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Nov 6, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton during the first half at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

How Sean Payton is Exacerbating Broncos' Offensive Woes

Originally posted on Denver Broncos on SI
By Erick Trickel | Last updated Nov 7, 2025 2:15 PM ET

The Denver Broncos may have beaten the Las Vegas Raiders, but Sean Payton should be embarrassed by himself and almost everyone on offense, except for the offensive line. For as much as Payton talks about running the ball, he sure hasn’t been calling the plays to run the ball.

Before the Broncos' 10-7 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Payton had been calling some run plays, and Bo Nix was changing out of a decent number of them. Now, it wasn’t enough ‘kill kill kill’ calls from Nix to fully make up the difference, but there were enough to note that as a factor.

However, there were only a handful of ‘kill kill kill’ calls against the Raiders, and the Broncos ran the ball six times in the first half. That is Payton not calling the plays, on a night where the wind was a factor and Nix was struggling to get anything going.

There was some improvement in the second half, but after a takeaway by the Broncos' defense that set them up on the 12-yard line, Payton called one run — a quarterback power — and ended up taking three points. Quarterback power hasn’t been run often by Denver, and with J.K. Dobbins dealing with an injury, it hasn’t been an excellent play for Denver.

"I felt like it was a night when it was third down, and I was looking on the wrong section of the third-down sheet, and when you get over there too much, it becomes difficult," Payton said post-game. "They did some things in their defensive scheme base versus some of our sub that maybe created some minus runs, but I was pleased that we closed it out. They knew we were going to run, we were going to run, and we were able to finish the game.”

No Balance = Football Vertigo

At the end of the day, this is on Payton, who needs to put up or shut up about the run game. For someone who has talked as much as he has about needing balance on offense, he isn’t calling the plays to give the Broncos balance.

Take that third-quarter 3rd-&-1 as an example on Thursday night. The Broncos had picked up 33 yards on the drive via seven runs; instead of continuing to hit on what was working, Payton called a trick play to Courtland Sutton that was snuffed out by the Raiders, turning a 53-yard field-goal attempt into a 58-yarder, which Wil Lutz missed.

Overthink things much?

The Importance of Rhythm

The Broncos have needed to find a consistent run game all season, and as with passing, running the ball needs to develop a rhythm, especially with the blockers. For the most part, the Broncos' offensive line has been one of the better units when run blocking, though their blocking from the tight end position has left a lot to be desired.

Payton will call a few runs, and after two or three unsuccessful attempts, he practically ignores the run game. Then, often in the second half, when he goes back to it and the Broncos find a rhythm, the running game does well and has helped close out games in the team's 8-2 start this season.

The Broncos' offense performs better when it can rely on the running game, and Payton has to get over it and stick with the run. He has to do what's needed to help take pressure off the passing game, which has been problematic for the majority of the season, especially outside of fourth-quarter magic.

The Takeaway

Payton has a habit of blaming anyone and anything but himself, but there is no one else to point the finger at for the lack of running calls against the Raiders, who are a mid-level run defense at best. Nix wasn’t changing out of run calls, like he has at a reasonable rate over the first nine games of the season, so that excuse isn’t valid for this game.

As the Broncos push for the playoffs, they need to get the run game going. The Broncos can’t keep going with the slop fest that has been their offense when they aren’t establishing the run.

That isn’t a recipe for success in December or January.