Film Room: What's Really Behind Broncos' Alarming 3-and-Out Problem

Sean Payton may have taken the play-calling away from Davis Webb this week, but the Denver Broncos still have many problems to solve on offense.

Forget the final score on Sunday. Denver beat the Los Angeles Chargers 23-17, but that does not mean the offense played well, and it wasn’t called very differently to begin with.

For many reasons, Denver barely got any traction on Sunday. The Broncos' offensive line couldn’t execute in the running game.

To boot, the Broncos got little production out of the passing offense. They went 1-for-12 on third down and produced four three-and-outs in five possessions through the middle of the game. Denver had a fourth possession that only featured four plays thanks to a long defensive pass interference penalty. 

When the Broncos were finally able to “generate” some scoring in the fourth quarter, every possession started in Chargers territory, with three of four possessions starting inside the 40-yard line.

Scoring 13 points on three consecutive fourth-quarter drives is awesome, but they all came on the heels of Denver's defensive takeaways and a turnover on downs. Those 13 points were achieved with just 79 yards of offense on 15 total plays, which is rather pathetic.

Denver's offensive inefficiency allowed the Chargers to stay in the game. 

I dove into the Broncos' three-and-outs for this week’s film room to highlight issues in play-calling, personnel usage, and execution. It’s on everybody this week. 

First Quarter | 4:05 | Ball On Denver's 15-Yard Line

The first three-and-out possession featured some incredibly frustrating play-calling, combined with execution mishaps and infuriating personnel usage. 

Payton tries to get running back Tyler Badie involved on the drive, opening up with a screen pass to get things started. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey whiffs on his block on defensive lineman Jamari Caldwell, who blows the play up in the backfield for a five-yard loss.

Caldwell uses a great swim move in open space to make the play, but McGlinchey needs to do a better job of walling this off and allowing Badie to make a play with the ball in his hands. If this play pops, Badie has blockers in front to open up a nice gain on first down. 

On second down, Payton tries to get cute with a toss sweep to wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. This is an atrocious use of personnel and a horrible play call in this situation.

Mims manages to grind out three yards on the play, but there’s no reason to call this play in this situation. Denver paid $8 million to running back. J.K. Dobbins in the offseason. Let him run the football.

Following a McGlinchey false start, Payton has to dial up another screen play, this time to Mims on a receiver tunnel screen. Finding a quality play call for 3rd-and-17 while pinned deep in your own territory is an impossible task.

Getting quality execution is another thing. Tight end Nate Adkins and wideout Troy Franklin try to block the same defender on this play, but it wouldn’t matter anyways. This is folding your hand and trying to gain positive yards to help out the punting unit. 

Second Quarter | 14:52 | Ball On Denver's 9-Yard Line

Our next drive starts after Nik Bonitto sacked Justin Herbert to force a punt, and the Broncos' offense is pinned deep in their own territory again. 

The Broncos try to get the running game going on first down with a pin-and-pull look to Dobbins. Adkins motions across the formation to kick out defensive end Ahkeem Mesidor, with left guard Ben Powers following behind him as a lead blocker.

McGlinchey doesn’t get any movement up front on the 3-technique defensive lineman, and the Chargers are keyed in on the run game, with the safety filling down from the second level when Adkins goes in motion. This is poor execution up front, and Dobbins has nowhere to go. 

On 2nd-and-9, Payton calls a play-action pass with tight end Adam Trautman running a bender up the seam. The Chargers bring pressure from the left side, and Bo Nix panics in a fairly clean pocket, evading to his right rather than stepping up to find Trautman running wide open up the middle of the field. Nix has to start taking some chances with the football, especially when things aren’t as muddy as they seem. 

With the Broncos now in another 3rd-and-long scenario, Payton calls up a draw to Badie to give the punt unit some breathing room. The offensive line does a great job opening up a large running lane to the right side, but Badie sees the safety crashing down to fill the gap from the third level of the defense and runs directly into the backside of Powers.

I understand trying to follow your blockers on this, but I would like to see Badie press this hole to the cutback and try to make a defender miss in the hole. You can’t block this play any better. Go make a play.

Third Quarter | 5:32 | Ball On Denver's 35-Yard Line

Following a long Chargers touchdown drive to open the third quarter, Denver goes three-and-out with some poor execution on second and third down. 

They open the possession with a bootleg look and dump the ball down to tight end Evan Engram for a four-yard gain. This is a drive starter designed to get positive yards and set up a 2nd-and-manageable situation. Nice work. 

On 2nd-and-6, Payton calls a toss sweep into wide zone with Dobbins carrying the ball, and Chargers linebacker Del’Shawn Phillips reads the play the whole way. It’s not always about the Xs and Os. Sometimes you need your Jimmies and Joes to make a play, and Phillips strings this out to the boundary. 

This play highlights Dobbins's lack of explosiveness this season. He doesn’t look right as a runner, and he is too slow to bounce this outside.

Dobbins tries to cut back inside of wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey at the point of attack, but it’s already too late. I’d like to see running back RJ Harvey tote the rock on this play, because his speed could have made a huge difference. 

With 3rd-and-long upcoming, Payton draws a three-receiver set with the formation to the boundary, trying to open the middle of the field with a mesh concept. The timing of this play is messed up from the jump, with Mims and wideout Courtland Sutton bumping into eachother in their release package.

Nix gets instant pressure from a twist up front, and left tackle Garett Bolles gets called for holding while getting abused by Khalil Mack coming off the edge. The execution fails the offense, once again. 

Third Quarter | 0:52 | Ball On Denver's 29-Yard Line

Denver only had the ball for one play on their next possession because Nix fumbled on first down, which led to a 42-yard Kimani Vidal touchdown run on the very next play. Down 17-10 and desperately needing an answer to stop the bleeding, the Broncos call a pair of runs to open the drive. 

First down sees Dobbins pick up three yards on an outside zone. Dobbins reads this well, cutting back inside center Luke Wattenburg at the second level. Trautman does a nice job of walling off Mesidor at the point of attack, and the offense gets decent yardage to start the drive. 

On second down, Wattenburg and Powers have a double team on inside zone, and Powers gets beat to the inside by a spectacular swim move as Wattenburg climbs to the second level. If Powers can sustain this block, Harvey has a great cutback lane to rip off a solid gain out of the shotgun run game. You can’t get mad at a defender for making a heck of a play. 

After the quarter break, the Chargers come out with press-man coverage. Nix sees this and identifies Sutton as the best matchup on the boundary, which isn’t a bad decision given Sutton’s ability to win contested catches. Nix hits his back foot and throws the fade ball, but Sutton can’t come down with it. 

You win some, you lose some. That’s just football. But Sutton's been losing almost all of his contested-catch opportunities this season.

The Takeaway

There are and have been several issues for the Broncos' offense, and each part of the operation shoulders its own portion of the blame. You get bad sequencing and situational play-calling at times, bad individual play at others, and poor execution from top to bottom. The coaching staff isn’t putting players in position to succeed, and when they do, the players aren’t executing at a consistent level. 

Fortunately, the Broncos' defense and special teams put the offense in scoring position multiple times in the fourth quarter; otherwise, there’s a good chance Denver loses this game. 

The early-season miscues from the offense were understandable over the first four weeks, as Denver played against some of the best defenses in the league. However, this week's performance is unacceptable, given who they played.

That includes Nix. The Chargers were not only winless but also missing several key defensive pieces, and they weren't playing well at full strength to begin with. 

Removing play-calling duties from Webb didn’t change anything. He was clearly the scapegoat for the offensive struggles, and it’s a shame Payton couldn’t be a bit more patient in allowing Webb to figure things out. 

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