What Happened to Branden Oliver, Chargers Rushing Attack in TNF Loss to Broncos?

San Diego Chargers undrafted rookie running back Branden Oliver came into Thursday Night Football looking to continue scribing his storybook season.

Before facing a vigorous Denver Broncos run defense, Oliver ran for 282 yards and two scores in his three previous starts. Tonight, a contrasting narrative went down under the lights of Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

On 13 carries—the lowest total he's received in three starts—he ran for 36 yards. For those of you fantasy owners keeping track at home, that comes out to 2.8 yards per carry.

In all fairness, that number was inflated. Had it not been for a 23-yard gain with 18 seconds left in the game, he would have finished the night with just 13 yards.

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So what happened? How did one of the most productive backs over the past month become a non-factor?

A lot of credit has to go to the Broncos and their outstanding run defense.

Leading up to tonight's divisional skirmish, the Broncos had allowed rival teams to run for just 74.3 yards per game. Add in the 61 yards they gave up tonight and that total shrinks to 72.4. Right now, that would be good enough to trump the Arizona Cardinals for the best run defense in the league.

It feels like every time you bring up the Broncos you have to give credit to John Elway. The job he did accumulating talent in the offseason has made this team better in all facets of the game.

A good chunk of the names on this defense have been killing it from Pro Football Focus' (subscription required) perspective. Tonight's performance should keep that anecdote alive.

The Broncos are a really good defensive football team, and the more time they get to mesh, the better the product is they put forth on the field. For Oliver, he ran into a great defense on a short week. That combination wasn't going to help his cause.

All of the guys wearing orange stepped in and eviscerated their foe at the line of scrimmage.

Around the NFL writer Chris Wesseling used the Twitter machine to weigh in on what he saw tonight:

True NFL aficionados will tell you that the 1996 Green Bay Packers led the league in both of those categories.

The blame can't solely be handed to Oliver. San Diego's offensive line didn't do its job either.

Watching Oliver perform over the past couple of weeks, you'd think the Chargers were fantastic in run-blocking situations. That couldn't be further from the truth.

By Football Outsiders' count, prior to Thursday's game, they actually were ranked No. 30 amongst the most effective run-blocking units in the league. Despite Oliver's best efforts, things haven't been as easy as he's made it look.

Here's an example of his vision turning a potential no-gainer into a solid run against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Even though we don't know for sure if this was a designed cutback run pre-snap, Oliver takes the handoff and dashes toward the right side of the line.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Right away he notices that guard Chad Rinehart allowed his man to close that lane in a hurry. Oliver plants his foot and cuts upfield. By doing so, he picks up a nice eight-yard gain.

This example may be minuscule, but it shows you two things: One, it really highlights Oliver's natural vision finding running lanes. Secondly, it also shows you that he isn't running behind an authoritative offensive line.

The Broncos were able to penetrate that line and clutter Oliver's cutback lanes. He couldn't use his natural ability to overcome that.

When the All-22 film comes out, it's going to be compelling to see exactly how they achieved that feat. It's almost like the Broncos decided they were going to let Rivers test them and commit a ton of their resources to stopping the run.

If that was the case, we now know that plan worked out.

Moving forward, all hope isn't lost. The Broncos are very good at what they do, which makes the Chargers look a lot worse than they actually are.

The fact they can air the ball out at will and they have Rivers under center works in their favor. Most defenses don't have the resources to stop both aspects of this offense.

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Finding ways to improve is key. For the Chargers to get back into the AFC playoff picture and, more importantly, contend, their offensive line is going to have to get better at the point of attack and win more consistently at the line of scrimmage.

Some of that may come from making adjustments and tweaking their scheme. However, the bulk of it is going to come down to each and every guy on that line. Can they find a way to dominate when it matters the most?

Despite a 35-21 loss to the Broncos, this is still a gifted football team. After losing two straight games, we're about to see their true character.

Unless noted otherwise, all game scores and information come courtesy of ESPN.com.