Denver Broncos Win Despite Dreadful Running Attack, Too Many Passes

Another week, another 50 passes thrown by Kyle Orton.

Another week, another look at Denver’s deficient ground game.

Another week, another nail-biter until the end (this time a victory).

We know Josh McDaniels, the ex-offensive coordinator of the record-setting Patriots offense of 2007, likes to throw the ball. We just didn’t realize he would fall in love with passing with Orton at QB.

Orton, who was regarded as not much more than a mediocre quarterback, has shown solid growth in his own game, his confidence, and how comfortable he is in McDaniels’ offensive scheme.

Through four weeks, Orton has been nothing short of O-mazing passing the ball. He surpassed 1,400 yards passing (1,419), which ranks No. 2 in NFL history for a QB after four games (K. Warner 1,557). Orton is actually on pace for 5,676 passing yards, 24 TDs, and 12 INTs, and even if he doesn’t sniff those numbers that would be a franchise first in yards, his all-world numbers aren’t all-around good for the Broncos.

Even McDaniels acknowledged the fact Tuesday on Sirius radio with SI's Peter King, "We can't continue to throw the ball 50 times and be the team we want to be. We need continuity."

The best teams in the NFL can and do mix their play-calling—either running to set up the pass or vice versa—but that doesn’t work for one-dimensional Denver.

To wit, the Broncos ran 20 times Sunday for a total of 19 yards, an amount that seems unfathomable, and Orton was actually the leading rusher (11 yards).

As McDaniels said today, “Until we can run, the burden falls on Orton and he’s handling it well.”

Yes, Orton is handling the burden by passing lights-out, 107 times in total in the last two weeks, but no one assumes he will be able to play at that high a level all season.

Especially when he’s getting hit all over the field. Orton may have led the Broncos to victory late in Sunday’s game, but he also found himself on the ground after the Titans sacked him six times (he’s been sacked 10 times in all through four games).

Which brings us to one of the biggest glaring weaknesses of the 2010 Denver Broncos—the offensive line.

Denver’s makeshift O-line has included three rookies as starters at times in J.D. Walton (C), Stanley Daniels (LG), and Zane Beadles (RT) and even with strong starter Ryans back (Clady, Harris) at tackles Sunday, the Broncos struggled.

Denver’s front was beaten off the ball and backs were repeatedly blown up in the backfield. In fact, the running game was so awful that the Broncos had only one positive run until the 4:30 mark in the third quarter—appalling indeed.

Denver’s offensive line couldn’t block and they were beaten up by Tennessee in Nashville. As the Denver Post’s Lindsay Jones said, “Right tackle Ryan Harris and center J.D. Walton each left LP Field on Sunday evening with bloody lips. Left tackle Ryan Clady had both knees wrapped in ice, and right guard Chris Kuper was just mad as heck.” 

Orton actually called the play of the Titans’ defensive line “cheap,” but the inconsistent Broncos plain got their butts whooped.

It’s simple football—run and stop the run and you will win most contests. Football is a physical spectacle, about hitting the opponent in the mouth, knocking him in the dirt only to help him up so you can knock him down again.

Denver didn’t have the edge in attitude away from altitude, and that goes for the running backs themselves too.

Laurence Maroney has been a special player since his start in the NFL seven years ago. McDaniels was part of drafting the tailback in New England and showed how in love he still is with Maroney when he started him in Week 3 and 4.

With Knowshon Moreno out due to multiple hamstring injuries, Maroney was an astute pickup, but Correll Buckhalter should have been given the rock. Maroney showed in Week 3 that he was hesitant and he again didn’t hit holes hard enough against the Titans Sunday (technically, Maroney had the best run of the day for Denver, a 15-yard scamper that was reversed by penalty).

Buckhalter on the other hand, has been in Denver since McDaniels arrived and seemingly always runs with a fury. Granted, Buckhalter didn’t do much either on the ground (six rushes for three yards), but he may have if given the chance from the opening gun.

Plus, Buckhalter is always a threat through the air, and he had five catches for 38 yards including the go-ahead touchdown with 1:33 remaining in the game. He also was wide open earlier in the fourth quarter for at least seven yards, which would have set up a 45-50 yard field goal attempt, but Orton forced a throw that was picked off.

And really, the Broncos are missing “no-show” Moreno’s speed, that would mix well with Buckhalter’s size (Maroney is somewhere in the middle) and McDaniels would be intelligent to run all three backs throughout games.

He could give each one his own drive to start the game, then stick with the hot hand later in the game.

Or McDaniels could call each one in and out of the game as needed, while showing off his “encyclopedic-thick” playbook as the Post’s Woody Paige called it.

Which is another point all its own, one that’s just as valid as the other two for reasons why the Broncos couldn’t run on Sunday—McDaniels has to be more creative with play-calling.

Where is the “Wildhorses” formation? Put Tim Tebow in at quarterback in it, with Orton out wide like a receiver with Demaryius Thomas, Eddie Royal, and Brandon Lloyd in at receivers as well. Then, have Tebow throw it slightly backwards to Orton, with any one of the three receivers streaking down the opposite side of the field. Something similar to what Kansas City ran last week (1:25 mark).

Constant short passes work, but only so well. Look what happened when Orton finally threw the ball up deep in the fourth quarter, there was a pass interference call and Denver got the ball on Tennessee’s one-yard line.

The NFL is based (and biased) on offense, you can tell by the increase in defensive penalties in the last few decades, most notably pass interference and illegal contact. It sounds counter-intuitive, but instead of drawing up a creative play, in today’s NFL, sometimes it’s best to chuck one up deep and hope for yellow.

In the end though, constant passing leads to continuous blitzing by the opposing defense—something both Baltimore and New York thrive on.

If the Broncos can’t run, they won’t win the next two games, and if it continues to that point, all hopes will be lost of even a .500 record, let alone playoffs (playoffs?).

Yes, these Broncos got lucky Sunday and pulled off a win, but all good teams get lucky in the NFL. Are these Broncos good? In some aspects (passing game, defense in spurts) they are great, and in others (O/D-line, special teams) they are terrible.

But Denver is growing together as a team and as individual players and if the many young players can gain some confidence a record of 8-8 to 10-6 is still possible.

Now it’s up to McDaniels to get his team ready to play in all three facets for another road battle with a physical defense, arguably the best team in the AFC in the Baltimore Ravens.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the CSU Rams and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner, Kurtzman is a Denver Broncos and the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist for bleacherreport.com and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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