The most significant numbers from the Broncos’ loss at Oakland on Sunday night were ones they would like to forget. Of the 60 minutes of playing time, their offense played less than 19. Of their 51 plays, only 12 were runs.
In the days since that divisional loss to a once-bitter rival, the Broncos have preached new points of emphasis: time and opportunity. They need to stay on the field longer, and they need to create more chances to run the ball.
But the common denominator to making both happen is improved play by the offensive line, a position group that has taken as much if not more heat than any other on the Broncos over the past two seasons.
“Kind of used to it now,” said left tackle Russell Okung. “I’ve been the scapegoat since I was 10 years old. This isn’t anything new. But honestly, I don’t mind it. We’ll do better, and I have a good feeling that things will turn around for us.”
To casual fans, the “turnaround” can only come from a revised system and a new cast of players. But Okung, his coaches and others who have played in the system believe otherwise.
Change, they say, starts at the most basic level.
“There’s a multitude of things and facets that are happening: techniques and tracks, and itap everybody that we’ve got to get it right,” said offensive coordinator Rick Dennison. “Make sure that we’re kind of seeing everything with the same set of eyes. And thatap what we’re trying to do. They’re working hard at it. We just have to overcome.
“Then obviously you start to panic, and things don’t happen. We’ve got to calm down and do what we do best and go back to basics, is basically what we’re trying to do.”
The offensive line is both the foundation and launching pad for the offense. And the Broncos’ line, for the better part of the past 16 months, has often been out of sync, with penalties and missed assignments common. The Broncos have been called for 71 penalties this season, 19 of them offensive holding calls.
“It comes to technique, it comes to ability, it comes to play-calling,” said Mark Schlereth, the former Broncos guard and current radio/TV analyst, who added that it’s lazy to say the Broncos’ problems on offense are only because of the line.
“Itap everybody,” he said.
Schlereth said the shaky play up front, which has led to collapsed pockets and few lanes for rushers, is happening all over the league. It’s not about whom to block, Schlereth said, but how. Technique needs to be honed, but collectively bargained rules — only 14 padded practices allowed in the regular season — limit opportunities to do so.
But with seven games remaining for the Broncos, a positive change is vital to jump-start the running game and steady the offensive play. At Oakland, the Broncos opened with four consecutive three-and-outs as the Raiders took a 13-0 lead. But against Houston two weeks earlier, the Broncos provided an example of just how efficient the system can be when the front five are in unison and the running backs hit their lanes.
Using a variety of runs, the Broncos amassed a season-high 190 rushing yards against Houston to balance their 157 passing yards.
“The run game is a patient consistent game,” Okung said. “I think it just comes down to doing things right, fundamentally, and really giving the running back confidence that you can open those holes for him. For us, we just have to stay consistent in that pursuit, and I think before you know it, we’ll break some big runs.”
Dennison agrees. And if the process leads to some frustration, well, he’ll take it.
“Hopefully they’re frustrated enough that we work together to get it fixed,” he said. “Itap not that they’re trying to do it poorly. Itap just we’re not getting it done. We’re not quite in sync. Frustration’s not a bad thing sometimes.”
