Thread: Will PFM allow this team to be balanced through the rest of this season?

What we witnessed yesterday imo was a collective decision to run the ball at all costs, even while trailing for most of the game. As the team fell behind multiple times by double-digits they continued to stick to the game-plan... run, run, run. Of course, one aspect that makes that commitment easier is being successful, but I would argue that unless you are down by 3 scores in the 2nd half this offense can be seriously scary if we continue to commit to the run, whether we are as successful as yesterday or not.

Elway knew in the twilight of his career that having a ground game enabled him to be his best. Will PFM allow that to happen too?

We ran the ball all day and Pey Pey still got 4 passing TD's.
Shouldn't be too hard for him to get behind that philosophy...

If he wants to win another championship i would hope so.

I don't think he has a choice if his goal is to get to the SB.

Manning made a comment in his postgame interview that made me think he didn't have control of how many runs we did and wasn't allowed to veer away from that - something to the tune of "if you're going to have a gameplan like that you better be able to complete 3rd downs with it and we we're able to do that today".

I think the test is, if we're not able to get much going in the run early, how patient will Manning be with it before he starts putting the game more in his hands?

Trying to become a run heavy team at this point makes a lot of sense.

While the chances of winning in Foxborough are slim in Jan with any gameplan, they're none if all they can do is throw.

The defense can't give up TD after TD though. I don't know that this D is consistent enough to win with this plan. Del Rio isn't earning his money.

This is absurd. The Broncos don't have to have "balance" in every game. They need to be able to run some, so teams don't ignore it.

In some games going forward, the Broncos will throw a lot more. Other games they will probably try and run it like they did this week. Having publicly called out the OL by making them face a hostile press and answer questions for an hour, Adam Gase HAD TO give them a chance to redeem themselves. And that meant running the football at the start of the game.

Result: Orlando Franklin and Manny Ramirez had their best games of the season blocking, and with Virgil Green and Paul Cornick in the game as "TEs" (in reality extra OL) the Broncos were able to run effectively. Now that game is on film and every team has to figure out how they are going to stop C.J. Anderson. It's just one more weapon.

Next week they should get Julius Thomas back and we'll see more passes and fewer runs. Hopefully, however, we will see them run on 3rd and 2 rather than pass the ball (resulting in Peyton's "self-sack").

But, remember that for all the satisfaction of seeing the run-game improve, the Broncos were not only trailing at half-time but were at several points in the game nearly out of it - largely due to their horrible special teams play. Giving up a fumble at your own 10 and a missed FG = an "F" grade for special teams. Their ST coverage was also spotty and the Dolphins had some good returns.

There's a price to be paid for running the ball a lot - you don't get as many possessions. And if you get down early because your defense is sucking you could easily find yourself in a deep hole you can't climb out of. I doubt if the Broncos face the Patriots in the playoffs they will run this much. They won't be able to. There will be too much pressure on the offense to keep scoring quickly just to stay in the game.

So, all in all this was probably the extreme - 50% run/pass. In future it will probably be more 40% - 60% and that will be fine. Just so long as they can run effectively when they want to, that's all that matters. This team will always be a pass-first team. You run to set up the pass. You don't run to win (despite the Dallas Cowboys).

You pass to win the SB and play tough pass-defense. Part of that is having an effective running game. It was interesting to hear the analysts on ESPN Radio talking about that this morning.

Even the Seahawks who ran effectively in the SB win had 135 yards rushing (40%) to 202 yds passing (60%). And WR Percy Harvin was their leading rusher with 2 trick plays for 45 yards. Take those away and their actual RBs had 90 yards total rushing with a long of 18 (31% run - 69% pass). Not exactly Marcus Allen-like numbers.

That's balance in the modern NFL.

No, and he shouldn't. Build a respectable running game, yes, but this team's bread and butter is Manning's passing game. We shouldn't be striving for balance to prove a point. We should be flinging the ball around and leaving other teams gasping for oxygen.

Run the ball enough to show you can but, in most situations, every handoff is a play where Peyton is not hitting a 10-20 yard pass.

No, we should be striving to have balance to win a SB. We tried that passing thing last year and got our asses kicked. You dont have to pass for 400 yds to win a SB (for reference see Denver vs GB Super Bowl).

Originally Posted by Northman

No, we should be striving to have balance to win a SB. We tried that passing thing last year and got our asses kicked. You dont have to pass for 400 yds to win a SB (for reference see Denver vs GB Super Bowl).

"Balance" however might very well be what it was for the Seahawks in the SB - 31% rushing and 69% passing (not counting Percy Harvin).

Peyton throwing 3 TDs and the team rushing for 1. If the Defense can play tough and get a takeaway or 2 and Peyton doesn't throw any picks and the RBs don't fumble and Special Teams don't give up a TD - if all that can happen too, then Denver can win the SB.

That's a tall order considering how the defense and special teams played in the Miami game, but this team is a work in progress.

Well, so were the 2012 Ravens who backed into the post-season 10-6 after losing 4 out of their last 5 games. We don't know how the Broncos will play in the Post-season from looking at this Miami game any more than we could tell about the Ravens after the Broncos humiliated them in mid December and made them fall to 9-5 with their 3rd straight loss. Who after that game was saying "Wow! Those Ravens are on their way to the Super Bowl!"

Originally Posted by Cugel

"Balance" however might very well be what it was for the Seahawks in the SB - 31% rushing and 69% passing (not counting Percy Harvin).

Peyton throwing 3 TDs and the team rushing for 1. If the Defense can play tough and get a takeaway or 2 and Peyton doesn't throw any picks and the RBs don't fumble and Special Teams don't give up a TD - if all that can happen too, then Denver can win the SB.

That's a tall order considering how the defense and special teams played in the Miami game, but this team is a work in progress.

Well, so were the 2012 Ravens who backed into the post-season 10-6 after losing 4 out of their last 5 games. We don't know how the Broncos will play in the Post-season from looking at this Miami game any more than we could tell about the Ravens after the Broncos humiliated them in mid December and made them fall to 9-5 with their 3rd straight loss. Who after that game was saying "Wow! Those Ravens are on their way to the Super Bowl!"

Problem here is that our QB is in the twilight of his career. He's not a spring chicken and for whatever reason it takes him a while to get the arm flowing. Manning is not Elway, he cant just scramble out of the pocket to avoid a sack. So, in order to alleviate the pass rush you need to keep them honest by being able to run the ball. Do you need to run 80% of the time? No, and no one has said that. But this team cannot win a SB throwing it 90% of the time throughout a game. It just wont happen.

I hope we run a bunch next week in KC. The Chiefs are #1 against the pass in terms of YPG, but 26th against the run. We should be able to gash them and control the clock, like we did yesterday.

Originally Posted by VonDoom

I hope we run a bunch next week in KC. The Chiefs are #1 against the pass in terms of YPG, but 26th against the run. We should be able to gash them and control the clock, like we did yesterday.

Indeed. The last thing that we want is to become one dimensional and get Manning killed let alone get blown out like we did vs St. louis. Running the ball like we did yesterday makes defenses think twice about pinning their ears back and bull rushing Manning. Running the ball only helps this team in the long run.

Originally Posted by Northman

Problem here is that our QB is in the twilight of his career. He's not a spring chicken and for whatever reason it takes him a while to get the arm flowing. Manning is not Elway, he cant just scramble out of the pocket to avoid a sack. So, in order to alleviate the pass rush you need to keep them honest by being able to run the ball. Do you need to run 80% of the time? No, and no one has said that. But this team cannot win a SB throwing it 90% of the time throughout a game. It just wont happen.

Of course not. 90% means you just can't run the ball effectively at all, which in turn means that teams aren't paying any attention to the run, which means that the play-action fake is useless, which means the defense can just tee off in pass-rush right up the middle, which means you're putting intense pressure on Manning. And when that happens he starts looking like Jay Cutler as we've seen this season (6 INTs in 3 games going into the Miami game).

However, 70% pass - 30% run would be just fine. That's about what we can expect if the Broncos offense is operating at peak efficiency.

Originally Posted by Northman

Indeed. The last thing that we want is to become one dimensional and get Manning killed let alone get blown out like we did vs St. louis. Running the ball like we did yesterday makes defenses think twice about pinning their ears back and bull rushing Manning. Running the ball only helps this team in the long run.

I think you're right. The Chiefs are NOT a high scoring offense like the Patriots or something. If the Broncos can run the ball effectively and they can avoid turnovers and putting the defense in a hole, then they can win without any trouble.

Special teams have to stop totally sucking as well. This is a game where you might need to kick 3 FGs and you need your kicker to be able to hit a routine 38 yarder without causing the sideline to explode in rage.