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Tag: Tyler Badie

  • Renck: Broncos need to run Jaleel McLaughlin to stop critics from running their mouths

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    Three weeks. That is all it took for the country to turn on the Broncos again. They are corn to a garden. The worst seed ever.

    Failing to score more than 20 points in three straight games to end the season was all America’s armchair quarterbacks and well-paid analysts needed.

    The offensive impotence is catnip for critics.

    So, it is no wonder that the AFC’s top dog is an underdog. Fine.

    There is a way to win every game, as Sean Payton reminds us weekly, and the path Saturday involves mud flaps, not a cockpit.

    The Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse has hidden its secret long enough.

    Want to beat the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round? Run Jaleel McLaughlin. Trust him. Treat him like a weapon, not a diversion.

    The idea that the outcome of the Broncos’ biggest game in a decade hinges on a running back who has been inactive for nine weeks is ridiculous. You are probably laughing at this premise. Cackling at the idea that Payton will actually lean on the ground attack.

    But Payton has made a career of pushing the right buttons and finding answers. And this one is staring at him from inside the fieldhouse walls, where McLaughlin can often be found after practice getting in extra reps to stay sharp.

    All Payton needs to do is follow the script written by Gary Kubiak, the last Broncos coach to win a playoff game.

    As Denver clumsily reached the end of the 2015 season, creating doubts about reaching the Super Bowl, Kubiak spent part of his day checking video from Peyton Manning’s workouts with receiver Jordan “Sunshine” Taylor inside the fieldhouse as he recovered from a plantar fasciitis injury.

    Kubiak refused to close the door on Manning returning. And Manning was tired of waiting. At one point, he flipped off the cameras, knowing Kubiak would see it. Kubiak finally took the suggestion, turning to Manning in the second half of the season finale, a move that triggered a Super Bowl 50 victory.

    McLaughlin does not possess the gravitas to give his coach the middle finger. And he is not the key to a championship run. But he is the key to winning this game.

    You see, backs have run through the Bills like Taco Bell after a night on Pearl Street. Only the 2006 Indianapolis Colts allowed more than 5 yards per rush and won the Super Bowl, per CBS Sports. The Bills have yielded 5.2 in 18 games. It is their fatal flaw.

    McLaughlin can expose it. His entire football journey has built up to this moment. He never had a backup plan. He slept in a car for a time growing up. He refused to give up on his dream. His resilience helped him make the roster three years ago as an undrafted free agent.

    This is different. He can go from a feel-good story to the headliner.

    Look, this might backfire. But he is the best option to exploit the Bills, even if injured defensive lineman Ed Oliver returns. The trade deadline long ago passed, and Denver declined to deal for Breece Hall.

    Then J.K. Dobbins got hurt, and R.J. Harvey has not filled his cleats. Forget attacking downhill, Harvey has been going downhill. He has averaged 3.36 yards per carry over the past three games on 36 carries, and if you subtract his 38-yard touchdown against the Jaguars, it shrinks to 2.37.

    Compare that to McLaughlin, who has 118 yards on 18 carries during the same stretch. That is 63 percent of his season total, and 6.56 a pop.

    “He outworks just about everybody in the building,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “It’s not a shock to anybody that, when his opportunity came, he did a great job with it.”

    So, lean on McLaughlin and call more designed runs for Bo Nix (102 rushing yards since Dec. 21).

    Who says no? Payton?

    Not so sure. Not this time. He appears to have learned his lesson from abandoning the run last year at Buffalo, from turtling against the Chiefs and Chargers.

    It was encouraging to hear Payton’s tone publicly last Friday when asked if he held stuff back over the final two weeks. He made no excuses. Used zero qualifiers. Made it clear that the Broncos have to execute better and become more explosive.

    If Payton is not stubborn, the Broncos will win because of the run game in general and McLaughlin specifically.

    Don’t believe it?

    The Jaguars are watching this weekend because they simply did not run the ball enough. They were gashing the Bills on the ground, and inexplicably finished with 30 passes and 23 carries. They posted 154 yards rushing, and Liam “Keep Your Head Up” Coen decided to keep putting the ball in the air.

    If Payton is similarly hard-headed with Nix, the Broncos will follow the Jaguars to the emergency exit.

    My insistence on running is rooted in winning.

    The best way to neutralize Josh Allen is to play keep away. If the Broncos produce long drives and impose their will upfront, it will create urgency from the Bills.

    We all know Josh Allen is not going to play like Woody Allen. It is safe to assume the Broncos are going to struggle at times as Allen bullies his way for yards or finds his tight ends and running backs for easy completions. How Denver’s defense performs in the red zone will be critical.

    But the offense has to do its part.

    It won’t be easy. It never is with this group. The Broncos have only reached the red zone five times in the last three games, scoring two touchdowns, and only once in a goal-to-go situation.

    That won’t cut it on Saturday.

    Let McLaughlin provide the body shots. And Harvey or Nix, the haymaker (the Bills have allowed eight touchdown runs of 30-plus yards, most in a season in NFL history).

    McLaughlin was already known for rolling up his sleeves and breaking a sweat before the sun wakes. But he added night duty to stay sharp, to be ready, when he lost his role on game day as the fourth running back in the three-man rotation of Dobbins, Harvey and Tyler Badie.

    “It was a real challenge just because I am so competitive,” McLaughlin said. “But I just had to trust and believe in what coach Payton was telling me.”

    Everyone is running their mouths again. All the Broncos need to do is run the ball with McLaughlin to shut them up.

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    Troy Renck

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  • Will run game undermine Broncos without J.K. Dobbins?

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    Troy Renck: The Broncos offense was a chore to watch on Christmas. Like eating vegetables. While it is fair to suggest Denver is a year ahead of schedule in its return to excellence, the Broncos are here, so their flaws must be examined like cells under under a microscope. They can secure the No. 1 seed with a win over the Chargers on Sunday. But a lingering issue persists: Will Denver’s run game, led by rookie RJ Harvey, become the Broncos’ undoing?

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    Troy Renck, Parker Gabriel

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  • After putting out feelers, could Broncos look for more RB help in J.K. Dobbins’ absence?

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    The Broncos won the first war.

    But the Chiefs won a small battle that could prove important, in the weeks to come.

    A few days after Denver’s landmark 22-19 win over Kansas City, the Broncos quietly maneuvered to try to sign running back Dameon Pierce, a 2022 fourth-round pick by the Houston Texans. After rushing for 939 yards as a rookie, Pierce’s production had slipped for three straight years, and Houston officially cut bait with the 25-year-old on Thursday. Pierce cleared waivers, and the Broncos put a contract in front of him, a source told The Denver Post.

    Pierce signed a practice-squad deal with the Chiefs instead.

    The choice could be meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but the Broncos’ interest in the 215-pound Pierce makes clear, at the very least, that Denver isn’t completely settled in life on the ground without J.K. Dobbins.

    “Thought it was good,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said of the team’s run-game, after the Kansas City win. “Good enough.”

    Good enough might not be good enough during the next six weeks and likely playoff run without Dobbins, the bell-cow back who the Broncos placed on injured reserve Nov. 15 with a foot injury. The Broncos came into that Chiefs matchup ranked ninth in the NFL in rushing at 128.6 yards per game, as Payton often turned to Dobbins in the second half of games when his passing game struggled. They finished with just 21 carries for 59 yards total against Kansas City, and were largely carried by a monster effort from second-year quarterback Bo Nix.

    Teams will likely scheme to take away Nix’s weapons in the passing games come January, though — from Courtland Sutton to Marvin Mims — and dare the Broncos to beat them on the ground without Dobbins. At present, there’s a minimal amount of experience and a minimal amount of demonstrated 2025 production in Denver’s backfield.

    One key piece on the roster is third-year back Jaleel McLaughlin, who immediately leapt from gameday inactive into a key role as the Broncos’ No. 2 RB against the Chiefs. And one didn’t need much context to sense how much a goal-line touchdown against Kansas City meant to McLaughlin, who blew a few kisses to the crowd in Denver and roared after a ferocious backward push sent him over the plane in the third quarter.

    “With Jaleel’s situation, just from the beginning of the season until now – I think he’s handled it very well,” receiver Troy Franklin said Monday. “He stayed ready. And when it came to one of our biggest games of the season so far, he showed up and he did what he needed to do for us.”

    That may be just the start for McLaughlin. Third-string RB Tyler Badie’s role wasn’t going to change, cemented as head coach Sean Payton’s third-down back. Rookie RB RJ Harvey has produced in fits and starts this season. McLaughlin wound up earning six carries against Kansas City and two key goal-line reps in the third quarter, and could be in the line for plenty more in the coming weeks.

    “Jaleel had a handful of good runs,” Payton said Monday. “I think with the flow of a normal game, he’s going to be important for us in this stretch.”

    McLaughlin’s sheer heart, though, won’t carry the Broncos’ backfield for two months. Particularly in short-yardage situations. Denver is now absent a heavier back on the roster. Rookie Harvey is the largest option, at 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds. Badie weighs in at 197, and McLaughlin stands at all of 5-foot-7. Practice-squad stash Deuce Vaughn is 5-foot-6 and 176 pounds.

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    Luca Evans

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  • Keeler: Broncos, Sean Payton want to make Bo Nix’s life easier? Get Marvin Mims Jr. more touches.

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    If you’re going to play with your food, Sean Payton, why not make it filet mignon?

    The Broncos are 6-0 this season when Marvin Mims has carried the ball at least once. They’re 11-3 in the regular season when that’s happened over the last two years. They’re 3-1 since September 2024 when Mims has received multiple carries.

    It’s all hands on deck, and this ship is wading into Super Bowl waters, just like Sunshine Sean said it would.

    J.K. Dobbins, your offensive MVP for Weeks 1-10, is lost for the season. You’re replacing those touches by committee from here on out. A dash of RJ Harvey. A smidgen of Jaleel McLaughlin, now your best downhill, between-the-tackles runner by default.

    But might we humbly suggest replacing a pinch of Tyler Badie with more pinches of Mims out of the backfield?

    Or Mims out of the slot?

    Or Mims out of anywhere?

    You can fake a run game over the last seven games of the regular season. You know when you can’t fake it? Against Buffalo or Baltimore in mid-January. Even at home with 80,000 Broncomaniacs at your back, screaming to Mile High Heaven.

    Parker Gabriel’s 7 thoughts after an AFC West-shaping win over K.C., including Bo Nix ‘begging’ Sean Payton to get plays called faster

    “(When) I get the ball. I want to make the most out of it,” Mims told me this past summer. “That’s something I pride myself in, is being an explosive playmaker.

    “So being a ‘gadget’ guy is a good thing; when someone (ESPN) tells you you’re the NFL’s best at something. It’s something that you kind of raise your ears at … but, yeah, I mean, when I see ‘gadget’ (player) I think, ‘explosive playmaker.’ Whether it’s in the return game, offense, screen game, deep pass, give me the ball. I want to make the most out of it.”

    Want to make the most of what’s left of this offense after the bye? Feature more of Mims in it.

    The ex-Oklahoma star appeared on 15 snaps against the Chiefs — just 24% of the offensive plays. Fullback Adam Prentice (19 snaps) got more run with the first-team offense against Kansas City than Mims, a two-time Pro Bowl return man.

    Yes, some of that was choosing discretion over valor. Mims can’t scare anybody from injured reserve. He’s coming off concussion protocol.

    Although by the time the Broncos take the field at Washington on Nov. 30, he’ll be four weeks removed from the ding he took against Dallas on Oct. 26.

    That said, do you want to win a Super Bowl or not?

    No skill player left at Payton’s disposal is as singularly explosive as Mims. And he reminded us all why against KC with another special-teams masterpiece — 101 punt return yards, a new single-game high, and the most by a Bronco since Trindon Holliday’s 121 in 2013. Mims’ 70-yard runback in the first quarter was another career best, putting the defending AFC champions on their heels at the Chiefs’ 21-yard line.

    He’s averaging 11.0 yards per touch from scrimmage since he entered the league. Badie is averaging 7.0 yards. McLaughlin is averaging 4.6 yards. If you don’t want to trust your eyes, fine. Trust the math.

    Payton knows how to do quirky, how to improvise when injuries wreck his best-laid plans. In New Orleans, he made Taysom Hill the archetype modern “gadget” weapon. The former BYU star became a 6-foot-2 utility piece. From 2019-2023, Hill bounced between tight end, receiver and quarterback, depending on whatever Sean had cooked up. Hill recorded five straight seasons with Payton in which he threw at least six passes, ran the ball at least 27 times, and picked up at least four receptions. Over those years, Hill averaged 456.8 passing yards, 392.6 rushing yards and 150.4 receiving yards per season.

    Broncos stock report: Jahdae Barron emerges as Vance Joseph’s tight-end stopper

    Payton is the NFL’s Baron Frankenstein, the mind of a mad scientist merged with Bill Parcell’s crusty soul. So why does it feel as if the only guy who can truly stop Mims with a head of steam in the open field is his own head coach?

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Grading The Week: Ex-Broncos RBs Audric Estime, Javonte Williams would love to have J.K. Dobbins’ problems right now

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    Where there’s a Williams, there’s a whoa.

    As in former Broncos running back Javonte Williams, the Dallas Cowboy who somehow managed to have a rougher week than his successor, J.K. Dobbins, did in London.

    For the first time since Week 1, the Javonte Train finally went off the rails. Despite what the fantasy experts on the Grading The Week team saw as a (makes finger quotes in the air) “favorable” matchup at Carolina last Sunday, the ex-Bronco was held to a season-low 29 rushing yards on 13 carries and 5 receiving yards on five grabs.

    Context: Despite a banged-up, messed-up offensive line in front of him across the pond, Dobbins still managed more rushing yards (40) and more total yards (also 40) on far fewer touches (14).

    Life of an ex-Broncos RB — D

    And yet Williams’ statistical stumble was cupcakes and rainbows compared to the week of his former teammate — and backfield mate — Audric Estime.

    Estime, the Broncos’ fifth-round pick out of Notre Dame in the 2024 NFL draft, was waived by Denver this past August after falling behind Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin on the depth chart. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Estime a few days later and stuck him on their practice squad.

    On Tuesday, our man Audric became unstuck. The Eagles released him.

    The ex-Irish runner remained inactive for all six games with the Birds, including the Broncos’ 21-17 win at Philly back on Oct. 5.

    Burning through two franchises over your first 18 months in the league makes for something of an auspicious NFL start for Estime, no question. But there’s one thing on the dude’s side: Time. He just turned 22 this past Sept. 6. If Estime can land on his feet, with head, heart and hands all pointing the same direction, he’s got time to re-write his narrative.

    Wedgewood’s start for Avs — A

    When the kids at the GTW offices can’t trust our eyes, we trust the math. After its first five games a year ago, the Avalanche had given up 28 goals (5.6 GAA) and had lost four times. After five games this fall to open the 2025-26 season, the burgundy and blue had surrendered just nine goals (1.8 GAA) while winning four of those five contests. Avs faithful may not know what a good power play looks like, but they know what it’s like to have a grown-up — Scott Wedgewood — keeping watch between the pipes.

    Meanwhile, our old pal Alexandar Georgiev — the man in net here to start last season — just cleared waivers in Buffalo and was spotted in recent days practicing with the AHL’s Rochester Americans.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • The Bo Nix Index, Week 5: How tempo, blitz recognition keyed QB’s fourth-quarter breakout

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    Eventually, they stopped talking about points. Bo Nix, and the rest of the Broncos’ offense around him made clear: they needed to go get six.

    They had punted on six straight possessions in Philadelphia. Nix was playing some of his worst football in a topsy-turvy start. He “wasn’t happy,” as he put it postgame.

    And then a shining version of Nix unfurled before the hostile Philly crowd, the best version of the second-year quarterback shooting the Eagles down in the fourth quarter in one of the most important performances of his young career.

    “We handled it how we handled it,” Nix said after the Broncos’ 21-17 win, “and we went out and won the game.”

    Welcome back to The Denver Post’s Bo Nix Index, reviewing every drop-back from Nix’s performance the previous week. For Week 5, let’s focus specifically on the factors that contributed to the quarterback’s star-making final frame: 9-of-10 passing, 127 yards, a touchdown. Plenty of reps both explained Nix’s erratic play early and his steadiness down the stretch. Here are four key themes.

    1. Nix favors tempo. It worked against Eagles

    Last week, head coach Sean Payton noted that Nix “likes tempo” to start a game — a kind of fast-paced offense that incorporates no-huddle and motion to wear defenses down. Within that, too, Payton hinted his staff has adapted to reduce verbiage in play calls so Nix can get to the line quicker.

    “He’ll have input like, ‘Hey, this is a play I really like, can we get that in?’” Lombardi said of Nix. “And nine times out of 10, we do it.”

    Denver went straight to tempo in their first drive against the Eagles. Nix clapped his hands in an early no-huddle third-down look, smoothly one-handing a high snap, pivoting, and firing a quick comebacker to Courtland Sutton for a first down. The Broncos went no-huddle three times across that first drive, and Nix moved them into Philadelphia territory before a sack by Cooper DeJean stalled the drive.

    After veering away from tempo in the third quarter, Nix got rolling in Denver’s early fourth-quarter drive with some faster looks. He hit Sutton again on a quick play-action back-shoulder ball for a first down to push the Broncos into Eagles territory. His eventual game-tying touchdown pass came off tempo, as Nix cycled through his reads while rolling out and found Evan Engram for a score.

    Nix has a 108.8 quarterback rating this season on play-action passes, and a 101.5 QB rating when taking less than 2.5 seconds to throw, according to Next Gen Stats. Generally, he appears to make quicker decisions when Payton speeds up opposing defenses.

    2. Nix scraps strange statue-feet habit

    As has been pointed out in previous Bo Nix Indexes, the QB is better when he actually sets his feet to throw — and more importantly, doesn’t drift. But Nix also has a particular mechanical quirk at the opposite end of the spectrum. At times, on quick-hits, he’ll take a snap and fire with only a tiny tap of his front foot, generating little lower-body momentum.

    Sometimes, it works out fine — like a second-quarter strike to Trent Sherfield, when Nix fired quickly to expose an opening in the middle of the Eagles’ zone. But it can also backfire.

    On a late Broncos third-quarter drive that stalled out, Nix had receiver Marvin Mims Jr. open on a short flare on third-and-2. He turned his body in Mims’ direction toward the right sideline. But instead of shuffling his feet again to point parallel at Mims, Nix planted near-horizontally and fired a sidearm throw. The ball sailed and tipped off an outstretched Mims’ fingertips for an ugly incompletion.

    Nix’s feet went topsy-turvy at times throughout the fourth quarter, as he’s wont to do. But each of his most visible strikes — a 10-yard hit to Troy Franklin, an 18-yard crosser to Engram, a pivotal 34-yard connection with Sutton — came with drive off his back foot. He switched off statue mode, and the Broncos were better for it.

    3. Nix deciphered and felt out pressure much more quickly in fourth quarter

    Broncos third-string running back Tyler Badie got more snaps on Sunday than rookie RJ Harvey, in large part because Denver trusts him more in pass protection (and two-minute situations). Badie absolutely wiped out Eagles inside linebacker Zack Baun on an early third-down ILB blitz.

    Harvey, meanwhile, got smoked by DeJean on a blitz on that same drive, and Nix nearly was dinged for a game-changing sack-fumble.

    That play knocked the Broncos out of field-goal range and an early opportunity to put points on the board. But it wasn’t all on Harvey. Nix had a few puzzling moments where he got himself into trouble against the Eagles by not feeling pressure off the edge.

    Harvey wasn’t even blocking DeJean on Nix’s blind side, and the quarterback had ample room to step up or even escape the pocket on that third down. This played out again in the second quarter, when Azeez Ojulari got an angle on Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles and hit Nix for an incompletion when he didn’t step up.

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    Luca Evans

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  • Sean Payton, Evan Engram got ‘pissed’ at each other in Broncos’ win over Eagles. Then they clicked.

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    Eventually, Evan Engram’s body language said enough for Sean Payton to speak up.

    The touches weren’t there on Sunday through three quarters. They hadn’t been this year. Payton trotted out reserve tight end Lucas Krull on Denver’s first offensive series of 2025 and has kept trusty Adam Trautman on the field for a majority of the Broncos’ snaps. As Denver sank in Philadelphia, their $23 million mismatch tight end again felt more like a mismatch for Payton’s offense than he did for opposing defenses.

    Payton sensed frustration, as Engram had one catch for minus-3 yards late into the third. And the head coach “got after him a little,” as Payton recalled postgame.

    Broncos Analysis: In dominating trenches vs. Philly, Sean Payton’s team finally has road map to loftier goals

    “I was pissed at him,” Payton said. “He was pissed at me.”

    The corners of Payton’s mouth turned up because of the breakthrough he ignited in an eventual 21-17 win in Philadelphia.

    “Don’t think I like it any other way,” Engram said. “I like to be coached hard. And Sean will definitely let you know when he’s upset. He’ll let you know even when he’s excited or happy, too.

    “So it was just good to start getting involved, and just help the offense.”

    Payton made an effort to call Engram’s number on a fourth-quarter drive that upended the game. And Engram made an effort, period. First came an 18-yard snag over the middle, as the 6-foot-3 Engram stretched for a fingertip grab on a first down. And as the Broncos motored into Philadelphia’s red zone with a chance to tie, Nix rolled out on a bootleg as Eagles outside linebacker Joshua Uche Jr. barreled down his line of sight.

    Running back Tyler Badie, flaring out of the backfield, wasn’t open. Courtland Sutton, Nix’s go-to man, was blanketed. So Nix did what he’s rarely done through five games: look back to Engram as a safety, sitting a few yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

    Engram caught Nix’s toss, ran through the diving arms of Philadelphia’s Jalen Carter, and dove into the end zone with his first score in a Broncos uniform.

    “He adds a level of experience, slash, competitive nature that not everybody in that situation has, especially not playing a whole lot, probably as much as he wanted to,” Nix said postgame. “But he never really complained, never wavered.”

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    Payton confirmed that Engram wasn’t Nix’s primary read on that game-tying score. That’s a key development for Denver. Engram’s slow start hasn’t come from a lack of play design. Nix and Payton have both said previously that the Broncos have scripted concepts for him. The problem has been that Engram hasn’t lingered often on the field on plays where he’s not a first target, and Nix has rarely looked his way as an escape valve.

    This is a process, the 31-year-old Engram has said. He found the next step in a four-catch, 33-yard day that felt much bigger in the fourth quarter than on the stat sheet.

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    Luca Evans

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  • Bo Nix shoulders blame for Broncos’ Week 1 offensive struggles: ‘I have to do a much better job’

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    They went one by one at the Broncos captains’ dinner on Monday, veterans of this league who have climbed the mountaintop and know the footing the trek requires. Wil Lutz. Talanoa Hufanga. D.J. Jones. Each gave their speech. Each bared their hearts.

    Last of all came Bo Nix, the 25-year-old anointed one who’s never met anyone who expects more of him than he expects of himself.

    He spoke and set a bar for a group of men who respected him enough to not only listen to his words but feel them. John Franklin-Myers and Marvin Mims Jr. recounted his words separately in the days to come.

    “We have this team that’s been put together. Each one of us are hand-picked,” Franklin-Myers recalled Nix saying. “But our goal should be to go out there and win every game.”

    There are three kinds of teams in this league, Nix continued, as Mims remembered. The team that wants to go out and simply compete. The team that wants to go out and win. And the team that wants to go out and dominate.

    These Broncos, Nix emphasized, needed to be the team that dominates.

    “Shoot, something like that is powerful from a quarterback, a younger guy,” Franklin-Myers said Friday. “And you see that type of fire from him, and it kinda gets you going.”

    Nix did not dominate in Sunday afternoon’s win over Tennessee, his first start since a rookie campaign that cratered and then skyrocketed. Far from it. He threw a bad cross-body interception in the first quarter on a ball that sailed to Courtland Sutton. He threw a worse one in the third quarter on a ball to a double-covered Troy Franklin that had no business even being thrown. He ran directly into a strip-sack in the second quarter for the first lost fumble he’s had since he played at Auburn. He finished 25-of-40 passing for 176 yards, a touchdown, and a passer rating of 60, the third-worst game of his NFL career.

    And still, new safety Hufanga came strolling to a podium postgame wearing a beaming smile and a grey T-shirt that had a giant decal of Nix.

    “I got a lot of confidence,” Hufanga said. “I wouldn’t be wearing this shirt if I didn’t have confidence in my guy. He’s a Christian man that just goes out there and leads us.

    “So, regardless of what kind of day he has, I know I got his back, and he got mine.”

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    Luca Evans

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  • Broncos Mailbag: Is Bo Nix and the Denver offense’s progress vs. Tampa Bay sustainable going forward?

    Broncos Mailbag: Is Bo Nix and the Denver offense’s progress vs. Tampa Bay sustainable going forward?

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    Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason. Click here to submit a question.

    What the heck happened with the Broncos on Sunday? Was it a favorable matchup against Tampa or were there other factors?

    Is having the lowest-scoring team in the AFC going to be the norm this season with the Broncos? What needs to happen to jump-start this lethargic attack?

    — Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.

    Hey Ed, good questions and thanks for writing in.

    It was probably a bit of several different factors for the Broncos on Sunday against the Bucs. First is just that Denver played quite a bit better. It wasn’t perfect, but they converted twice in the red zone in the first quarter and that was enough with the way the defense played.

    Sean Payton also knows Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles and his system well, has a ton of experience playing against the Bucs given his 16 years in the NFC South, etc. So that certainly didn’t hurt.

    Then, don’t discount the fact that Tampa was missing Vita Vea on the defensive interior and Antoine Winfield Jr. at safety. Those are two elite middle-of-the-field players who were missing from a defense that had already surrendered a lot of yards but had been stout in the red zone early in the season.

    At the same time, though, credit the Broncos for the things they did better offensively. Bo Nix looked more comfortable. He pushed the ball down the field on the opening drive of the game and loosened up the coverage. From there, he was able to settle into a rhythm. He still dropped back 39 times overall and Denver didn’t settle into its running game until Tyler Badie got going in the fourth quarter. But 26 points is going to win a lot of games, particularly the way Vance Joseph’s defense has been playing.

    As for your last question, I don’t think we’re looking at a sustained offensive explosion here. There are still going to be rookie ups and downs for Nix. They still have to run the ball more consistently early in games. They’ve still got to be better than a 50% red zone touchdown percentage and better than 4 of 13 on third down (though two fourth-down conversions and a late-game turnover-on-downs once the game was fully decided do soften the blow). The Jets defense is much more disruptive than Tampa’s. If Denver puts together a similar outing this weekend, now you’re starting to wonder if they’ve turned a corner.

    How the heck has Jim Harbaugh completely turned around the Los Angeles Chargers run game in his first year that Sean Payton hasn’t done?

    — Gibson Hazard, Colorado Springs

    Gibson, great question and thanks for writing.

    Pretty impressive from Harbaugh, isn’t it? They look like a different team entirely already. Obviously, Justin Herbert’s injury situation could scramble the picture, but the Harbaugh effect is clear.

    If it was easy to do what he did, everybody would. They made the right call, apparently, with JK Dobbins, who looks great. They drafted blue-chip tackle Joe Alt early despite having one in Rashawn Slater already on the roster. They committed to it. Fully. And the numbers so far early in the season back it up.

    One obvious difference with Harbaugh getting to Los Angeles compared to Payton to Denver is the quarterback situation. Harbaugh had no reason to even wonder if he needed to make a move there because of Herbert. Payton tried it with Wilson for a year and decided he had to go another direction. When you’re set at that spot, you can attack every other one in the draft and free agency. When you’re not, you have to do whatever possible to fix it.

    With Harbaugh in place, the AFC West only gets more daunting.

    Hi Parker, is it just me or did Bo Nix look more like the QB that played in the preseason? The game seemed to slow down for him on Sunday. Also, seems like Tyler Badie should be the starting tailback and Lil’Jordan Humphrey should be promoted to the 53-man roster. Thanks.

    — Brandon, Rogers, Minn.

    Hey Brandon, yeah, interesting thoughts.

    Last one first: Humphrey has already been promoted to the 53-man roster. Happened Saturday when the team put OLB Baron Browning on injured reserve with the foot injury.

    Badie may not be far behind at this rate. He can be elevated one more time from the practice squad — you’d have to imagine that’ll be Sunday against the Jets — before he has to be promoted in order to continue being in uniform on game days. The way the room looks now, it’s hard to imagine the Broncos wouldn’t do that. One other thing to consider: Badie would have to be promoted next week and then Audric Estime is eligible to return off of injured reserve Week 5. So there could be movement coming one way or another at that position.

    As for Nix, yeah, it was by far the best he’s played. It’s not a coincidence that it was also by far the least he’s been pressured through three weeks. Tampa was in the low 20s in terms of pressure percentage after Seattle and Pittsburgh pushed 40%. That’s a big difference. It allowed Nix to get settled into playing from the pocket and not get jumpy when an opposing jersey flashed in front of him or on the edge. It also led to his quickest time-to-throw of the season at a shade over 2.5 seconds. That’s quick and it’s just where Payton and company want it. Get to the line early, see the defensive structure, get the ball out quickly after the snap. That’s when Nix was at his best in camp and and during the preseason and it’s what helped power an improved outing Sunday.

    What’s going on with Javonte Williams? He was such a beast last year, but it seems like he can’t get into the next gear after contact this year.

    — Mike, Denver

    Yeah, Mike, it’s been a rough start for Javonte Williams. I’ll push back on your assertion on last year. It was remarkable that he even got back on the field, especially to start the 2023 season. But he lacked juice then, too, and it got worse as the season went along. Williams has now gone 13 straight games without averaging more than 4 yards per carry. His season average is at 2.2 per carry this year.

    It’s been said many times, but the knee injury Williams had in October 2022 against Las Vegas was a devastating one. Blazing speed has never been his calling card, but it looks like when he does break a tackle now, he has a tough time getting back to pull-away speed. At one point Sunday vs. Tampa, he looked like vintage Javonte in bulling through a tackle attempt, but then he tried to bounce outside away from the pursuit and it just didn’t yield much. You hope for his sake that his legs come back and he gets back to where he was in 2021 and early in 2022 before the injury. But so far it hasn’t happened.

    Greg Dulcich didn’t get a single target last week. Is he in the doghouse after those drops the week before? And Tyler Badie has to be RB1 this week, right?

    — Miles, Parker

    Good catch, Miles (no pun intended). Dulcich did not have a single target against the Bucs and, like I wrote earlier this week, it’s been another slow start to the season for the Broncos tight ends overall.

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    Parker Gabriel

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