Kubiak admits "We have to do a better job" in running game

The Denver Broncos are 3-0 going into the fourth week of the NFL regular season despite many prognosticators who saw both the offense and defense taking a step back in 2016. That hasn’t been the case in the early going with both units playing at high levels, though neither’s been perfect.

Week 3 against the Cincinnati Bengals, both the run defense and rushing attack struggled against a potent team in the trenches. The defense allowed 4.9 yards per carry for a total of 143 on the day, while the offense only mustered 52-yards with a poultry average of 2.3. The coaches are well aware of this.

“The bottom line is, we take the big package and say, ‘We gave up five yards a carry,’ ” said head coach Gary Kubiak, referring to the Broncos defense against the Bengals offensive package in which they brought in a sixth offensive lineman. “That’s the way I talk to the coaches and we talk to the players. We know we have to fix that play. We understand that play, but if you’re always approaching as if it was just one, no, we won’t do that. We have a problem and we have to get it fixed. We have to do a better job.”

It might surprise some to hear, but the Denver defense does have a problem stopping the run. They’re currently No. 26 in the NFL, conceding 383-yards in the first three games for an average of 4.7 a carry. That certainly is not what we’ve come to expect from the Broncos front seven.

“The key is really the quarterback scrambles,” said defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. “If you take the quarterback scrambles out of it—and you can’t take a 50-yard run—but even with that our yards per carry [average] is not really high with the running backs. I think we can obviously play better run defense, but part of it was that three quarterbacks made almost 50 yards each. If you get in games where that happens, it’s going to hurt your run stats.”

Phillips is right, as opposing QBs have run for 116 yards on 20 carries for an average of 5.8 a carry in the first three games. What’s the key to limiting quarterback runs and scrambles, one of the few ways in which teams have gained yards against the Broncos?

“You have to maintain your lane,” explained Phillips. “But you also have to try to get to the passer and that’s two different things. Part of that is the decisions that players make during the game. You have to have confidence in your players that they’re going to make the right decisions or you have to go back and say, ‘Hey, you have to stay in your lane, no matter what.’ We’ve had to go a combination of both of those things.”

Tampa Bay quarterback, Jameis Winston, isn’t known for his athleticism, but he too could present similar challenges.

“He’s athletic enough to,” said Phillips about Winston’s ability to run. “He hasn’t run it a whole lot, but those other guys— Cam [Newton’s] were running plays, they were designed runs and [Andrew] Luck and [Andy] Dalton both were good athletes and have run with the ball before and took advantage of us not being in the right place.”

Offensively, the Broncos have been better, ranking in the middle of the league for run production. Though games like last Sunday’s against the Bengals can’t stand.

“We had a hard time moving them around,” explained Kubiak about the challenges on the ground against Cincinnati. “They are good up front. They’re very big, big four-man front team. We had trouble finding some holes. I would say this: I know we can block better and we can run better, too. That’s up to us as coaches to find more creases for them. We are going to have to do it better this week. Same front basically this week.”

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers play a similar 4-3 defense with a four-man front. A challenge that offensive coordinator Rick Dennison spoke to.

“They’re very good penetrators,” said Dennison. “Certainly [Tampa Bay DT Gerald McCoy] 93 is. He does a great job getting upfield. I’ve played him a couple times, he’s a tough one and the backers can run. They’re always around the ball. That’s the thing when you’re spending time on the downs trying to get them blocked so you can get to the line of scrimmage; you’re late on getting to the backers. They do a good job in that regard.”

Both offense and defense have shown they’re more than capable of getting things done on the ground. This Sunday’s test against the Buccaneers will be a good one, in which both units should be evenly matched.

Denver has phenomenal receivers and showed an ability to get things done in the air vs the Bengals, while the Broncos pass defense is one of the best we’ll ever see. If this team can improve the production on the ground their’s no telling how good this team could be.