What Happened to the Broncos Run Game in Loss to Rams?
The Denver Broncos had a bad week. The Broncos failed to get their ground game jump-started in Week 11 against the St. Louis Rams. Denver dropped their third game of the 2014 season, losing 22-7 against St. Louis—the lowest scoring total in the Peyton Manning era for the Broncos.
While Peyton Manning passed for nearly 400 yards (389) on Sunday, the team was only able to muster 28 rushing yards on 10 carries. Starting running back C.J. Anderson carried the ball only nine times in Week 11, and five of those carries came in the first half. No other running back carried the rock for the Broncos, and only Manning registered another carry in Week 11.
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So what happened to the Broncos run game in the loss to the Rams? Let’s take a look.
C.J. Anderson
In the first start of his two-year pro career, C.J. Anderson had over 100 all-purpose yards. Most of his production came as a receiver out of the backfield as the Broncos went almost exclusively to the air in order to move the ball against the Rams. Anderson finished the game with eight catches for 86 yards and only nine carries for 29 yards on Sunday.
On the team’s first series, they didn’t run the ball. They went only four plays for 24 yards, and Denver didn’t even take two minutes (1:58) off the game clock.
Anderson’s first carry (in the picture below) didn’t come until there was 5:02 left in the first quarter. Right tackle Louis Vasquez pulls to the left side of the formation to be a lead blocker for Anderson. Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree beats Vasquez to the point of attack, and he tackles Anderson after a four-yard gain:
As we’ve seen in previous weeks, the Broncos use another offensive tackle as a tackle-eligible player to add more power up front. Here we see tackle Paul Cornick lined up essentially as a tight end while the Broncos are using a 12 personnel package. Anderson runs in between Vasquez and Cornick for a six-yard gain—he was hit about three yards past the line of scrimmage but spun around for another few yards to complete the run:
Here’s the same formation and a similar run for Anderson—but with only a one-yard gain as a result. Vasquez once again misses Ogletree, and the young linebacker gets to Anderson before he can even build a head of steam:
This carry shows Anderson getting the rock with a clear rushing lane in front of him to the left side of the formation. Guard Manny Ramirez is pulling to the second level with the target of Ogletree in his sights. As you can see, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders is also moving into position in order to block a defender from the Rams secondary:
Ramirez misses Ogletree and Sanders fails to get to his man. The result is another one-yard gain for Anderson.
The Broncos abandoned the rushing attack in the second half even though they were within striking distance of the Rams for almost the entire game.
The starter at the beginning of the season, Montee Ball has missed the last five games due to a groin injury he suffered in the game against the Arizona Cardinals earlier this year. He was back on the field for the Broncos this week, but Ball didn’t do much.
Ball didn’t carry the rock at all for the Broncos. He was only on the field for a small handful of snaps, and Ball didn’t look like his old self. He lost about 10 pounds during the time he was out in order to help him be lighter and quicker on the field, but Ball looked slow and lethargic when he was playing.
On two targets, Ball had two drops and seemed to re-injure his groin on his second target:
"Why was Montee Ball sent back in to game after he just missed 5 weeks with groin injury. Doctors can be second-guessed too.
— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) November 16, 2014 "
Ball is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday, and we’ll have a better idea of his injury status after more testing is done.
Juwan Thompson
The Broncos barely used Juwan Thompson in Week 11. Once Ball re-aggravated his groin injury, there were only two healthy backs (Anderson, Thompson) available for the Broncos.
Instead of using Thompson to give Anderson a breather from time to time, Anderson played most every snap in the second half. Thompson, like Ball, only saw a small handful of snaps on Sunday.
Thompson finished the game with zero rushing attempts, one target and one reception for five yards as a receiver out of the backfield.
The Offensive Line
The Broncos have tried a few different line combinations this season. For the second week in a row, the Broncos had the same group of offensive linemen in the starting lineup.
Ryan Clady was at left tackle, Orlando Franklin at left guard, Will Montgomery at center, Manny Ramirez at right guard and Louis Vasquez at right tackle.
From my observations, Montgomery once again did a decent job in the middle. Franklin and Ramirez struggled at the guard position, especially when asked to get to the linebacker level. Even Vasquez had some struggles, as previously highlighted in this article.
Broncos head coach John Fox didn’t spend a lot of time discussing the team’s offensive line problems after the game against the Rams. “In a lot of games when you get one dimensional it is not a fun day at the office when you play up front. But give them a little more credit than other concerns.”
The Broncos could look to free agency in order to help out their struggling unit. They worked out veteran guard Richie Incognito last week but did not sign him. After a poor showing against the Rams, they could have a change of heart this week.
Summary
The Broncos need to have more of a commitment to running the ball. Anderson has the talent to be a quality starter, and he’s proved his versatility with two straight games with over 100 all-purpose yards.
Denver needs to give Anderson more carries as the lead back—and he could be the starter for longer than originally anticipated:
"Broncos RB Ronnie Hillman was expected to miss at least 2 weeks with foot injury, but it also could be as many as 6 weeks, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 16, 2014 "
With Hillman out and Ball banged up (again), Anderson has to continue with a large role for the Broncos. It would be wise for the team to lean more on the ground game in order to achieve the balance on offense they’ve worked so hard to have in 2014.
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.
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