Coachspeak can be difficult to dig through. But, every once in a while, a coach will tip his hand a bit in media interviews.
It’s no secret the Denver Broncos offense has struggled mightily this year, but they may have found a secret weapon.
New head coach Nathaniel Hackett is an offensive-minded man. He was supposed to revolutionize things in the Mile High City.
Beyond his addition, Hackett was given former superstar Russell Wilson as his quarterback.
And through eight weeks of the regular season, the Hackett’s offense is the worst in the NFL while Wilson is barely passable as a starting quarterback in today’s NFL.
At 15.1 points per game, Denver’s scoring is 30th in the league. They’re also dead-last in the red zone (35.0%) and 31st on third downs (29.2%). Hackett and Co. are wasting a phenomenal defense with a pathetic offensive attack.
All that floundering by the Broncos offense starts with Hackett. He is the play-caller after all, and there’s a good bit of evidence he hasn’t been setting up Wilson nor the rest of the offense for success.
“And I gotta learn how to call plays for Russ, I gotta learn how to call plays for all the players,” Hackett admitted to Sports Illustrated recently. “And we’ve been in the spotlight, all those things. And listen, we’ve got so much more that we have to do, so much more we have to correct. And there’s so much more room for being better.”
Here’s the good news: Wilson and Hackett both showed slight improvement in the Broncos’ last game, a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
And with any hope, the Broncos will continue to replicate that success over the next nine weeks.
Hackett called short and outside passes for Wilson, which got him going, and then the rookie head coach utilized the Broncos secret weapon, rookie tight end Greg Dulcich.
“Greg [Dulcich] did a very good job. I think a lot of the guys made some good adjustments. We were able to find some sweet spots in the zones,” Hackett explained on Tuesday.
Dulcich was a man on fire in London. In the Broncos’ longest drive of the year — the 98-yard scoring drive against Jacksonville — Dulcich hauled in receptions for 78 of those yards. He settled into zones nicely on two completions in the middle of the field, and then the 38-yard catch for almost a touchdown was another great play call by Hackett.
And Wilson, who’s struggled against the zone, dropped the pass in beautifully over the corner and under the safety help to his athletic tight end.
“I thought Russell did a really good job going through his progression versus zone,” Hackett explained. “It actually switched them up and made them play a little bit more man-to-man. Then we were able to adjust and go after the man-to-man. I think that’s part of the game—just all of us as a group working together and getting a feel for that. The 98-yard drive was against a couple zones [defenses]. We had great protection, and then Russell was able to see the different progressions and complete the ball.
“Once we can get in that rhythm, we can adjust off of how they are going to adjust to us. That’s how you see an offense come together.”
Remember, teams build off of momentum. Not just in-game, but from week-to-week, too. And chemistry between a quarterback and his receivers doesn’t just happen over night, it takes time.
There’s still room for the wide receivers to improve, too. Per analytics, Jerry Jeudy is playing at the level of a mid-range No. 2 receiver, while Courtland Sutton is playing like a No. 3 guy. Someone has to step up and be “the guy.” Maybe it will be Dulcich after all.
Dulcich has played a mere three games and has already racked up 182 yards, which is third on the team behind Jeudy and Sutton.
Not only has he emerged as a true pass-catching threat, but Jeudy and KJ Hamler have played better football as of late, too.
There’s no magic wand to wave over the team and make them play better, but the good news is, at the halfway point in the season Hackett, Wilson and the rest of the offense finally have some positive momentum building.
Will there be more rough spots and rough games? Of course, especially with this difficult schedule on the horizon: Titans, Ravens, Chiefs (2) and Chargers are on the docket.
But with any hope, Hackett’s secret weapon Dulcich will help propel the offense forward, Wilson will continue to read zones at a better clip and Denver will be a more balanced team in the second half.