Take it on the run.
In the preseason, it appears the Broncos are using their running backs to create the big offensive plays that were missing last season.
The Broncos were stuffed twice at the 1-yard line during their second drive of Saturday night’s preseason game at San Francisco. When third-and-goal rolled around, the only plan was more of the same.
So Paxton Lynch handed the ball to C.J. Anderson, who darted ahead, paused, shifted to his right and then carried two defenders into the end zone for the touchdown he had narrowly missed on the previous two plays. He had no intention of being denied a third time.
The brute, physical running of Anderson in tight space was not a revelation during the Broncos’ 33-14 victory over the 49ers. Though they had the NFL’s worst third-and-1 offense in 2016, the Broncos have never doubted the ability of Anderson, who played in only seven games last year before suffering a season-ending injury, to find them a hard yard.
But add the early grind on the goal line to other elements of the running game that revealed them-
selves for the second consecutive week — namely, the presence of more explosive plays — and the Broncos had reason to leave California feeling confident about the direction of their rushing attack with the start of the regular season now just three weeks away.
“They can’t stop our run game, man,” said rookie offensive tackle Garett Bolles. “We love to run the ball, and that’s what we’re going to do until someone tries to stop us. Then we’ll figure out something else, but I can tell you right now that it’s going to be really hard to stop us when we play our game and we’re physical up front and we move the line of scrimmage and our running backs find the creases and hit the holes. We’re a tough team to beat.”
The Broncos rushed for 146 yards on 34 carries Saturday. In two preseason games, they are averaging 4.2 yards per carry. They averaged only 3.6 yards per attempt last season, tied for fourth-worst in the NFL.
The boon has come from big plays. Against the Chicago Bears in the preseason opener, it was De’Angelo Henderson’s 41-yard touch- down run late in the fourth quarter that tipped the scales. Against the 49ers, the Broncos struck a balance. Five ball carriers had a rush of at least 10 yards, the longest of which was backup Juwan Thompson’s 20-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
“Something that we all wanted to do since OTAs was establish that we wanted to be an aggressive running attack,” said Henderson, a rookie from Coastal Carolina who had six carries for 30 yards against the 49ers. “It started off with C.J. He made some plays, and then I came in and made some plays, then (Stevan) Ridley and then Juwan made some plays too. It all starts up front with those guys (on the offensive line), but we just want to be aggressive.”
The Broncos’ attempt to bolster a meager rushing attack centered on the offensive line during the offseason. And they could have four new starters on the line when they open regularseason play against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 11. New right guard Ron Leary, a starter on the Dallas team that had the league’s second-best rushing attack a year ago, was instrumental early in Saturday’s game in creating holes on the right side.
But the effectiveness of the running backs hasn’t been limited to the rushing game. Denver backs — including fullback Andy Janovich — had a total of nine receptions Saturday, and that doesn’t include the 9-yard touchdown catch by Henderson that was negated because of a holding penalty. Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy has moved the running backs into different receiver slots since training camp began to create favorable matchups.
Take the Broncos’ touchdown drive against the 49ers near the end of the first half. Trevor Siemian began the drive by hitting Henderson, who was lined up in the left slot, on a short out route of 4 yards, moving Denver across midfield. Later in the drive, on secondand-10 from San Francisco’s 25-yard line, Henderson was lined up on the far outside near the right sideline. He immediately broke in at the snap, caught a short, sharp slant from Siemian and burst up the field for a 16yard gain. On the next play, Henderson came out of the backfield, headed to the front corner of the end zone and caught what would have been a scoring pass from Siemian if not for the holding penalty.
It was a brief but telling window into how the Broncos are using their running backs to create the big offensive plays that were missing last season.
“It shows that we’re a versatile group,” Henderson said. “It shows that we’re not just guys who can run the ball. We can spread out wide, catch the ball and mix it up a little bit.”