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ENGLEWOOD Carlos Henderson Jersey , Colo. (AP) — stare as he watched his son’s team practice against his former one.No way could the former head coach stay away from the Denver Broncos headquarters this weekend.For a decade, Shanahan avoided the facility where he won two Super Bowl titles before getting fired after the 2008 season.Time, though, has thawed any hard feelings. And so has golf with Broncos boss John Elway, who made it clear that Shanahan was always welcome around team headquarters.Shanahan certainly had good reason to drop by the past two days with Denver holding joint practices with the San Francisco 49ers coached by his son, Kyle.“It’s great to be back,” said the elder Shanahan, who won back-to-back Super Bowl titles with Elway under center in the late 1990s. “I haven’t been here in 10 years and to see all the changes, a lot of people you were here before working with — it’s great to see.”Shanahan been a frequent guest of the 49ers since his son was hired by San Francisco in 2017. He mentored Jimmy Garoppolo after the QB suffered a torn ACL three games into the 2018 season. The two talked schemes and blitzes with Garoppolo’s year finished.“It was a chance for him to relax and have some fun and at the same time get to study some football together,” Shanahan said.Shanahan does miss coaching. A lot. Shanahan hasn’t been a head coach since going 3-13 with Washington in 2013. He had conversations with Elway and nearly got another shot with the Broncos, who have turned things over to 60-year-old first-time head coach Vic Fangio.“It didn’t work out and sometimes it works out for the right reasons,” said Shanahan, who also attended a Broncos practice last month. “I made a decision a long time ago, right when I got fired, I said if I didn’t get the right job right away that gave us a chance to win a Super Bowl, that I was going to do what I’m doing — be a dad, follow your son and the organization and be a part of that.”Kyle Shanahan didn’t get a chance to spend much time with his dad Saturday.He had a practice to run.Still, it was a surreal experience to be on the same turf where his father guided all those Broncos teams. Although the facilities have been updated, it’s still the familiar place where he used to spend a bulk of his teen years.“I’ve got a lot of memories here,” Kyle Shanahan said. “It’s a very special place for me.”Same goes for Mike Shanahan, who has a standing invitation to return anytime he wants — with one exception.“Unless we’re playing the 49ers in a real game,” cracked Fangio, whose team faces the 49ers in a preseason matchup Monday night.Shanahan has long been friends with Fangio, forged by years and years of matching wits. That helped pave the way for Shanahan’s return. So did rounds of golf with Elway.“It’s always good to see him out here because I enjoy talking football with him,” Elway said. “As you all know, he’s very knowledgeable in the game, so I’m glad that he’s able to come back and know that this is home for him.”One question that makes Shanahan sheepish is the notion that he belongs in the Broncos’ Ring of Fame or even in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.“When people just mention you about those things, you go, ‘Wait a minute,'” said Shanahan, who amassed 170 wins with the Raiders, Broncos and Washington. “You think Hall of Fame and you just say, ‘what a great honor,’ when people talk to you about it. … But I never even think about things you can’t control.”Shanahan does think the Broncos made the right move in hiring Fangio, who’s trying to turn around a franchise that hasn’t been to the postseason since winning the Super Bowl following the 2015 season in Peyton Manning’s final game.“No-nonsense guy, that understands the game,” Shanahan said of Fangio. “I think players will follow him very quickly.”Naturally, Shanahan’s a big fan of the coach in San Francisco, too. He believes the 49ers have put the pieces around his son to be competitive.“All you want to have is the opportunity to have success,” the father said. “Kyle has been given that opportunity.” We begin a series of deep dives into the Vic Fangio defense, it’s principles, and what fans can expect to see with the Denver Broncos." Denver Broncos FilmWhat to expect from Vic Fangio’s defenseNew,27commentsWe begin a series of deep dives into the Vic Fangio defense, it’s principles, and what fans can expect to see with the Denver Broncos. MDTFrom players, to media Demarcus Walker Jersey , to the fans, Denver Broncos Country is abuzz with talk of the new coaches and new schemes being installed in camp during OTAs. Rich Scangarello is bringing his zone running, play action heavy offense he learned from Kyle Shanahan, and Vic Fangio is bringing a defense that he’s formed into the best in the league at his last two coaching stops.We’ve been hypothesizing about how this new defense could help the players shine, and restore the defensive dominance for which Denver has been known, and hearing from the players how excited they are for this defense. While we’ve been speaking in general terms for awhile now, and hearing snippets here and there from players that give us clues, we still don’t have a super clear picture of what we will see on the field on Sundays.So I have been digging into the Chicago Bears tape and trying to listen to/read as many smart people as I can find to answer the burning questions that I (and probably most of you) have - what can fans expect to see on the field from this defense in 2019? What does Fangio’s scheme actually look like? Over the next several weeks we’ll be digging in and exploring particular aspects of the defense from secondary, down to the defensive line, to run defense and coverage packages to blitzes. For now, we’ll start broad, lay a foundation and then begin to hone in on specifics as we dig into the tape together.PrinciplesWe’ve heard Vic Fangio talk about building the defense from the ground up, being accountable, tough, and focusing on the fundamentals, so we know philosophically the principles of the defense. However, there are schematic principles we can expect to see come to life on the field as well. While there are obviously exceptions and times where they change things up, this is what you’ll see a majority of the time from this defense.Limit big playsEveryone preaches this on defense, but the Bears actually embodied it last year leading the league in preventing explosive plays. Their goal is to make the offense earn every yard, play sound fundamental defense, and wait for the offense to make a mistake.Chicago also led the league last year in not only touchdowns given up per drive, but 3 and outs forced per drive. So it’s not just a “bend but don’t break” kind of defense either. Rally to the ballHow Fangio’s defense is able to make offenses earn every yards and limit the big plays is they are content to trade the underneath reception for preventing the big play, and then rally up to the football and make the tackle with minimal damage.We’ve talked at length about Fangio’s comments on how it is non-negotiable for a defensive back to be able to tackle, and this is one of the key reasons why. Everyone on this defense must be able to rally up for the tackle and prevent yards after the catch. Last season, the Bears were one of the better teams in the league at preventing yards after the catch, while Denver fell into the bottom five.This is significant because yards after the catch are how top offenses do their damage. Pittsburgh led the league in passing yards last season, and had over 50% of those yards come after the catch. Other top offenses like Kansas City, New England, and the Los Angeles Rams all had over 50% of their passing yards come after the catch.Limited blitzingWhile Denver brought 5+ rushers at one of the highest rates in the league last season, Chicago ranked 24th in the NFL in blitz percentage. However, when Chicago did blitz, they were one of the most effective teams in the league at it.Some of this is due to the fact that the Bears rarely blitzed, so it was a good change up and caught the offense off-balance.Additionally, Fangio’s defense rarely brought blitzes because they didn’t have to. They were 3rd in the league in pressure rate, and 3rd in sacks, racking up 50 sacks in 2018.Expect to see this in Denver as well, as Fangio will have two stellar pass rushers in Von Miller and Bradley Chubb to deploy in four-man pressures to maintain the pass rush without blitzing.Flexibility/AdapabilityDefense is by nature reactionary, to an extent, so it must be able to adapt to whatever offenses are throwing at it. Fangio was asked about this when he was first hired - how he was adapting to the evolving NFL offensive schemes:This is where we’ll spend the meat of our time. How has Fangio built a scheme to combat modern day NFL offenses that have been lighting the league on fire over the last few years?Fangio has taken concepts that defensive masterminds at the college level, like Nick Saban have been deploying and adapted them to counter the NFL’s offense evolution of spread concepts. While he’s not the only one, as Bill Belichick and others have been doing their own version of this in the pros, he has been on the cutting edge of defensive innovation.Next time, we’ll dive into the specifics of these match zone, split field coverage that Fangio’s defense employs and how that comes to life. Stay tuned.