Broncos looking to rev it up to stop slow starts

By PAT GRAHAM
AP Sports Writer

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.(AP) — The Denver Broncos’ 6-1 start puts them
among the league’s elite. Their inability to score on their
opening drive, however, places them among some dubious company.

The Broncos have been outscored 39-24 in the first quarter and
they’ve trailed at halftime four straight weeks. They learned
Sunday at Baltimore that they can’t keep counting on their
second-half surges to carry them.

Denver joins Oakland, Kansas City and Houston as the only teams
not to score on their opening offensive possession yet this
season, according to STATS LLC.

So, why has the Broncos offense sputtered out of the starting
blocks?

Mistakes, poor play calls, bad protection – the list is long.

The Broncos know they can’t afford to start slowly against
Pittsburgh on Monday night because the Steelers (5-2) are one of
the league’s fastest starters, and playing from behind isn’t the
forte of Josh McDaniels’ low-risk offense.

“(There is) kind of just a lack of execution to start the game,”
quarterback Kyle Orton said. “It is going to be a critical point
in this game … We certainly can’t expect to win if we are down
10-0 or 14-0 to start off the game. We are going to have to
figure it out and get it going by Monday.”

McDaniels has never been a coach to rely on a scripted set of
plays, preferring to keep an open mind. That’s contrary to some
coaches in the league, who painstakingly plan out the first 15
or so offensive snaps.

“I mean, I have some things that I want to do early in the
game,” McDaniels said. “But no, I’ve never been a big fan of
just scripting because the ball could be anywhere on the field
and certain situations dictate that you don’t want to call that
there or what have you … It’s never been something I’ve done.”

Orton, on the other hand, is used to a more scripted offense
from his days in Chicago. But he doesn’t think that’s a reason
for Denver’s lukewarm starts.

“That is not an excuse,” Orton said. “We certainly know the
plays that we are calling early in the game and certainly should
be able to execute them.”

The Broncos were hounded and hassled all afternoon by a bustling
Baltimore defense in their first loss of the season on Sunday.

Being a copycat league, Orton expects more of the same from a
stout Pittsburgh unit.

“If you play a good team and don’t execute very well, then you
are going to have trouble,” Orton said. “(That is a) huge
priority in practice this week, making sure we have three or
four great practices and to be on top of things and be ready to
go by Monday.”

Orton has been labeled a game manager for methodically leading
the Broncos down the field. He doesn’t take big risks, throwing
just one interception all season – and that was in the first
half against New England.

However, the Broncos also have struggled to stretch the field at
times this season, turning in just six passing plays of 30 yards
or more. That includes Brandon Stokley’s game-winning catch at
Cincinnati, when he hauled in a tipped pass and sprinted 87
yards for the touchdown in the closing seconds, and Brandon
Marshall’s 51-yard catch-and-run against Dallas.

McDaniels would like nothing more than to see more explosiveness
out of his offense.

“We’ve done that this year at times, and then there’s been other
times we didn’t,” McDaniels conceded.

Typically, the Broncos rely on a sensational second half to
offset a slow start. They had been outscoring teams 76-10 after
halftime. But Baltimore bucked that trend, returning the
second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to take firm
control. The Ravens outscored Denver 24-7 after halftime.

“I think everybody is frustrated that we didn’t play very well
last week,” McDaniels said.

Baltimore may have just provided a blueprint for how to bully
around the Broncos as the team kept the pressure turned up on
Orton.

Did the Ravens discover Denver’s Achilles’ heel?

“Baltimore didn’t do anything eccentric that the first six
opponents didn’t try to do, either,” McDaniels said. “They
played hard, they played physical, and they played better than
we did. If that’s a blueprint, I think everybody is pretty much
following it.”

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