Polumbus: What is this Denver Broncos offense?

I played seven of my eight years in the NFL as a zone blocking specialist in this exact Denver Broncos offense. I know it like the back of my hand. I can call the plays as I see them, I can tell you the nuances that cause this offense to be so dangerous when running effectively, and I can tell you the dangers of this offense when playing from behind.

What I can’t do is tell you what this Broncos offense is right now.

Nine out of nine games have started out passing the football. By and large, I felt disappointed after getting the first 15 scripted plays if we had more than five drop-back passes in it. The Broncos seem to have five drop-back passes in the first five plays of every game.

The coaches made up their minds that this team can’t run the football, and clearly decided that passing gives this team the best chance to win. I am certainly not a part of the game planning meetings, so it is hard to say that as fact, but I am fairly certain only running the ball 12 times was not a part of those meetings, even if they decided throwing gives them the best chance.

So how does Denver get this thing going on the ground and find some resemblance of balance on the offensive side? At this point, I honestly think it is going to take some stubbornness and some commitment to get back to the run game.

Calling 12 runs isn’t going to cut it, and Gary Kubiak is well aware of that. Give me 10 runs in the first 15, and if it’s not working after that go ahead and bail. But this running game is not built to break the defense in the first quarter, and these guys need a chance to wear out defensive lineman well into the second half to get it going.

The Godfather of this offense, Mike Shanahan, used to tell our team before almost every game that because of the way our offensive line blocks in the run game he didn’t expect it to break in the first quarter.

These offensive linemen run from hash mark to hash mark, laterally, on every running play. They run laterally until a seam opens on the backside, and then the running back finds a seam, puts his foot in the ground on one cut, and gets north and south.

The longer the game goes on, the more tired the defense gets, and thus the more likely a defensive lineman will get lazy on the backside and get cut off, creating a huge seam for the running back.

Shanahan knew it would take some commitment, and Kubiak certainly knows this also. So the only way we can get this going is to not fall behind early.

The offensive line is taking the heat in meetings, players are frustrated, coaches are frustrated, and fans are frustrated. But no doubt about it, the only way to know if they can get this thing going on the ground is to get committed early and to stay committed late.
What do we have to lose on the offensive side at this point but running the ball over and over?

Trevor Siemian will play better on second and 6 than second and 10. Why not run it for four yards?

The passing game will open up with easy competitions from linebackers that step up on play action if Denver runs the ball. Wide receivers will have easier, uncontested catches.

If the Broncos can’t get it going in the passing game, they have nothing lose by committing to the run game. I will eagerly watch to see if Denver gets stubborn with the play calling and just keep calling it until the ship rights itself.

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