Welcome back, and keep the queries coming. Today’s comes from Sam Latona:
Q: I am very happy with all aspects of the 2009 Broncos, except in one area. They are sluggish starters, especially on offense. They are on defense, as well, but seem to adjust more quickly on “D.” Fast-starting offensive opponents will hurt them if the Broncos’ offense does not turn this around. They have been on the ropes in a few games already and got bailed in San Diego by Eddie Royal. Mike Shanahan’s teams on offense always came out and dictated the beginnings of games. … What is this attributable to, and has the coaching staff been trying to address this issue?
A: The Saints lead the league thus far, having scored 31 points this season on their opening drive of games and having scored 48 points in the first quarter overall.
Four teams have scored at least 40 first-quarter points this season — the Saints (5-0), Vikings (6-0), Packers (3-2) and Giants (5-1). The Broncos have scored 24 points in the first quarter this season and have trailed at the end of the first quarter in each of the last three games.
So, yes, they are strong finishers, which is a good thing, but a sluggish first quarter will eventually sting quite a bit if they get somebody’s best shot in the coming weeks.
And they have not scored on their opening drive all season. And even in their best first quarter — 10 points against the Raiders — they could not pound the ball into the end zone after a second-and-goal from the 2-yard line.
To me, the issue is probably the fact that teams had far more to work with in terms of preparing for the Broncos’ new coaching staff on offense, where Josh McDaniels has been running a similar playbook to the one he used in New England. So, those teams have likely been a little better prepared coming out of the gate but wore down as the Broncos executed well as the game moved along.
On defense, nobody was sure what they were going to do because McDaniels had not been a head coach before and Mike Nolan has run a variety of defenses over his career, to go with the fact they didn’t show much in the preseason. So they were more of an unknown on defense.
Also, the Broncos have not consistently run the ball early in games, choosing to throw the ball more than they have run it in the first half of five of their first six games. They rushed for 97 yards in the first half against Cleveland — their best running day of the year — but rushed for 42, 53, 24, 51 and 37 yards before halftime in their other five games.
I think that has allowed defenses to settle in some along the line of scrimmage.
That said, however, McDaniels acknowledged Wednesday it was an issue for the team, and the coaching staff was set to do some self-evaluation as well to make sure it was not falling into predictable patterns on either side of the ball, but particularly on offense.
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
