 6 TDs
*Ranked 8th in points scored
2013:
Matt Schaub: 61.2%, 2,310 Yards, 10 TDs, 14 INTs (Started 8 games)
Case Keenum: 54.2%, 1,760 Yards, 9 TDs, 6 INTs (Started 8 games)
Ben Tate: 771 Yards, 4.3 YPC, 4 TDs, 34 Receptions, 140 Yards, 0 TDs (Started 7 games)
Arian Foster: 542 Yards, 4.5 YPC, 1 TD, 22 Receptions, 183 Yards, 1 TD (Started 8 games)
Andre Johnson: 109 Receptions, 1,407 Yards, 5 TDs
DeAndre Hopkins: 52 Receptions, 802 Yards, 2 TDs
Garrett Graham: 49 Receptions, 545 Yards, 5 TDs (Started 11 games)
Owen Daniels: 24 Receptions, 252 Yards, 3 TDs (Started 5 games)
*Ranked 31st in points scored
2014:
Bill O'Brien took over as HC and did not have an OC in 2014 it appears (much like will be the case in 2017). His offenses ranked 14, 21, and 28th in points scored from 2014 to 2016, respectively.
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Obviously Schaub was successful during this stint in Houston but is no longer considered a starting QB. He had started for 3 years prior to Dennison taking over as OC there and his stats were in line with what he did from 2010-2013 in this offense. Kubiak was the HC during those previous seasons as well but the OC was Mike Sherman in 2007 and Kyle Shanahan in 2008 & 2009. A lot may have changed from 2008/2009 to today, but Kyle Shanahan is one of the hottest coaching candidates out there and Dennison had similar results that Shanahan did when the torch was passed.
Overall Thoughts
There will be varying thoughts on who deserves credit for the success and failures of these teams. Is it Kubiak's offense and Dennison just had a small role? That will be the narrative for a while. But what can be seen from these offenses is that they generally got very good production out of lesser RBs and took advantage of the one stud RB they did have (Arian Foster). They also relied heavily on the #1 WR in these offenses (Brandon Marshall and then Andre Johnson) as they had some great seasons in these offenses. The TEs were involved as well and Foster was used heavily in the passing game, too.