Thread: What did you expect from the Broncos offense this year?

Come on now, don't hold back-- tell us how you really feel. . .

I expected to run the ball better! We are very boring, I don't mind too much as long as we win!
But I am constantly asking the Defense to score for us.

I expected Kubiak to run an offense that put his defense in a bad position as few times as possible. There was and is not doubt that the defense is the strength of this team, so the three things that really put the defense in a pad position are:

1. turnovers, especially on your half of the field.
2. three and outs
3. time of possession

Last year, after Manning was on the bench of seven games, when he came back in week 17, he was still leading the league in interceptions. If I recall correctly, it took a rookie QB (who I believe played all 16 games vs Manning's 9 or so) throwing two picks in week 17 to wrestle the INT crown away from Manning.

Last year, the Broncos had 23 INTs and lost 8 fumbles and many of those 31 turnovers were on the Broncos side of the 50, putting the defense in a bad position.

So, going into this year, especially when they lost the starting QB that they expected to be Manning's replacement, I expected to see a very conservative offense that was focused on not putting the defense in a bad position.

As such, I expected to see a good running game, controlled play action passing game, with a focus on TOP and reducing turnovers.

Unfortunately, to a very large extent, Kubiak has a been a one trick pony throughout his career and if the running game isn't working, then rarely does the passing game work, because it's so play action focused. That was my biggest fear coming into this season, with the offense, which is that the run game wouldn't be effective and therefore neither would be play action.

Now, up until Siemian's injury, the offense was doing very well in terms of limiting three and outs (I think through four games, Siemian was only behind Ryan for instance in the % of his passes that went for first downs) and overall the offense has done well in terms of limiting turnovers, with only five INTs (Siemian 4 and Lynch 1), but the six fumbles are among the lead league. Still, at this point last year Manning had more INTs (13) then the total turnovers (11) for the '16 offense.

So, by and large, the offense is what I expected this year, good enough to win games, with a focus on limiting turnovers and not putting the defense in a bad position.

A 100 gazillion pts per game.

10-20% improvement over last year

Like Jack said, you hoped they would run the ball a little better and got a little more production from the TEs. Hopefully after the game Virgil had last week, Siemian looks to him a little more. Help out the young QB.

Originally Posted by Slick

Like Jack said, you hoped they would run the ball a little better and got a little more production from the TEs. Hopefully after the game Virgil had last week, Siemian looks to him a little more. Help out the young QB.

I think Virgil was banged up for a few weeks.

Originally Posted by Al Wilson 4 Mayor

I think Virgil was banged up for a few weeks.

Right, but he didn't miss the first 7 games. I think he missed 3. It was nice to see him get involved.

This is the burning question you have at 4:30 in the morning?

Originally Posted by Slick

Like Jack said, you hoped they would run the ball a little better and got a little more production from the TEs. Hopefully after the game Virgil had last week, Siemian looks to him a little more. Help out the young QB.

I really expected more production out of the TE, between Jeff H. being healthy and Greene's emergence (I thought), I was expecting lots of passes to TE's.

Originally Posted by Tned

I really expected more production out of the TE, between Jeff H. being healthy and Greene's emergence (I thought), I was expecting lots of passes to TE's.

So did I. It doesn't seem like Denver is using the middle of the field much. Everything is to the outside. I got all excited last Sunday when Virgil started getting some looks.

I didn't expect much more in terms of points scored, but I did expect a much improved running game, and better O-Line play.

Stephenson getting hurt seems to have set us back. In games 1 & 2 the O-line was playing much better and the running game was also much better.

I'm hoping that the guys up front can stay healthy, and improve with a bye week to work with over the 2nd half of the season.

Well, when?

When it was Sanchez, I expected butt fumbles and interceptions

When Sanchez was cut, I expected Tebow time redux

When Siemian was named starter, I expected to look up who Siemian was

When we beat Carolina, I expected 28 points per game, and that we only didn't hit that because it was Carolina's defense

When Siemian got hurt, I expected Tebow time redux!

When Lynch played, I expected Tebow time redux!

Now, I am expecting that Dixon will get a lot of practice and our defense will bail us out.

I'm not sure. I expected a lot better running game. I didn't expect regression through the season.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

I'm not sure. I expected a lot better running game. I didn't expect regression through the season.

Agreed on both counts. I think every team has ups and downs, so I'm not sure how much regression we are seeing vs. some rough games, but I don't feel there has been as much improvement as I would have liked to see.