Gary Kubiak will miss one week after being diagnosed with a complex migraine after the Denver Broncos’ 23-16 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday general manager John Elway said on Monday. According to Elway, Kubiak is going home from the hospital this afternoon and his diagnosis is encouraging.
“When it comes down to Gary [Kubiak’s] health, everyone is excited about what the prognosis is,” Elway said. “The doctors said a week; they were firm. We didn’t set that time. We asked the doctors … and that’s what they said, he needs a week now. We will look at it again next Monday.”
The Broncos have named special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis the interim head coach in Kubiak’s absence. DeCamillis has been the Broncos special teams coordinator since the start of the 2015 season, but the reason Elway tapped him as the interim head coach wasn’t because of his special team’s duties.
“Joe [DeCamillis] has worked very close with Gary and game management situations as well as [Director of Football Analytics] Mitch Tanney,” Elway said. “We thought that that was the best and easiest way to handle that situation, and Joe has a tremendous amount of experience too. We think Joe will do a tremendous job this week.”
Along with DeCamillis being a critical part of the Broncos game management, Elway also said that he will be the most seamless transition at head coach for the team.
“Really felt it was going to be a seamless transition with Joe stepping in,” Elway said. “With [offensive coordinator Rick Dennison] on the offensive side and [defensive coordinator] Wade [Phillips] on the defensive side, I didn’t want to load their books anymore than they were already loaded up.”
DeCamillis, who has been a coach in the NFL since 1988, said nothing would change in terms of how the team is run, thanks to the system that Kubiak set in place.
“[Kubiak] set a template for us. It’s seamless because he’s not a micromanager. He lets a lot of guys do their job to the utmost anyways,” DeCamillis said. “We don’t see a big change this week. We are going to do anything we can to win a game this week.”
Along with being the head coach, Kubiak was also the offensive play caller. On Monday Elway said that these duties would now be the responsibility of Dennison.
“[Dennison’s] going to start with [play calling]. I’m sure they all work together anyway, so it’s always collaborative, so I’m sure it’ll stay that way with all of the offensive coaches having input,” Elway said.
To make the week even more hectic, the Broncos have a short turnaround as they travel to San Diego on Wednesday to face the Chargers on Thursday night. The focus for Kubiak and the team is very clear, and very different.
“Gary is going to concentrate on Gary this week, and everybody else is going to figure out how to get a win down in San Diego,” Elway said.
Although a medical emergency like Kubiak had on Sunday night is never positive, Elway couldn’t stress enough how relieved he is in Kubiak’s health. For now, Kubiak will take a week off and report back to the Broncos next Monday and DeCamillis will assume the title of interim head coach against the Chargers Thursday night.
“It was scary going in, but very exciting coming out as far as the prognosis of Gary and his health as well as his coaching career,” Elway said.