Good morning, Broncos Country!
No one is going to claim the Joe Burrow-less Bengals are a good team, but the Broncos dominated the matchup the way they should have and got themselves back to .500 after a 28-3 smackdown in Mile High.
The defense gave Jake Browning fits all night as he desperately — and unsuccessfully — tried to find an open receiver. After scoring a field goal on their opening drive, the Bengals never made it to the Broncos’ side of the field the rest of the game.
And Denver’s offense exploded behind Bo Nix’s 326
yards passing, two passing touchdowns and one QB run into the endzone.
But it was the coming-out party for the Broncos’ running attack that was the story of the night.
“Running the ball efficiently really helped,” Nix said, noting they stayed out of third-and-long most of the game. “Running the ball is always great for the offense.”
JK Dobbins gained 101 yards on the ground and rookie RJ Harvey added another 58, giving the Broncos nearly 200 rushing yards on the day. But it was the first time in 38 games that a Broncos’ running back went over 100 yards in a game.
For three weeks, Sean Payton has been talking about getting the run game going, and a primetime game against a struggling team under the lights was the perfect backdrop to jumpstart the rushing attack.
“We’re getting there for sure, but we can get better. I can be better,” Dobbins said after the game, noting that he had some runs he wished he had broken a few more tackles. “Nobody can stop us if we keep doing what we did tonight.”
Payton decided to give Dobbins and Harvey each a full series to be the featured back rather than rotating in and out based on certain kinds of plays. Dobbins believes that approach allowed them both to get into a rhythm on the field.
“Coach Payton is the best. I love him. And he’s always going to figure out ways to put us in the right position to win,” Dobbins said. “Not just the running backs but everybody on the team. We’re just going to get even better.”
Last week Dobbins noted that the offense (and team) was still trying to figure out its identity. Tonight he believes they came close to figuring it out.
“We showed that we’re a tough team and we can be even tougher. Mentally tough,” Dobbins said. “In this league more games are lost than won. If you’re not mentally strong enough to have the right technique on a block, you’ll get a holding call, or you’re if not focused before the snap, false start. It’s not only being physically tough but you have to be mentally sharp as well. We have it and we’re going to keep putting it together and it’s going to get better and better each week.“
In fact, Dobbins is already making plans for getting better next week.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said of getting to 100 yards, “and maybe I can go back-to-back now.”
