Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson had more than 30 passing attempts in four of the team’s first five games of the season. Over the last three weeks, he’s had 22, 29 and 19 passing attempts.
In that same three-week span, running back Javonte Williams has seen his carries increase from 10 to 15 to 27. The Broncos have become more run-heavy in recent weeks, and the team is 2-1 during that span.
Denver coach Sean Payton downplayed the team’s 40 rushing attempts against the Kansas City Chiefs last week, claiming that a four-minute drive to kill off the game skewed the numbers.
“I wouldn’t have been able to guess how many — normally speaking, when you get into four-minute, that’s when you pick up 10 extra rushes,” Payton said after Sunday’s win over the Chiefs.
“They’re not always good ones because you’re going against a goal line or a heavy-loaded front, but we had — so count 10 extra ones when you’re running — or eight extra ones. But we ran the ball well the last time we played them. We just felt like we needed to throw it better and score. We were able to do that to some extent, but enough to win.”
Even if the rushes from the final drive are tossed out, the Broncos still had a run-heavy attack against Kansas City. Wilson admitted that after the win, and he praised Payton for the successful offensive game plan.
“I thought the game plan was a great plan by the coaches in terms of the mixture of what we wanted to be able to do,” Wilson said. “We knew that defense is — they’re one of the top defenses all year. I think they’ve been [No.] 1, or 2, or 3 all year. They have good guys on that side of the ball and they do a good job of mixing things up.
“I thought our offensive line — we wanted to set the tone of how physical we wanted to be throughout that game. I think we ran it 40 times. In terms of the passing game, we wanted to capitalize on our opportunities when they were there. I thought it was a really great gameplan by Coach Payton — all the coaches. I think all the offensive coaches did a really good job of painting the picture of what we wanted to do.”
If that’s a sign of things to come for Denver’s offense, Broncos fans can expect to see a run-heavy attack — featuring plenty of Williams carries — in the second half of the 2023 season. Take note, fantasy football managers: Williams should have a heavy workload after the bye week.
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