The Broncos offense took the field Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams and opened their night with a unique look.<\/p>\n
Their personnel grouping \u2014\u00a0receivers Jaylen Waddle, Courtland Sutton and Pat Bryant, tight end Adam Trautman and running back J.K. Dobbins \u2014 was perfectly normal.<\/p>\n
Then quarterback Bo Nix motioned Waddle into the backfield to present a two-back look. Trautman motioned, too, to the offense\u2019s left. At the snap, a Dobbins run to the left; Trautman peeled back to block the backside.<\/p>\n
It was an interesting design. Maybe Dobbins would have found room off the left edge, or perhaps he would have found a cut-back lane.<\/p>\n
However, Rams corner Jaylen Watson knifed underneath Sutton and stopped Dobbins for a loss of 2 yards.<\/p>\n
The Broncos went three-and-out and hit on a pair of early-season bugaboos in the process. They haven\u2019t run the ball well in the first half, and they haven\u2019t been efficient on first downs.<\/p>\n
The week before, Dobbins rushed for 4 yards then 1 on Denver\u2019s first two snaps, but then a Waddle false start put them in third-and-10 anyway.<\/p>\n
Against Kansas City, Denver ran it just six times in 25 first-half snaps and averaged 7.3 yards to go on third down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say this: We haven\u2019t run the ball in the first half of any of those three games,\u201d Payton said recently. \u201cWe haven\u2019t run it consistently well enough. Clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not exactly a new phenomenon. The Broncos last year in their first three games rushed for 25 first-half yards against Tennessee, 52 against Indianapolis and 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n
Overall, offensive coordinator Davis Webb said the lack of early-game run production this year is due to a myriad of reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that have to do with that, and I think it\u2019s their game plan vs. us and us settling down and running similar runs, just maybe a little different dress-up in the second half. I think we have to run with a little more conviction, for sure, and I think our offensive line has done a good job being consistent in pass pro and giving us some holes.\u201d<\/p>\n
By conviction, Webb means his backs seeing a hole and hitting it \u201cfull-steam ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our runners do that, but I just think there\u2019s been some times where that can be a little bit better and I anticipate that getting better,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Denver played against the Rams and will go the next three weeks without rookie Jonah Coleman, who is a natural between the tackles. RJ Harvey hasn\u2019t yet shown that he\u2019s a polished and decisive runner down in and down out. Dobbins was one of the best backs in football for the first 10 games last year, but so far this season he has not produced at the same level. He didn\u2019t look particularly explosive last week against the Rams after getting hit on the hip during a Week 2 win over Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s ready,\u201d Payton said this week about Dobbins. \u201cAnd I just think that there\u2019ll be a combination of things that can lead into that, but I\u2019m looking forward to watching him. There\u2019s a big reason why we brought him back and re-signed him \u2014 because we saw the skill set and what drives him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting the running game going is a clear piece of the puzzle to being more efficient on early downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be better there,\u201d Webb said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve been in second-and-long a little bit, whether that be a run that gets us to 8, 9, 10, 11 or an incomplete pass. Then you\u2019re staring at how a defense plays second-and-8 plus or second-and-12 plus\u2026 It\u2019s what we have going into the game plan, how we feel we can get to a manageable third down.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst-down success is No. 1. We want to play CFL football as much as we can and skip third downs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broncos, through three weeks, have not been doing that.<\/p>\n
They have one of the worst rushing success rates in football at 32.4%, according to NextGen Stats, which is No. 29. They\u2019re even worse on first down (25.6% success rate, No. 31). That\u2019s despite Denver mostly avoiding getting dropped for no gain or a loss and also despite having the No. 8 mark in football in yards gained before contact (1.78).<\/p>\n
Both of those marks speak to Webb\u2019s notion that the offensive line has been good overall.<\/p>\n
The rest of the picture needs improving. And quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re very, very close to breaking through in that way and we\u2019ll see what happens this week,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n