The Denver Broncos dropped to 0-2 on Sunday afternoon following an ugly 13-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Empower Field at Mile High. Here are five quick takeaways from the team’s latest defeat.
1. The run game is a mess: For the second straight week, quarterback Bo Nix ended the day as Denver’s leading rusher (four carries for 25 yards). Javonte Williams rushed 11 times for 17 yards with an awful 1.5 yards per carry average. Jaleel McLaughlin wasn’t much better, rushing three times for six yards. Either the backs aren’t running well, the offensive line isn’t blocking well, or defenses aren’t respecting Nix and selling out to stop the run. Perhaps it’s a combination of all three factors. Whatever’s to blame, Broncos coach Sean Payton needs to fix it quickly.
2. Greg Dulcich is running out of opportunities: After two injury-plagued seasons, Dulcich is finally healthy, but he’s not contributing much on offense. Dulchich remains a liability as a blocker and he had two poor drops on Sunday. The tight end only hauled in three catches for 16 yards on eight targets. Denver has to consider making Lucas Krull active next week — it’s hard to imagine Krull playing any worse than Dulcich at this point.
3. Kristian Welch won a role quickly: Just days after joining the Broncos, Welch ate into Cody Barton’s snaps in Week 1. Denver’s staff must have liked what they saw because Welch got the start against the Steelers in Week 2. Welch finished the game with two tackles and Barton rotated into the game, adding six tackles. Time will tell if one of Barton or Welch can lock down the inside linebacker job.
4. Sean Payton made questionable decisions: Trailing the Steelers by 13 points in the fourth quarter, Payton opted to kick a 34-yard field goal instead of attempting to convert a 4th-and-6 at Pittsburgh’s 16-yard line. After that field goal, the Broncos still needed two possessions to tie or take the lead. Had the team failed to pick up a fourth down, they still would have needed two possessions. Later in the game, after making it 13-6 with another field goal, Denver kicked it deep despite being past the two-minute warning with only one timeout left. After forcing a punt, the Broncos did end up getting the ball back with nine seconds, but that wasn’t enough time for a comeback. Payton opting to kick a field goal and his later deciding to not attempt an onside kick were curious decisions.
5. Bo Nix needs a lot more time: Through two games in the NFL, Nix now has zero touchdown passes and four interceptions, including a terrible interception in the red zone and a game-clinching turnover on the last play of Sunday’s game. Nix also made numerous inaccurate passes on Sunday. Fans in Denver can only hope it’s rookie jitters for the quarterback. There’s a lot of room for improvement for Nix going forward.
