Sean Payton points to a surprising key that helped unlock the Denver Broncos' running game

The Denver Broncos‘ running game was nowhere to be found in the first two weeks of the season.

But on Sunday in Tampa Bay, Sean Payton found the key to unlocking the Broncos’ ground game and ran with it to the tune of 26 points and the team’s first win of the season.

Entering Week 3, the Broncos had one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL, averaging 81.5 yards per game. That was the sixth-worst mark in the league.

Against the Buccaneers, however, Denver’s ground game exploded for 136 yards.

However, the beginning of Sunday’s game resembled Week 1 and 2 on the ground before the team found their key in the second half. In the first half against Tampa, Bo Nix was once against Denver’s leading rusher.

The quarterback’s 21 yards on five carries was a team-high, beating out Jaleel McLaughlin‘s 11 rushing yards, Javonte Williams‘ 10 yards and Tyler Badie‘s four yards. At halftime, despite the team scoring 20 points, the ground game looked too familiar.

In the second half, however, the offense ran away with the game. Literally.

After halftime, Denver ran the ball 14 times, the same number of times they ran it in the first half, but for nearly double the yards. On their 14 carries in the second half, the Broncos racked up 90 yards on the ground on an impressive 6.4 yards per carry.

On Monday morning, Payton identified a surprising key to getting the ground game moving in the second half.

“We got to a few quarterback read runs,” Payton said, pointing to Nix’s legs being a key in the rushing attack.

Over the first two weeks of the season, opposing defenses were loading the box to stop Denver’s ground game. Putting the ball in Nix’s hands helped neutralize that, the head coach stated on Monday.

“Your quarterback becomes a threat and so there were two or three instances where [it] might have been a give [to Tyler] Badie or a [quarterback] keep,” Payton explained. “I think there were a couple designs that that helped us and then we blocked it well.”

In the second half, while Nix only had four rushing attempts, he ran for more yards than he did in the first half and had an impressive 6.5 yards per carry. As Payton pointed to, that helped unleash Badie.

After halftime, Denver’s third-string back broke loose for 66 rushing yards on eight carries, That led to a season-high and team-best 70 rushing yards for Badie on the day.

“There are two ways he can end up running,” Payton said, when asked how he balances letting Nix run while also protecting the rookie quarterback. “He can scramble on a pass play and that he’s gotta be smart or he could be involved in the run game plan. There’s not as much control on the on the A. The B is a little bit more controlled relative to what we’re doing that week and who we’re playing.”

Thanks to the big Week 3 performance, the Broncos now have the 21st best rushing attack in the NFL, averaging 110 yards per game.

While Tyler Badie stole the show and had his breakout game, it was actually Bo Nix who was the key to unleashing the Broncos’ rushing attack.