The Denver Broncos have been one of the most prolific passing teams in the NFL since they landed quarterback Peyton Manning in 2012, and while they'll always be good at airing it out with Manning under center, there may be much less throwing and much more running under offensive coordinator Rick Dennison. Ask Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, he'll tell you the team is headed for a more balanced attack on that side of the ball.
Emmanuel Sanders says Broncos moving to more balanced offense
The Denver Broncos are going to switch to a more balanced offense next season. We take a look at their pass/run balance in 2014 and what other teams could change things up.
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“It’s a totally different set up, but I tell you what, the more and more I’m in it, because we can get the run game going and just use my vertical speed on cross routes and all these different combinations of routes is based off the play action,” Sanders said, via the official website. “Then I think the offense will be successful with Peyton Manning at the helm.”
Sanders said that the Broncos are transitioning from a no-huddle offense to one that huddles up and uses the run to set up the pass. Last season, the Broncos had two super-productive wide receiver in Demaryius Thomas -- 111 receptions, 1,619 yards and 11 touchdowns -- and Sanders, who had 101 receptions for 1,404 yards and nine touchdowns. All the while, they were without a 1,000-yard rusher but with C.J. Anderson, Ronnie Hillman and others contributing, they did out-gain their competitors on the ground by over 500 yards.
Dennison is known for his balanced offenses, though running usually comes first for him. With Anderson, Montee Ball and Juwan Thompson at the running back position, Denver can field an effective running game next season, but exactly how drastic can the change really be?
Though Manning and the Broncos are synonymous with a productive passing offense at this point, they didn't pass more than all other teams last season. In fact, Denver was 10th in the league with 607 total pass attempts, while the Indianapolis Colts, led by Andrew Luck, had 661. When it comes to rush attempts, they weren't at the bottom of the league either, coming in at 12th with 443 attempts. The Houston Texans led the league with 551 rushing attempts.
In other words, the Broncos threw the ball 57.81 percent of the time and ran the ball 42.19 percent of the time. The Oakland Raiders had the biggest disparity, throwing the ball 65.11 percent of the time and eight teams were over 60 percent on top of that. Denver was actually right in the middle of the league, No. 16 overall, when it comes to their passing percentage. While that's not a 50/50 split with the running game, it's probably a lot more balanced than some would have guessed.
With Dennison in charge, the passing percentage should certainly drop, but don’t expect it to drop by much. Sanders is excited about where the offense is heading at this stage, and that likely has a lot to do with the fact that he knows he’ll get his looks. You can try and improve the offense as a whole to better support Manning and his playmakers but at the end of the day, the Broncos are still going to air it out, and defenses should be primarily concerned with how to stop him.
It will be interesting to see if any other teams are trending toward a more balanced offense, though. The Pittsburgh Steelers want Ben Roethlisberger throwing the football less and that's certainly been the case, but they're still relatively high, throwing the ball 59.13 percent of the time. That's not going to get any easier with Le'Veon Bell set to miss time with a suspension.
The Jacksonville Jaguars surely don't want Blake Bortles throwing the ball 60.74 percent of the time again, and with guys like Jay Cutler and Drew Brees getting up there in years, 63.17 percent and 61.88 percent passing might also be numbers teams want to cut down on.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks need to prepare for life without Marshawn Lynch. Russell Wilson, who is likely looking at the most-expensive contract in quarterback history, passes the ball an NFL-low 46.37 percent of the time. Sure, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but the Seahawks will surely want Wilson to throw the ball more once Lynch is gone.
The Dallas Cowboys threw the ball 48.42 percent of the time, but that should change without the league's leading rusher, DeMarco Murray. He joined the Philadelphia Eagles, who threw 56.71 percent of the time last season. That number should definitely drop, as well.
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