ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos' run game has started to get things rolling.
And as the team returns to Denver after two hard-fought wins on the road, Head Coach Sean Payton said he believes the success may have stemmed from the team's internal reflection following Week 2.
"After that first two week start, we really wanted to begin to look at like, 'All right, it starts with us as coaches,'" Payton said Monday. "What are the things that we feel like we do well, particularly rushing the football? What are the things maybe we don't do as well? What RPOs [run-pass options] do we like? Which ones do we not like? Who are we asking to do these things?"
In Sunday's 10-9 win against the Jets, the Broncos seemed to show that they've found some answers on the ground.
During a game that featured tough weather conditions and forced both teams to rely more heavily on the run game, running backs Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin answered the bell. The duo combined for 123 rushing yards, with Williams leading the way in what was his strongest performance of the year. Williams was particularly key on a fourth-quarter drive that led to the game-winning field goal, as he totaled 35 rushing yards and averaged seven yards per carry on the possession. McLaughlin, who brought a spark to the run game with a rushing touchdown against Tampa Bay in Week 3, commended his teammate for the breakout performance.
"I knew it was coming," McLaughlin said Monday. "He's going to keep doing that and more throughout the whole year. … He's a very confident guy; he knew it was coming as well. We all believe in [Javonte], and we believe in each other. So, it's nothing new. You see that … he's just doing his job. He's going to keep doing that. I'm excited for him for sure."
Williams and Co.'s performance comes after the Broncos tallied a season-high 136 rushing yards in a Week 3 win.
Williams was among several offensive players to do their job on Sunday, as the offensive line played a key role in creating rushing opportunities while also preventing rookie quarterback Bo Nix from being sacked for the second consecutive game.
"It starts up front," McLaughlin said. "The offensive line did an awesome job, as always. We just said, 'Hey, look, we got to do what we got to do.' We just got to work as hard as we can with the conditions to help this team get a win. … That was definitely our mindset."
This mindset mainly took hold in the second half, as Nix also said his focus when he came out of the locker room was to "find ways to win the game" and "find a way to make it work" despite the tough conditions. Nix did just that, leading a go-ahead drive in the third quarter that was capped off with his first career touchdown pass. And while the rookie was quick to credit the offensive line with doing its job to keep a clean pocket and allow him the time to make key plays, Payton stressed the importance of not overlooking Nix's role in the success — and his ability to get the ball out quickly in high-pressure situations.
"[It's] probably a little both," Payton said of Nix and the offensive line being able to avoid sacks. "I think the sacks statistic, by and large, is more a quarterback statistic than an offensive line statistic. There's some quarterbacks that are more difficult to protect for and some that aren't. We saw all the time on college tape [that] he was someone that got rid of the ball. It would become frustrating to rush, if you will, because of his ability to throw it away or to flush and find an answer or an incompletion. It's something that he's done well throughout his career. Then certainly with the offensive line, that's a pretty good front we just played. There were a handful of matchup concerns and protections issues that we discussed. If you said to me when the game ended that he was not going to have any sacks and [Jets QB] Aaron [Rodgers] would have five, I would've felt that was a little challenging."
The Broncos' offensive line helped provide that level of success, and Payton volunteered that guard Quinn Meinerz received a game ball for his play on Sunday against a dynamic New York front.
"I thought we were physical," Payton said of the game.
As the Broncos now look ahead to Week 5, there seems to be a clearer picture of the offense's identity and what the team's potential could be. But as Denver seeks to continue stacking wins and build off the strong performances of the last two weeks, Payton said there is still plenty of work to be done when it comes to execution.
"That's still a work in progress, and I want it to rest on [the offensive line's] shoulders, too," Payton said. "Especially late in the game. We [had] a chance late in the game really with the final play on third down. Before we attempt the field goal, we can ice it there with a quarterback kind of crack sweep and we just didn't get the blocks we needed. We're building on that, and I think it's going to be important for us going forward."
