Mile High Report
By the end of the first half all of us were screaming at our TV’s for the Denver Broncos to run the dang ball. After the game we found out that it was partially Bo Nix to blame for a lack of run plays in the first half (he would check out of many of them), but Sean Payton did take the majority of the blame. And we also saw this type of play calling last year. A lot of passing.
But this year should be different. The Broncos actually have a legitimate backfield at their disposal. That was made very apparent in the second half.
And that’s what I want to take a look at. The second half felt a lot more productive on the ground. Why is that? I’ll attempt to answer that question.
*All stats are for designed carries by Harvey and Dobbins only*
The Broncos running backs ran the ball 22 times on Sunday for a total of 133 yards (6 ypc). In the first half they had seven rushes for 24 yards (3.4 ypc) and the second half had 15 rushes for 109 yards (7.3 ypc).
JK Dobbins took the larger load with 16 carries (four in the first half) and RJ Harvey had six carries (three in the first half).
Denver mostly ran out of Singleback (nine times), but they also line up in the I (five times), Pistol (five times), and Gun (three times). Singleback was their primary formation in either half, but the I formation brought them more successful rushes (any rush of four or more yards) of any formation in the latter half. Gun was essentially useless, and Pistol produced Harvey’s 50-yard carry.
The Broncos had nine successful rushes out of their 22 carries (41% success rate). Two of them came in the first half (29%) and seven of them came in the second (47%).
Both of their carries in 21 personnel went for eight yards (100% successful rush rate), and each half featured one rush out of that personnel package. 11 personnel had three successful rushes on seven attempts (43%) and all of those came in the second half. 22 personnel was their third-best package with two successful rushes on five attempts (40%). All rushes out of this personnel package came in the second half, all of them were with Dobbins, and it also accounted for their sole rushing touchdown.
Play-wise, Inside Zone ruled their scheme, with Inside Zone, Inside Zone Swipe, and Inside Zone Lead accounting for 59% of play calls. They netted them 55 yards (4.2 ypc) and accounted for seven successful rushes. Most of these came in the second half.
In the first half the most rushes they had on a single drive were two, and this happened twice. In the second half the most rushes they had on a single drive were four, and this happened twice.
The Broncos didn’t switch things up much from the first to the second...
