New England Patriots - NESN.com
Contrary to what you might think of a conference No. 1 seed, the Denver Broncos quietly had one of the worst rushing offenses of the league’s playoff teams.
This is due in large part to the Week 10 injury of starting running back J.K. Dobbins.
Dobbins led the team in rushing nine times in his abbreviated regular season, posting two triple-digit performances.
The team averaged 128.6 rushing yards per game in those 10 weeks. This pace would have put them on par with the New England Patriots and inside of the league’s top-10 rushing attacks.
In the eight games since he went down, Denver averages just 100.3 yards per game; fewer than any other playoff team.
Reports emerged earlier this week that the running back could be ready to go when the Patriots walk into Mile High to play for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.
However, the final injury report revealed that the running back, who was a limited participant all week, has officially been ruled out, along with starting quarterback Bo Nix.
For the Patriots, this news could not be any better.
When it comes to stopping the run, few do it better than the Patriots.
New England held the Houston Texans’ starting running back, Woody Marks, to just 17 yards on 14 carries in the divisional round.
The Los Angeles Chargers did not have any better luck in the wild-card round. The team’s leading rusher was quarterback Justin Herbert, while running back Kimani Vidal averaged just 2.8 yards per carry on 11 rushes.
