Denver Broncos Becoming Full Fledged Ground-and-Pound Team
The Denver Broncos have become a full-fledged ground-and-pound team over the last few weeks. The team has made a fantastic transition right before our eyes. They’ve made the move out of necessity, and the change was prompted by a 22-7 loss to the St. Louis Rams in Week 11.
In that game against the Rams, the Broncos only gave nine carries to starting running back C.J. Anderson. Over the last three weeks, Anderson has 80 carries. This three-game trend shows the Broncos' intent with their offense.
The Broncos want to establish the run game to lead the way and play tough defense. Some teams have sold out to take short passes away from Peyton Manning. This leaves deep throws open for Manning to target, but it also leaves holes up front for the running backs.
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Rather than take low-percentage throws downfield, the Broncos have chosen to pound the rock on the ground. The Broncos will still take a few deep shots, but mostly after the running game has been established to set up play-action passing.
Streak Snapped
Peyton Manning had his streak of 51 games with a touchdown pass come to an end on Sunday. Had he thrown a touchdown, Manning would have tied Tom Brady for the second-longest streak (52) in NFL history. It was the first game in his Broncos career where he didn’t throw a touchdown.
After the game, Manning said he could care less about breaking more records.
“That is something that—I’ve broken a lot of records and set a lot of records due to playing for a long time and playing well at times, but it’s never been something that I’ve been about. So I don’t need to break or set another record.” He concluded, “It was important to get a win tonight. [RB] C.J. [Anderson] did a good job down there in the red zone, getting in there on those runs.”
Manning continued, “Those are hard earned runs down there. It was good to improve our red zone. We didn’t score many touchdowns last week and that was the difference tonight, being able to score touchdowns in the red zone as opposed to settling for field goals.”
Manning had thrown at least three touchdown passes in all six Broncos home games this year. He’s thrown at least three touchdown passes in 17 of his 23 home games with the Broncos. Sunday was time for C.J. Anderson to carry the load once again.
C.J. Anderson Emerges
After the Buffalo Bills game, Anderson was in great spirits and feeling good:
"#Broncos CJ Anderson tells me he's feeling good after #Bills game
— Cecil Lammey (@cecillammey) December 8, 2014 "
| 1st 10 Games | Last 3 Games | |
| Rushing Attempts Per Game | 24.3 | 36.3 |
| Rush Yards Per Game | 89.9 | 113.5 |
| Yards Per Carry | 3.7 | 5.03 |
It’s likely that Anderson has done enough to keep the starting job when Ronnie Hillman and Montee Ball get back from injury. Anderson’s heart and determination can be inspiring to his teammates, and he certainly has won over the hearts of Broncos fans.
Now that he’s emerged, Anderson wants to keep getting better each week.
“That’s the goal. The goal is to get better, keep improving. I think the biggest thing is my teammates not letting me get complacent, telling me every day, ‘You’ve got to keep grinding. You have to keep working.’ I’m good as long as the big boys up front are good.” Anderson concluded, “As long as they keep doing what they’re doing and I keep picking the right spots, we’ll make it happen.”
The Power of Juwan Thompson
Behind Anderson, the Broncos have another power back in undrafted rookie Juwan Thompson.
Thompson likes how their rushing attack can keep defenses honest.
“It helps a lot. You don’t want guys just dropping into coverage every down because they know it’s a 95 percent chance we’re going to pass the ball. Now it’s 50-50, so we keep everybody on their toes.”
Anderson softens up defenses with his relentless style, then Thompson comes in and smashes opponents with as much (if not more) force.
Offensive Line Improves
Left guard Orlando Franklin likes the new commitment to the ground game.
“You’ve got to be able to lean on people. [RB] C.J. [Anderson] did a great job in the red zone for us and we’ve got to continue to take care of business. Whether the offense is on one day, whether the defense is on, whether the special teams is on, each and every week—look at last week, we had five field goals last week. We got in the red zone but we weren’t able to score seven. Instead we scored three points.”
Franklin emphasized, “This is the NFL and you’ve got to be able to feed off your teammates and you’ve got to be able to take care of business.”
In their 10 victories this year, the Broncos are averaging 4.37 yards per carry as a team. The lowest average they’ve had in a victory is the 3.2 yards per carry they registered in Week 1 with Montee Ball leading the way against the Indianapolis Colts. The highest average they’ve had in a victory was the 5.7 yards per carry in Week 12 against the Miami Dolphins where Anderson had his breakout performance.
In three losses this year, the Broncos are averaging a mere 2.36 yards per carry. Against the Seattle Seahawks they could only muster 1.8 yards per carry. That number moved up a bit in the loss against the New England Patriots (2.5) and even further against the Rams (2.8).
The offensive line has been shuffled multiple times this year, but this team has finally found the right combination.
Summary
Manning doesn’t mind losing out on passing statistics. He’s mainly concerned with getting more “W’s” as the Broncos march toward the playoffs. If the postseason started today, the Broncos would get a first-round bye as the second-seeded team in the AFC.
Anderson has emerged, and it looks like he’s here to stay. Not only is Anderson getting to show off his talent on a weekly basis, the Broncos are showing the intent to keep running the ball in order to control a game. When Anderson needs a breather, the Broncos can keep hammering a defense with Juwan Thompson.
The offensive line is playing better, and this helps the entire offense. The running game creates a strong foundation for the game plan each week.
The Broncos used to be a pass-happy team, but that record-breaking team in 2013 fell short in the Super Bowl. If the Broncos get back to the Super Bowl this year, they want to be sure to have balance in order to give themselves the best shot to win a championship.
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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