Chargers vs. Broncos: Breaking Down Denver's Game Plan

The Denver Broncos have a short turnaround this week. After beating up the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, the Broncos have no time to relax as the San Diego Chargers come to town for a Week 8 showdown.

For the second week in a row, the Broncos achieved perfect balance on offense.

In the game against the New York Jets, Denver had 33 passing attempts and 33 rushing attempts. In the game against the 49ers, they had 27 passing attempts and 27 rushing attempts. Finding perfect balance may not be achievable against the Chargers on Thursday night.

Broncos head coach John Fox likes the way his team has prepared on this ultra-short week.

“Very good. I think we’ve grown a little bit at least in the tenure of guys I’ve been around. Some of the new guys brought a little bit of that element to it.” Fox concluded, “They’ve been involved in a bunch of Thursday night games so I feel good about it. We’ve had an excellent week of preparation.”

The Chargers are heading into Sports Authority Field at Mile High coming off a loss to the divisional rival Kansas City Chiefs. San Diego loves to control the time of possession, but against the Chiefs they had their own philosophy used against them. The Chiefs held the ball for almost 40 minutes in Week 7, and Philip Rivers only had the ball for about 20 minutes.

We’ll see a similar strategy attempted against the Broncos this week. The Chargers will try to play defense against Peyton Manning by having a time-eating offense on Thursday night.

Let’s take a look at how the Denver Broncos will attack the San Diego Chargers on both sides of the ball.

When the Broncos Run the Ball

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Ronnie Hillman is looking better than ever as the starter for the Broncos over the last two weeks. He’s been doing so good, Montee Ball may not come back to the starting job when he returns from his groin injury.

Hillman did something last week against the 49ers that he’d never done in his pro career (during a game) before—he made defenders miss in the open field. He’s already super fast and plays with electric quickness, but if he adds elusiveness to his game, then Hillman can continue to produce as a runner for the Broncos.

He had shown elusiveness in practice, but he failed to translate that same success to the playing field when the games matter. Hillman is playing with great confidence now, and the team believes in him.

Offensive coordinator Adam Gase praised Hillman after practice on Wednesday.

“You can see he’s getting comfortable. The more you do it, the better you’re going to get at it. And I think the more reps we give him and keep him on the field and kind of do the plays to his advantage which we’re trying to do—he’ll keep having success.”

In addition to running the ball, Hillman also gives the team another explosive weapon in the passing game. Behind Hillman, the Broncos have a combination of power backs in Juwan Thompson and C.J. Anderson.

The Chargers run defense is 13th in the NFL this season, averaging 106.9 yards allowed per game. Over the last two weeks, both the Chiefs (154) and the Oakland Raiders (114) have been able to get over the 100-yard mark against the Chargers. They’re struggling in this phase of the game, while the Broncos are surging. The Broncos could continue to have success on the ground on Thursday night.

When the Broncos Pass the Ball

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The Broncos’ best bet to win the game against the Chargers rides on the arm of Manning. They’ll want to establish a balanced offense, but the Broncos have to anticipate that no lead is safe against a quarterback like Philip Rivers.

Manning has seen everything a defense can throw at him, so it’s not like the Chargers are going to surprise the veteran quarterback. Gase knows that Manning’s experience gives them an edge.

“I think experience helps. He’s seeing almost everything you can throw at him. It’s probably slowed down for him quite a bit. And his work ethic’s never changed.” Gase concluded, “Maybe a lot of other older quarterbacks feel like maybe they have it and they don’t need to work on it as hard, but he works on it like he’s a second- or third-year player.“

We might see the Chargers try to play defense against Manning by limiting the time of possession for the Broncos offense. Gase knows that could be something the Chargers want to do on Thursday night.

“I’m pretty sure it couldn’t be any worse than the Kansas City game where we had two possessions in the second half. So I think we’re prepared for basically whatever’s thrown at us at this point.” Gase continued, “We just know to make the most of every possession that we’re on the field and try to score touchdowns. Settling for field goals is no good against these guys.”

Gase is right—kicking a bunch of field goals won’t get it done against an opponent like San Diego. That’s why the Broncos should go the air early and often.

Emmanuel Sanders scored his first touchdown with the Broncos last week. His speed will be a great asset against a Chargers secondary that is going to be playing without cornerback Brandon Flowers (concussion). Add in other weapons like Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker and Julius Thomas, and it could be a big day for the Broncos passing game.

San Diego’s pass defense is ranked third in the NFL allowing an average of 209.6 yards passing per game. They’ve surrendered 11 passing touchdowns and have only picked off four passes (18th) all year long.

The Chargers have compiled only 15 sacks this year, a mark that is tied for 16th in the league. By comparison, the duo of Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware have 15 sacks so far this year. San Diego doesn’t get much of a pass rush, they don’t pick off many passes and they could struggle to slow down Manning and the Broncos in Week 8.

When the Chargers Run the Ball

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The Chargers are down to third-string running back Branden Oliver. He’s been starting for the team recently, and the undrafted free agent has been fantastic.

Oliver is a compact player with the speed, quickness and foot frequency to create his own space with ease. He gets to and through the hole quickly, and Oliver can make defenders miss in the open field. Oliver is also a good receiving threat out of the backfield.

Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has been encouraged by the way his run defense has played this year.

“I think what I’ve talked to our guys about is our pad level and our understanding of where we belong, the tenacity of the front and the tackling has been very good and that’s been reflecting in how we slow those two teams down.” Del Rio continued, “Those two teams that we slowed down are very good running teams and if you’re not on top of your game they can expose you so that was then, good job, but we move on and we look for things that we can continue to work on.”

The Broncos are ranked third in the NFL with only 74.3 rushing yards allowed per game, and they’ve only allowed five rushing scores in 2014. Part of their strong numbers against the run comes from the fact that opponents fall behind to Manning and the offense, so they have to abandon the run in order to play catch-up football.

This defense is playing strong against the run, and the Chargers could have to follow a similar path to what the 49ers did last week. San Francisco attempted 46 passes and only ran the ball 18 times in Week 7. The Chargers have to be ready for a similar situation this week.

When the Chargers Pass the Ball

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Philip Rivers loves a challenge. The Broncos defense has a swarming pass rush that can make most any quarterback uncomfortable. Rivers is a quarterback who can make plays with the defense swirling around him, and he’s only been sacked on 4.4 percent of his dropbacks this season.

He can make deep passes look easy with big targets like Malcom Floyd. Rivers can also work the underneath routes with receivers like Eddie Royal.

In addition to those two, the Chargers have one of the best tight ends in the league in Antonio Gates. The basketball-to-football star has been playing at a high level this year.

Del Rio was noncommittal when commenting on who could cover Gates on Thursday night.

“You always have things available and certainly you want to be able to put out the fire. You don’t want the guy to be able to wreck the game so we will definitely have a plan. We understand he’s good. There are other players who are really good as well. It can’t be all about him. It has to be about them—slowing them down. Like I said, they’re very good at what they do.” Del Rio emphasized, “They’ve been possessing the ball, converting third and shorts and those are things we want to try and avoid. We’d like to keep them at third and longer and get them off the field.”

Denver’s pass defense is tested most every week because teams have to implement a pass-happy game plan to keep up with the Broncos offense. They are ranked 18th in the NFL, allowing an average of 242.5 passing yards given up per game. Their five interceptions rank 17th in the NFL, and their 21 sacks are tied for third-best in the league.

Summary 

The Broncos have a huge test on Thursday night in what has to be considered a must-win game against the Chargers. The fact that they’re playing on a short week doesn’t help.

Rivers is a difficult quarterback to contend with. The Broncos should be able to put Rivers under duress, but he’s the type of quarterback that thrives under pressure. Denver needs to make sure that they get to him quickly and get him down on the ground as soon as possible.

Oliver is a big-play back with quickness and speed. The Broncos rush defense can bottle him up as a runner, but he’s also a threat as a receiver out of the backfield. If the Chargers fall behind, the team could certainly use Oliver to eat up yards quickly off short passes.

With the Chargers' banged-up secondary, the Denver passing attack should be able to move the ball through the air with ease. The larger question is what the potential production they get from their ground game will be.

Most of the games on Thursday night have been blowouts. This game has the potential to be the best matchup we’ll see on Thursday night all season long. AFC West supremacy is on the line, and it’s never too soon to start thinking about playoff seeding either.

All quotes and injury/practice observations obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information provided via email from the Denver Broncos unless otherwise noted. Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac.com. Transaction history provided by ProSportsTransactions.com.