Payton's First Move to Fix Broncos' Offense Has to Be Early-Down Failure

This comes despite the Broncos having an offensive line with a top-10 block win rate and the No. 1 pass-block win rate. Sharp discussed this in more detail in this YouTube clip, focusing a bit on the Broncos' Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. 

While some of the woes can be blamed on Sean Payton's play-calling or the failure to connect on passes, some can be explained by the run game and the defenses the Broncos have faced.

To be sure, the Chargers have a quality defense, so it's not surprising that the Broncos might go three-and-out a couple of times. The issue comes with a team like the Tennessee Titans, which doesn't have a quality defense.

As far as why early down success is important, it's the difference between having second-and-short or third-and-short situations as opposed to second-and-long and third-and-long situations.

Let's say the Broncos gain just two yards on first down, putting them at 2nd-&-8. That means the Broncos have more work to do to gain a first down. That's particularly true compared to gaining five yards on first down.

And if the Broncos do gain five yards on first down but just one yard on second down, they have a third-down situation that may be manageable, but not as easy to convert as it would be if they gain four yards on second down.

Run Game Improvements

Some would say that a run game that averages 4.5 yards per run play is the ideal rushing game to have. While that's true, a better way to describe it would be an offense that averages 4.5 to 5 yards per play. That's a sign of an offense that moves the ball well and is likely to have more success on early downs.

Run game improvements will help, and some of it falls on the offensive line. Center Luke Wattenberg has struggled with run defense, and that makes it difficult for the Broncos to run up the middle. The Broncos may need to consider a change there.

It may also help the Broncos to activate third-year running back Jaleel McLaughlin on some gamedays and take advantage of his ability to run around the ends. Left tackle Garett Bolles and right tackle Mike McGlinchey are good run blockers, and several Broncos receivers can block well, so that would take some pressure off the run game in the interior.

Another thing that might help is rookie running back RJ Harvey gaining more experience and getting more up to speed on the NFL game. He is a rookie, and while he has shown flashes, he's not yet at the level he needs to be to have consistent success.

It has helped that veteran back J.K. Dobbins has improved his yards per carry since Week 1 (3.9 vs. Titans, 5.4 vs. Indianapolis Colts, and 7.5 vs. Chargers), but he does need a little more consistency. If he can do that, coupled with improvement from Harvey, the Broncos' run game should get better results.

The other issue that will help is that when protection is there, Nix needs to look more for the open guy on short and intermediate routes. That could help move the chains, but at a pace that doesn't give the ball back to the opponent too quickly.

While Payton may want to examine his play-calling, the bigger issue he needs to address is personnel. Ultimately, he's the one who decides who will play at center or who will be the third back active on gameday.

The Takeaway

As Sharp notes, the Cincinnati Bengals are a team that isn't good on defense, so the Broncos need to show they can execute better on offense and have more early down success in Week 4. We'll see whether the Broncos can get things figured out to the point they can have more early success, not just against the Bengals this week, but other teams later on the schedule.