1. Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson
The only way the Broncos are going to make a title run is if Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson quickly develop into one of the best running back tandems in the NFL. Luckily, I think they can do it.
From the day Gary Kubiak first grabbed a playbook and started calling plays, he’s been churning out Pro Bowl backs on a yearly basis. It wasn’t until this season that a Kubiak-led running attack actually disappointed. But what else would you expect when he wasn’t running a Kubiak offense?
And I know the entire organization has been towing out the line that there is no “Gary Kubiak offense” — there’s only a Broncos offense — but that’s bull crap. All you have to do is watch one play from Brock Osweiler’s first start and it’s pretty clear that they scrapped Manning’s pistol offense about as quickly as they could. And guess what? The running game finally reemerged.
Now, to be clear, it’s not as if the Bears’ run defense is something to be jealous of, which means that they still need to get better from here. Bu we’ve seen what both of these guys are capable of, and they need to reach every bit of potential they’ve ever shown. If they can do that, this offense may actually start to complement their defense.
