INGLEWOOD, Calif. — J.K. Dobbins pranced behind the north end zone of SoFi Stadium, waving goodbye to the few Chargers fans who still remained in their seats after another crushing loss.
The Broncos running back grinned from ear to ear, putting his hand to his ear as if to say, “I can’t hear you.”
He might have been even happier 30 minutes later. Dobbins broke into a big smile when asked what changed between his first four games of the season, when he averaged 40.25 yards per game, and Sunday afternoon, when he rushed for 68 yards in the Broncos’ 23-17 win over the Chargers.
“You tell me what was different?” he asked a reporter.
Unprompted, Dobbins brought up Denver’s play-calling shift from offensive coordinator Davis Webb to coach Sean Payton.
“Look, (Payton) knows me well. He knows me very well and I know him well. You can see a chemistry between us, and the team, the offense,” Dobbins said. “That’s what was different.”
Several Broncos said the play-calling went smoothly with Payton on the headset. Quarterback Bo Nix said “not a whole lot” changed in Denver’s offensive operation despite the switch.
But an operational disaster almost sunk the Broncos in the fourth quarter. Leading by a field goal with 2:29 left in the fourth quarter, Denver had the ball at the Chargers’ 19-yard line. Payton elected to substitute with less than 12 seconds on the play clock, leaving Nix rushing to try to get the play off. Instead, the Broncos took a delay-of-game penalty, the type of procedural infraction Payton despises. The Broncos ultimately kicked a field goal, but it was a costly time to take a penalty when a touchdown would have ended the game.
“Listen, I kicked myself a little bit. We got sped up on the one and ended up taking the delay, which is the difference between (taking the knee), instead we’re defending,” Payton said about the penalty.
There wasn’t much of a difference in offensive production, either. The numbers in Payton’s debut calling plays looked nearly identical, if not worse, than the output under Webb.
From Sunday:
– 23 points, 224 yards, 1 of 12 on third down (8.33%), 3.9 yards per play, 118 passing yards, 3.7 yards per rush, a 40% touchdown rate in the red zone and one turnover.
The team’s season averages with Webb as play-caller:
– 18.5 points, 280.3 yards, 21 of 53 on third down (39.62%), 4.9 yards per play, 199 passing yards, 3.6 yards per rush, a 63.4% touchdown rate in the red zone and 1.25 turnovers per game.
Sunday’s game also came against the worst defense Denver has faced this season. Entering Week 5, the Chargers had the 24th-ranked scoring defense in the NFL. The Broncos had previously faced the second-, third-, sixth- and ninth-best scoring defenses in football through the first four weeks. Plus, the Chargers were without top defender Derwin James Jr. on Sunday.
Denver scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, but all of its drives started on Los Angeles’ side of the field. First, a Marvin Mims Jr. punt return set the offense up at the Chargers’ 27-yard line. Wil Lutz missed a short field goal. Then, the defense gifted Nix and the offense three consecutive stops — a turnover on downs, a forced fumble, and an interception — to set the Broncos up in plus territory for the rest of their drives.
“I want to play so much better for them,” tight end Evan Engram said.
A few things changed with Payton at the helm. The Broncos ran it a season-high 29 times, including a season-high 18 carries for Dobbins. Payton also called a nice misdirection play to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in the first half that went for a solid gain. The 62-year-old coach appeared energetic along the sideline, holding his massive play sheet as always.
“He was definitely chomping at the bit (to call plays),” Engram said.
Last week, Payton implied he stripped Webb of play-calling duties because the offense wasn’t playing at a “championship-caliber” level. After Sunday’s matchup, his tone changed slightly.
“You’re always looking for small steps,” Payton said. “… It was good enough to win, but there are still a number of things that we need to improve on.”
With a championship-level Seattle Seahawks defense coming to the Front Range on Thursday, the Broncos’ offense will need to make those improvements quickly. Regardless of who is calling plays, Denver needs to play better offensively.
Otherwise, that championship level the organization has talked about all season will seem more like a distant hope than a reality.
