Vic Fangio will "look closely" at making significant changes on offense

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos’ six total points on Thursday night was their worst offensive output since Week 7 of the 2017 season and the third-fewest points they’ve scored in a game since the end of the Peyton Manning era.

Oh, by the way, it was against a Chiefs’ defense that was in the bottom half in the league, giving up over 24 points per game.

Following the dismal offensive performance, the head coach confirmed significant changes could be on the way to the offense that’s averaged 16 points per game, the fourth-worst mark in the NFL.

“Yeah, we consider that every week, win or lose,” Fangio stated on Friday when asked if he’s considering significant changes to the offense. “But we’re not going to make a change just for the sake of making a change, okay? So we’ll look at it closely, weigh the alternatives, and make a decision.”

The area where change could come isn’t difficult to identify.

“It’s our pass offense that has to improve,” Fangio stated multiple times. “I just thought our whole pass offense struggled. Sacks were part of that, coverage was part of that, guys getting open was part of that.”

The three obvious areas to change in the Broncos’ passing game are quarterback and both tackle positions.

But no, despite not playing well enough as Fangio said on Friday, the Broncos will not be benching Joe Flacco before the team’s next game in Indianapolis. However, Fangio confirmed Drew Lock will return to the practice field this week, but the earliest he could replace Flacco is Week 11.

The same certainly cannot be said about Denver’s tackle positions, specifically right tackle.

On Friday, Fangio admitted Ja’Wuan James has been medically cleared to return, and he “probably could have played” against Kansas City if the game was on Sunday instead of Thursday. James and Fangio didn’t want to put the team’s highest-paid offensive lineman in a game unprepared.

However, his activity level in practice will increase next week, with signs pointing to him returning against the Colts. James’ return wouldn’t just make for one lineup change, it would give the Broncos the option to move Elijah Wilkinson to the bench or anywhere else on the line, perhaps left tackle.

After an extremely rough start to the season, Garett Bolles significantly cut back on the number of holding penalties in recent weeks. That flared up in the worst way on Thursday when No. 72 racked up three holdings and gave up multiple sacks.

“Some of it’s poor technique—I think is the biggest culprit in his operation,” Fangio said, explaining why Bolles struggled. “And we’ve got to do a good job of getting that taught to him in such a way that it sticks and that he can consistently do it on a week in and week out basis.”

Fangio followed up by saying Bolles is Denver’s starting left tackle “right now.” Until that changes, if it does, the former first-round pick’s “just got to keep fighting through it,” according to the head coach.

With 10 days in between games, the Broncos’ coaching staff has plenty of time to make significant changes to the struggling offense.