The Broncos set the tone for their best rushing day of the season Sunday on their third snap against Arizona.
After Brett Rypien opened with a pair of quick completions to Jerry Jeudy, the Broncos got tight ends Andrew Beck and Eric Tomlinson involved.
Out of the shotgun on first down, Beck motioned across the formation to the right and kicked out the end man on the line of scrimmage. Tomlinson, lined up offset to the left, followed behind Beck’s motion and served as the lead blocker for Latavius Murray, who cut up the middle behind center Graham Glasgow and finished an 8-yard run by pushing Cardinals defensive back Budda Baker about three yards up the field.
By the time Denver had finished off a 24-15 victory, the offense had 168 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns and its running back group had combined to average 5.5 yards per carry.
“Whenever you can get in a rhythm — we talk about rhythm a lot and itap primarily in the pass game — but it also goes with the run game,” head coach Nathaniel Hackett said. “To be able to call a run and get a two-yard gain, sometimes thatap good. You can get back to that same run or get to a different one once you get a different picture.”
For the extensive pass-protection issues the Broncos had in the first half — Rypien had been sacked six times by intermission — the front line did a solid job creating room to run for Murray and Marlon Mack.
The tight end group had perhaps its best day blocking in the run game. Tomlinson is always solid and Beck, who had played just 13 offensive snaps since Week 7 and missed five full games due to hamstring injuries, made a difference, too.
“It was great to get Beck back,” Hackett said. “When you have him back there, he gives you another dimension with his ability to move and create some angles and we used all those (tight ends). (Eric Saubert), Tominson and (Greg) Dulcich. All four of them I thought did a really good job,” Hackett said. “We were able to present some different pictures, go to some different personnel (packages) and we really committed to the run game.”
Wide receiver Freddie Swain, signed from Miami’s practice squad in the middle of the week, immediately became perhaps the team’s best blocking receiver.
“He started, he played three positions, he was all over the field, had a catch and he’s only been here for a couple of days,” Hackett said of Swain on Monday.
Murray only got to the Broncos in Week 5, but he’s become one of the central players in their offense. He rushed for 130 yards Sunday, including the Broncos’ two longest offensive plays of the day — rushes of 35 and 21 yards.
“Latavius got into a really good groove,” Hackett said. “There were some guys in the hole that we didn’t get blocked and he was the eraser. He made some guys miss and went for some extra yards. We were going outside, inside, there were just a lot of things we mixed up that I thought made it efficient.”
Murray, 32, is in his ninth season and no longer has top-end speed, but has been durable and carried the ball a season-high 24 times Sunday. In 131 previous games, Murray had only logged that many carries three times and hadn’t seen that workload since getting 27 carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns for New Orleans on Oct. 20, 2019.
“I knew he was an older back (when we signed him) and I didn’t know if we were going to be able to feed him every game the rest of the season,” Hackett said. “But he’s definitely earned it and he’s definitely put himself in position. He looks fresh, excited and wants the ball more. He does a good job understanding his body, because he’s a true pro, when he needs to come out. Itap great to be able to get Marlon (Mack) in there and get some reps. He’s done some really good things.”
Even if the Broncos get receiver Courtland Sutton back for the final three games of the season and have to continue shuffling around offensive line options, perhaps they’ve reached the point where the staff feels it can lean more heavily on Murray, the tight end group and the rest of the Broncos run game.
“We’re not doing it one way and I think thatap something that you can really build on,” Hackett said. “You’re not just stuck on ‘Hey, throw the ball to Jerry (Jeudy) every time.’ We can do play-action, we can run the ball. It gives the defense a lot of different things.”
