by One of the features of the Denver Broncos‘ 26-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Last week was the fast start of the attack. The Broncos cruised on their opening possession to put a touchdown on the board, a feat they had been unable to accomplish in the first two games.
Suffice to say, it made a huge difference in the flow, momentum and complexion of the Week 3 game. The Broncos hope to duplicate that early and often success in the road tilt vs. Jets from New York.
On Friday, Broncos head coach Sean Payton touched on the key to getting his offense off to a fast start again.
“I think every game takes its own shape,” Payton said. “You always want to score on your first possession. In other words, we’ll do the openers. We’ll look at all those opening drives. When you see them, there’s touchdowns, field goals and kicks, kicks, kicks. Every now and then there’s of turnovers. We’re trying to put together the right group of plays that fit who we’re playing.”
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Payton is an acolyte of the West Coast Offense, the brainchild of the late, great Bill Walsh. Payton’s WCO iteration was heavily influenced by Jon Gruden, and since then he’s taken it to new heights that even ‘Chucky’ never reached.
To use the word again, one of the hallmarks of the West Coast Offense is the pre-written first 15-20 plays. Former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan and later Gary Kubiak devastated opponents with that first series of plays.
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, according to Mike Tyson, and that’s how it goes in NFL games. Sometimes a predetermined series of plays is blown off course by an opponent’s counterpunch that you don’t see coming.
From there, the successful NFL coaches are the ones who thrive on in-game adjustments. Traditionally, Payton is one of the best counterpunchers in the game, but his success in this department has been inconsistent since arriving in Denver.
With a rookie quarterback in Bo Nix going up against a 40-year-old future Hall-of-Famer in Aaron Rodgers, the need for a good start will be great. It’s one of the reasons Payton tries to incorporate Nix’s consolation plays into each week’s game plan.
“It’s definitely a comfort level on certain plays that he likes,” Payton said of Nix. “That communication last night was kind of our last installation. ‘Hey, can we get this in?’ Or something he feels comfortable with. We usually put it in.”
Nix is still looking for his first career passing touchdown, and he enters Week 4 as the Broncos’ leading rusher. For the Broncos to have the success Payton was hoping for this season, the running game obviously needs to come alive.
What better place to do that than on the road in a hostile environment like MetLife Stadium? As the Broncos work to make the running backs more efficient with their carries, Payton must remain creative in how Nix’s dual-threat abilities are deployed against the enemy.
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