Grounded approach to run game
Broncos want to be ‘physical, running football team’
Sometimes a simple message hits home with surprising impact.
It doesn’t even have to be new information, necessarily. Time and place and the deliverer can take something that’s obvious or old news and renew its sense of importance or urgency.
Take Denver quarterback Russell Wilson this week.
At the Broncos’ outdoor podium after a run-of-the-mill training camp practice, he delivered a mostly standard-for-him barrage of relentless positivity and sunshine about where he thinks his team is with a little less than a month before the season opener.
And he also happened to slip in some insight that gets right to the crux of what head coach Sean Payton and the Broncos front office spent the entire offseason — and tens of millions of dollars — trying to build on the offensive side of the ball.
“We’re feeling really confident in what we’re doing and the identity of what we want to be. Obviously being a physical, running football team, being a team that can also throw the ball around the field.”
First thing out of his mouth after “identity”: physical. Run the football.
This has been the plan all along, of course. Payton’s talked about it since he was hired in February. The Broncos prioritized a pair of big-ticket offensive linemen during free agency in Mike Mcglinchey and Ben Powers, plus fullback Michael Burton, tight end Chris Manhertz and running back Samaje Perine.
But for Wilson to say it so plainly spoke volumes.
As Denver heads into the second half of August and toward its Sept. 10 opener against Las Vegas, though, it’s difficult to ascertain exactly where the offense
is in its quest to become a big, nasty, rolling-downhill run-game machine. Part of that is because of health — Javonte Williams’ admirable comeback from an October knee injury and Mcglinchey’s sprained knee earlier this month among the key factors — but also because 9-on-7 drills and preseason games can only tell part of the story.
At Arizona, Denver’s first half featured 29 pass calls and seven rushing attempts. That’s not at all indicative of what a 17-game season is going to look like.
Really, not much is. Take what offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said this week about Williams, the third-year running back who much prefers running through defenders to skirting around them.
“He’s one of those guys that you’re not going to fully appreciate until it’s real football and he’s breaking tackles and pushing piles,” Lombardi said.
Neither are part of the equation during training camp, even on the longest and most grueling August days.
Same with a run game in general. Offensive line coach Zach Strief has drills and meetings galore to work technique, landmarks and scheme. Players spend time together on and off the field to build chemistry. But that’s not all it takes to take over a game on the ground.
“The first thing is having a play-caller that’s committed to doing that, which we have. That’s important,” Strief said in reference to Payton. “Then the biggest thing for these guys is — the scheme is fine and we have to have good scheme for them, but they have to commit to it, too. There’s a lot of mindset and mentality in running the football. Things aren’t always clean when you’re running the football. Things don’t