Film Room: Breaking Down RB J.K. Dobbins' Broncos Debut

This first run is an outside toss, which requires vision, burst, and speed to be a threat to opposing defenses. The offensive line does a good job creating running lanes, but Dobbins lacks the burst and speed to hit them in a timely fashion. 

By the time  Dobbins does hit the open lane, the safeties already have plenty of time to work downhill and meet him on the other side. The lack of a burst through the hole isn’t there to catch safeties off-tempo. 

While this ends up as a solid gain for Dobbins, you can see what he lacks and how much it can hurt the offense by leaving yards on the field. A back with more burst and speed is probably turning this into an explosive run of at least 10 yards. 

Play 2

Another toss to Dobbins, and again, you want a back with vision, speed, and burst to make these types of runs a real threat to opposing defenses. Someone who can see the lanes, burst through them, and pick up yards in chunks to move the ball. 

This is another well-done job by the blockers up front, and with Broncos' center Luke Wattenberg pulling (he does miss his second-level defender), left guard Ben Powers and right guard Quinn Meinerz actually create a lane for Dobbins. The issue is that Dobbins lacks the burst to capitalize on the opening. 

From the moment Dobbins cuts upfield to the point where he reaches the hole, the Titans' defense has already closed it. The lack of burst from his cut to hit the hole with speed and pick up some chunk yards is noticeable, and Dobbins instead tries to cut it back outside, where the run doesn’t go for much of anything.

Play 3

This is Dobbins’ touchdown run, which is a textbook example of a lead zone executed well by the offensive line and fullback. Dobbins goes with the flow of the play and breaks through some bad tackle attempts to have an easy go of the touchdown run. 

Powers helps Wattenberg get good positioning on T’Vondre Sweat, before Wattenberg pancakes the massive nose tackle. Meinerz also helps right tackle Mike McGlinchey get good positioning on Jeffery Simmons to take him out of the play. 

From there, Meinerz and Powers climb to the second level to take the linebackers out of the equation, with left tackle Garett Bolles clearing Sebastian Joseph-Day from the lane. That leaves fullback Adam Prentice to play cleanup and take out the last defender in the path. 

Titans linebacker Cody Barton’s momentum carries him into the hole while blocked by Powers, with Wattenberg’s pancake of Sweat muddying the path, but Meinerz clears out the other linebacker, and a lane is open. The Titans defender lowers his shoulder to deliver a blow on Dobbins, instead of going to a normal tackle or even an ankle bite tackle, which the ball-carrier bounces off of. 

By this point, the Titans' defense has all pulled up to stop the run, and there is one last defender in Dobbins’ path. A strong stiff arm puts that defender to the ground, leaving nothing but open grass for the touchdown. 

The Takeaway

Again, Dobbins lacks the speed and burst to run the outside stuff that Sean Payton has added to the offense, let alone what the Broncos ran last year. This was evident when you watched Dobbins with the Chargers last year, which is why the Broncos' use of him on toss plays was somewhat puzzling. 

However, here's the key: Dobbins can still contribute to the run game with the inside stuff. The Broncos execute the inside zone plays quite well, and they had success running it against the Titans. There were bad runs, sure, but every concept is going to have those failures because the other guys get paid too. 

Dobbins has power, a strong stiff-arm, and his vision is more than adequate. The Broncos need to focus on getting him north and south without trying the outside stuff with him.

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Let Dobbins' power and vision pick up yardage between the tackles. If the Broncos want to work the outside game, their other backs — RJ Harvey, Tyler Badie, and Jaleel McLaughlin — are better suited for that with the vision and burst.