The Broncos offense hasn’t been good, coaches tell us when it will improve

The Broncos scored their most points of the season in Week 4, putting 23 on the Raiders in a nine-point loss.

But Denver also had their fewest rushing yards of the season and lost their star running back Javonte Williams for the season due to a torn ACL. And upon closer inspection, Russell Wilson threw for more yards to himself than he did to Williams, Melvin Gordon and Albert Okwuegbunam combined with the same number of receptions—1. The Broncos’ disappointing offensive output in Las Vegas was not an anomaly; it’s part of a four-game trend.

The Broncos have only scored 66 points, the third-fewest in the NFL thus far. And in Sunday’s loss, after Williams went down, five of Denver’s six second-half drives went for less than a dozen yards.

“We call them GBOT, get back on track plays—anytime you’re behind the sticks—and we’ve been leaning on that section way too much,” Broncos offensive coordinator Justin Outten said on Tuesday. “Whatever it may be, it’s self-inflicting. We want to get away from that as much as possible, so whether it’s more simpler plays or better on a cadence or we’re not behind the ball. We’re treading mud right now; we got to get that traction, so we start rolling.”

Williams gone means Gordon and his fumble issues will likely be counted on more, Mike Boone likely has a more consistent role, and veteran Latavius Murray comes in to help things out.

“He knows we got to lean on him now, so it’s gonna be something that he can’t be perfect, but everything he’s got to have progress each day,” Outten said. “That’s the whole thing: this whole team is we’re not expecting perfection; we need progress. You can’t be perfect, that’s when you freeze, and that’s when things happen. With Melvin, he will obviously carry the load and have a mix of Boone. And then after that, we gotta figure out who can spell and who fills that position best.”

Nathaniel Hackett said he’s felt the team has had good and bad weeks in all phases of the offense thus far, and now it’s about putting it all together.

“I think looking at our entire team; we haven’t played our best football as a team in all three phases, whether it be defense, special teams or offense. I think that there’s still so much more to improve on. All the guys are getting used to each other, and that’s just something that we’ll have to continue to grow, and the best football is still ahead.”

Since it was a short week, Russell Wilson also talked to the media on a day full of Broncos offense explainers. He said he’s good to go despite a dinged-up shoulder. And in the game, the 29th-ranked Denver offense will be facing one of the few teams ranked below them in scoring—the Colts.

“You can worry about all and things ahead, but I do know there’s a lot of teams that are 2-2, and there’s a handful of teams that are 3-1, Wilson said. “We’re right in striking distance; we’ve got them right where we want, so we gotta go get it.”