For three quarters on Monday night, the Denver Broncos rolled the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Broncos managed 24 points through three quarters and held a comfortable 17-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Then the turnovers started. Quarterback Trevor Siemian threw a funky interception, and running back Jamaal Charles coughed the ball up, and just like that, the Chargers pulled to within three points.
Thanks to Shelby Harris’ field-goal block with only seconds remaining, the Broncos escaped with a 24-21 win.
While the Broncos didn’t close the game out the way they would’ve liked, they should be encouraged by what they were able to do on the ground on Monday night.
According to head coach Vance Joseph, building a successful running game was one of the first things that he and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy began working on when they both arrived in Denver back in the spring. Aside from Jamaal Charles’ lone fumble, that paid off on Monday night.
“Very pleased,” Joseph said of the rushing attack. “Our goal from the spring, since [offensive coordinator] Mike [McCoy] came in was to develop the running game — you can see it. It’s happening right now with [RB] C.J. [Anderson] and [RB] Jamaal [Charles], that one-two punch. With Trevor, he gained, I think, 20 yards on the ground. I’m very pleased with the run game. Very pleased.”
When you add in a surprisingly-mobile Trevor Siemian, the Broncos’ new one-two punch was a little more like a three-headed monster on Monday night. C.J. Anderson gobbled up 81 yards on 20 carries, Jamaal Charles added 40 more on 10 carries and Siemian finished with 19 yards and a touchdown on six carries of his own.
Siemian may have shown off a little mobility on in Monday night’s win, but he’ll be the first to tell you that that’s he’s not a dual-threat quarterback.
“No,” Siemian said. “Absolutely not.”
Siemian may not consider himself a runner, but his mobility played a big role in all three of the Broncos’ touchdowns. Along with having the only rushing touchdown of the game for either team, Siemian rolled out to escape pressure before throwing a dart to wide receiver Bennie Fowler for the first touchdown of the game.
When the run game gets going, it opens up the rest of the game. According to C.J. Anderson, that’s what happened on Monday night.
“I think the play-action was working well,” Anderson said. “I thought we ran the ball decent. We definitely could do better on that. That’s on my part, myself and [RB] Jamaal [Charles]. I thought that Trev [QB Trevor Siemian] played outstanding. We could have protected him a little better. We’ll accept the win, but we’ve definitely got a lot of things to correct.”
With 140 yards rushing on Monday night, the Broncos’ ground game certainly seems to be headed in the right direction. In 2016, the Broncos only gained more than 140 yards on the ground in three games, all resulting in wins. In the seven games they rushed for over 100 yards, they went 6-1.
It’s tough to have any success in the NFL without a decent running game, which is why the Broncos should be encouraged with what they saw on Monday night — and why they’re hoping that the best is yet to come.
