J.K. Dobbins celebrating his rushing touchdown in the first quarter against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium, that was the highlight reel stuff. But when you dive into the snap counts from the October 11 game, a win for the Broncos, some serious questions pop up about how their offense is really rolling early in the season. Despite getting the W over the Los Angeles Chargers, a closer look at who was on the field and for how long shows some real points of interest for Denver fans.
Offensive Line Grind and Receiver Rotations
Consistency for an offensive line is usually a good thing, and the Broncos certainly had that with their starting five. Guards Ben Powers and Quinn Meinerz, tackles Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey, and center Luke Wattenberg all played 100% of the offensive snaps. Quarterback Bo Nix was right there with them, taking every single offensive snap. That’s your core right there, grinding through the whole game. What was a bit of a curveball, though, was Alex Palczewski getting eight snaps as the sixth offensive lineman. That’s almost as many snaps as he had in the first four games combined. You’d think that kind of personnel decision would mean they were really leaning into the ground attack.
Out wide, Courtland Sutton led the receivers with 50 snaps, good for 81%. Jaylen Waddle was next up at 40 snaps (65%), followed closely by Troy Franklin at 39 (63%). Dobbins, even with his early score, was only on the field for 52% of offensive snaps. Tight ends Adam Trautman and Evan Engram were neck and neck at 30 snaps each, both playing 48%. It’s a bit of a mixed bag in terms of who they’re trusting to be out there consistently, especially when you consider what those O-line changes were supposedly for.
The Run Game: More Questions Than Answers?
So, Palczewski plays a bunch more snaps, presumably to beef up the run blocking. Dobbins rushes for a touchdown in the first quarter, which is awesome. He got 18 carries on his 32 snaps. RJ Harvey got three carries on 23 snaps, and Tyler Badie managed one carry on his seven snaps. Adam Prentice, the fullback, played six snaps. The Broncos offense did rack up 106 yards on the ground, which sounds okay on paper. But when you break it down, that was on 29 carries. That works out to a pretty pedestrian 3.65 yards per carry. Despite the extra offensive lineman getting more work than the fullback in this game, and Dobbins taking a significant number of carries, that average really tells a story about how much they had to work for every yard. It didn’t seem like the increased O-line presence truly sparked the run game efficiency they might have been hoping for.
Defensive Backfield Shuffles and Special Teams Surprises
On the defensive side, the backfield saw some major players inactive. Cornerbacks Pat Surtain II and Riley Moss were both out, which meant we saw Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Sean Fresch activated. Despite those key absences, cornerbacks Jahdae Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine, along with safety Brandon Jones and linebacker Alex Singleton, all played 100% of the defensive snaps. That’s a huge workload for that group stepping up.
Special teams also had some interesting usage. Adam Prentice, the fullback, actually led the team in special teams snaps with 20 (67%). Tyler Badie was right behind him with 18 special teams snaps (60%), matching linebacker Quandarrius Robinson. Fresch, who was activated due to the inactive corners, also saw 18 special teams snaps (60%). It shows how much they had to lean on some guys in different roles to make up for those defensive absences.
Even with the win, that 3.65 YPC average isn’t going to cut it long-term for Denver. And with key defensive backs sidelined, the secondary had to really step up. The Broncos snagged the W, but it’s clear they’ve got some aspects of their game to sharpen up if they want to keep that winning feeling going through the early season.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Mile High Report.
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