ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Balance. It’s essential in nearly every part of life—from relationships to finances. Being balanced, and finding the right balance, can be, and in most scenarios is a major key to success.
Balance is also crucial in football. Unfortunately for the Denver Broncos, their next opponent, the Tennessee Titans, has one of the most balanced offenses in the league, making them a major threat, even to Denver’s top-ranked defense.
“They do a lot of things well [offensively],” Broncos linebacker Todd Davis said. “They run the ball really well; they are doing that at a high rate right now. They have great tight ends that can catch the ball. Mariota is a great quarterback. [He] is able to run, get free and create a lot of opportunities for his team. They do a lot of things well.”
In an era where emphasis on the passing game is higher than ever before, the Titans maintain almost an equal pass to run ratio: 52 percent pass to 48 percent run.
While most teams in the NFL, including the Broncos, would be thrilled to have one dominant force in running game the Titans have three, led by DeMarco Murray. Murray, who led the league in rushing in 2014, is just one of three players in the league to have over 1,000 yards rushing on the season as he sits at 1,043 on 4.6 yards per carry average.
“They have two great backs,” Davis said. “They have a big back who will try to run through you [Derrick Henry], and they have another back who can run through you and run around you [Murray]. They definitely are playing at a high level. DeMarco is playing extremely well right now. So that’s a big task for us being able to stop those two guys.”
Henry, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out of the University of Alabama, is the big bruiser of the two backs. At 6-foot-3, 247 pounds, Henry’s stature is similar to that of Von Miller, making him bigger than most of Denver’s defensive players and giving him size that is rarely seen in this league.
On Thursday, Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips called the Titans rushing attack “one of the best” in the NFL.
The Titans rank third overall in rushing yards per game with 141 while the Broncos is the fifth worst team against the run, giving up 122 yards per game. Head coach Gary Kubiak knows that Tennessee will most likely try to expose this weakness.
“They have two backs, that not only are good backs, but are big backs. This team is capable of pounding you,” he said. “We’ve had some issues with the run, so we know we’re going to get tested. For two big guys, they make a lot of big plays. They do cut backs and take the ball across the field.”
Tennessee’s third threat in the run game is also their biggest threat in the passing game: quarterback Marcus Mariota. Along with his great year through the air—2,998 passing yards, 25 touchdowns to only eight interceptions and a 101.9 quarterback rating—Mariota is also averaging over 25 rushing yards per game on a phenomenal 6.3 yards per attempt.
“If you don’t pay special attention to him, and tackle him well, he can really hurt you with his feet,” Kubiak said about the Titans second-year quarterback. “He’s a very impressive young man that’s playing well… The thing that I’m most impressed with is how well he protects the football and the game. He’s really good.”
With the Titans ability to beat teams on both the ground and through the air, the key for Denver’s defense will be trying to stop one of them, although Davis wouldn’t indicate which one, “Can’t tell you that. We are just going to have to see on Sunday.”
“With every team that’s one of the things you want to do is try and make them one-dimensional,” he continued. “Try to shut down one aspect and make them go to another. But with them they are balanced. So we need to play our game in every aspect.”
On Sunday, the Denver defense will need to be sound, in both the pass and run in order to give Denver a chance against one of the most balanced offenses in the league.
