The preseason hype is gone and now Broncos Country is in a bit of a panic after the Denver Broncos' 26-20 week one loss to the Seattle Seahawks. It was a rough one on the offensive side of the ball that saw multiple turnovers, poor passes, drops, not great play calling, and just overall poor play.
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It’s just week one and it’s not all doom and gloom, but the Broncos need to improve on things and fast on offense if they want to have success this season. I am going to give you the five things I want to see the Broncos improve on moving forward on the offensive side of the ball.
1. Use Bo Nix’s running ability more
Bo Nix the passer is a work in progress, which should be expected because he is a rookie, but his running ability to something the Broncos can utilize right away. We saw some flashes of that during the week one matchup where Nix had five rushes for 35 yards including his first career touchdown run.
His running ability is often overlooked but Nix showcased his wheels a little bit in this game and they should use them more moving forward. During his 23-yard run in the fourth quarter, Nix reached 20.05 miles per hour which was the second-fastest top speed from any other player this week on a rushing play. The fastest rushing play came from Houston Texans speedster Tank Dell who reached 20.09 miles per hour on a 17-yard rush.
Let’s see Nix on some more designed runs, get him outside the pocket more, and let him take off when his first or second reads are not open. He needs to grow as a passer, but in the meantime, they can rely on his speed and athleticism to gain chunk plays on the ground.
We saw them do this during the preseason opener and I expected them to do it more in the game, but that did not happen. We shall see if it happens more moving forward.
2. Run the ball more and do it more effectively
Just like last season, the Denver Broncos ground game was ineffective during their week one matchup vs. the Seahawks. If you take away Bo Nix’s team-leading 35 yards on the ground, Williams and McLaughlin had a combined 18 carries for 50 yards. That’s a miserable 2.7 yards per carry and both backs had a YPC below three 3.0 yards per carry.
Head Coach Sean Payton had a conference call with the Broncos media today and was asked about the Broncos' struggles on the ground. He told reporters that there were “too many two-to-three-yard gains” and that he told them in their team meeting that they needed to be more effective running the ball.
“It’s kind of what I thought I saw field level. It wasn’t good enough. I think I said that after the game. There were too many two-to-three-yard gains. When you look at [RB] Javonte [Williams] and [RB] Jaleel’s [Mclaughlin] numbers, we have to be more effective there and that’s something we talked about in the team meeting.
Their ineffective play in the running game forced Bo Nix to attempt 42 passes in his first career start on the road in one of the toughest environments in the league. As we saw, it went as expected and something they likely did not plan for. When you have a rookie quarterback, the run game needs to be good to take the pressure off of him and that did not end up happening.
If Javonte’s struggles continue, I’d expect to see rookie Audric Estime get more carries, but he needs to hang on to the ball better himself. Either way, the Broncos run game needs to be MUCH better than that and hopefully we see some improvements this upcoming Sunday vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers.
3. Broncos' supporting cast needs to help out Bo Nix more
All the focus is on Bo Nix and rightfully so, but his supporting cast let him down in this one. His wide receivers had issues with drops, consistently separating, slipping on routes, and creating after the catch.
With Sean Payton relying on the quick passing game, you need your receivers to create after the catch but the Broncos do not have players who can do that. Courtland Sutton has never been a big yards-after-the-catch guy, Josh Reynolds is not that guy, rookie Devaughn Vele probably is not that guy, and big Lil’Jordan Humphrey is certainly not that guy. All these receivers are big-possession guys and not players who are explosive and shifty in open space. So, having them do these quick pass YAC plays will get you these same results moving forward.
They also just need to catch the damn ball. We saw a handful of costly drops during Sunday’s game which were momentum killers. They need to help out their young quarterback and make some plays for him. It was not a great performance by them at all and they really need to improve moving forward.
4. Get your speed receivers more involved
Marvin Mims only saw 17 snaps on offense and only 1 target while rookie Troy Franklin was among the Broncos inactive. Both players are the Broncos fastest playmakers on offense and the lack of speed and playmaking ability was evident this past Sunday.
The Broncos traded up into the second round to get Marvin Mims last year and traded up in the fourth round to get Troy Franklin this year and now, they need to start using them on offense. You have too many big, tall, and slow receivers, and Franklin should be active ahead of Lil’Jordan Humphrey who does not give you anything different from Sutton, Reynolds, and Vele.
As for Mims, he was expected to have a bigger role this year but now appears to be a return specialist only. The Broncos need to get him out there more, design plays for him, and get him out in space. Let’s see if he can make a man miss and get a few chunk plays.
Adding some explosive playmakers on offense is going to be a big need for the Broncos this upcoming offseason.
5. Bo Nix needs to learn from his mistakes
The training camp and preseason hype had us all excited, some more than others (look at our roundtable predictions) but we need to remember, he is just a rookie. Struggles are going to happen and it is up to Nix and the Broncos coaches to make sure he learns from these moving forward.
The team hyped up Nix’s ability to learn from his mistakes and we saw him grow throughout training camp and during the preseason. Now, he has some experience of playing regular-season football in a hostile environment against one of the top defensive minds in the league on the road and having some struggles. We need to see Nix grow from this, be more prepared next week vs. the Steelers, and show some progress. If he keeps making the same mistakes, then we can start to worry but for now, we need to have some patience.
The Broncos have a tough test once again this Sunday against a tough Steelers defense and we shall see how Nix handles their defense and elite edge rusher T.J. Watt creating chaos off the edge.
