The Denver Broncos face their toughest challenge yet on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
Denver Broncos three most important storylines vs. 49ers
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton has said it himself that the team has to find a way to play more efficiently in the first half, rather than relying on second-half comebacks. Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers puts this Broncos team up against one of their toughest tests of the season.
Broncos offense can’t find themselves in a hole vs. San Francisco
One of the fastest keys to avoiding a slow start for the Broncos offense is staying on schedule. In each of the first three weeks of the season, Denver’s offense has had some breakdowns that have negatively influenced drives. Whether that be penalties or pressure allowed, part of Denver’s slow starts is more unit-related than QB-specific.
In Week 1 against the Chiefs, Bo Nix was sacked on the first play of the game after Steve Spagnuolo blitzed a nickel corner from the field and the boundary corner, causing them to lose yards on first down. In Week 2 against the Jaguars, the Broncos ran the ball on their first two plays for four yards, then a penalty backed them up to 3rd and 11, where Mike McGlinchey gave up pressure from Dennis Gardeck as Bo threw the football, leading to Gardeck hitting Nix high in his quad.
In Sunday’s win in Week 3, the Broncos offense lost two yards on the first play from scrimmage with J.K. Dobbins getting tackled for a loss after cornerback Jaylen Watson blitzed from the boundary. On 2nd down, Nix connected with Harvey for a quick six-yard gain to at least bring up a 3rd and 6 on the ensuing play.
On 3rd and 6, Rams defensive lineman Kobie Turner penetrated inside on Nix’s drop back, which forced him to try and scramble out to his right, but Byron Young stayed outside against McGlinchey, which didn’t give Nix a path to get outside the pocket and resulted in a throwaway.
Denver’s next drive vs. the Rams saw them move the ball downfield, but Wil Lutz missed a 43-yard field goal.
Over the course of the last two weeks, the Broncos offense has shown they can move the ball, but the penalties and inconsistencies in the run game and protection have hindered them a bit from scoring points in the first half.
A team like San Francisco knows how to play with a lead, and they’re a team the Broncos don’t necessarily want to try and find themselves in a shootout with.
Broncos defense has to find a way to put a cap on 49ers explosive offense
Explosive plays have hurt the Broncos’ defense in each of their first three games of the season, and they’ll have to find a way to put a cap on the league’s most explosive offense on Sunday.
Brock Purdy is playing some of the best football of his career this early in the season, completing nearly 73% of his passes, with nine total touchdown passes on 83 total attempts.
The 49ers know how to play with a lead, which makes the challenge even steeper for the Broncos if they find themselves in a hole early on.
Part of San Francisco’s success this season has come in the early downs, capitalizing on big chunk plays on 1st and 2nd down, while converting their third down opportunities at one of the highest rates through three weeks.
Broncos run game has to be a key focus
We’ve been asking for the Broncos’ run game to find its rhythm for a while, and we’ve even asked whether or not they can feed three backs. In Sunday’s win against the Los Angeles Rams, the Broncos did, in fact, use J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and Tyler Badie.
Early on in the game, they rotated backs on every down, which makes it harder for guys to get in rhythm. Dobbins eventually had a stretch in the second half where he had three straight carries for 11 yards, but the run game element for Denver hasn’t been consistent so far this season.
“It’s important,” Bo Nix said. “I’ve been in times where you throw the ball too much, and you feel like that’s all you can do. Then I feel like running the ball a lot, and you want to throw it and stretch them downfield. At the end of the day, it’s what is the defense giving us? How can we attack them? How can we be threats? How can we get our guys in space? At the end of the day, if you run the ball down the field and you go score, nobody’s going to say anything. If you throw the ball down the field and go score, nobody’s going to say anything. It’s finding that happy medium of doing it well balanced and just being able to go down the field and sustain drives. I think a lot of it right now is just first and second down run-pass, first and second down early success, having good runs and really trying the best we can to stay out of third downs because that’s how defenses get off the field obviously.”
Coming into Sunday’s game they are the 31st ranked rushing attack in the league, while the 49ers defense is the 15th ranked run defense, allowing teams to run for an average of 105.7 yards per game.
This would be a great week for the Broncos offense to jump out to a lead and use the run game to keep Brock Purdy and San Francisco’s offense on the sideline.