Mile High Report
How well did Denver’s offense hold up against the league’s best rushing defense?
We all knew this was going to be tough game for the Denver Broncos to win. Not only do the Baltimore Ravens boast the most potent offense in the league, but their run defense is unmatched. Baltimore, on average, is giving up nearly seven yards a game less than the second-best team (Ravens at 75.7 and the next-closest Vikings at 81.9). And the Denver rushing attack has been good, and great at times, but the offensive line and the backs had their work cut out for them.
What we now know, as we look back on the game, is that the Broncos weren’t good enough running the ball on Sunday. That might be an understatement to many of you. They weren’t able to run the ball consistently enough to extend drives, keep their offense on the field, and whittle down the clock.
And while it wasn’t good enough, can we still call what what they did good, all things considered? Let’s take a look.
Note: This breakdown will not be including any scrambles by Nix. These are considering designed running plays only.
In the first half, the Broncos had 16 rushes for 41 yards, coming out to an average of just 2.6 yards per carry. The longest rush went for seven yards and the shortest went for -1 yards.
Javonte Williams carried the bulk of attempts in the half with nine, Jaleel McLaughlin had the second-most with five, and Michael Burton had two attempts, going for -1 and zero yards, respectively.
In the second half the Broncos had eight rushes for 45 yards, coming out to an average of 5.6 yards per carry. The longest rush went for 21 yards and the shortest went for one yard.
Audric Estime lead the backfield in attempts with 5, and Williams had the other three rushes.
Williams finished the game with 3.5 yards per carry, Estime had seven yards per carry, and McLaughlin had two yards per carry.
Denver predominantly ran to the right (14 of 24 carries), with six rushes to the right tackle, eight to the right guard, four up the middle, three to the left guard, and three to the left tackle.
I thought the Broncos did a decent job running the ball, at most times, but there was also a lot of yards left on the table, and on many plays the Ravens just did a great job defensively. It’s no fluke that they’re the league best. Their linebackers make great reads, fly around, and crash hard, and the safeties were making plays at the line of scrimmage from 15 yards back. You have to respect them.
But to Denver’s credit, the offensive line, especially the interior, was consistently displacing the defensive line. They hardly got stalemated at the line of scrimmage. And Ben Powers looked better this week than he did the last two.
Most plays came...
