Broncos Never Doubted a Comeback vs. Rams

Two days later, there's still a lot to unpack from the Denver Broncos' wild comeback win over the Los Angeles Rams. The Broncos overcame a 16-0 halftime deficit to storm back and defeat the Rams at Mile High, 30-26.

While the media spin and social media buzz continue to focus on wide receiver Pat Bryant expertly drawing a late pass-interference penalty to help clinch the win on Sunday night, several post-game comments illustrate how Denver is still finding its way in the early stages of this season.

Today, though, we're looking back at what the Broncos said after Sunday night's huge win, hoping to find answers to the slow-start conundrum and understand where this team's clutch-time grit comes from.

Sean Payton Still Searching

Payton believes Bo Nix brings a comfort level at quarterback, regardless of the halftime score. Nix continues to pull irons out of the fire when the Broncos need them most, but finding the same mojo he shows early in games would be most welcome, especially for fans who have to monitor their blood pressure.

“That’s the $6 million question, honestly and I think that we’re trying to sort through this first quarter, meaning he’s— obviously the moments aren’t too big and he moves and escapes and makes plays and it leads us to that first part of the jigsaw, which is, we have to find a way to play better earlier," Payton said of the Broncos' early-game struggles.

The painfully slow starts have been a theme in all three games this season, but Payton placed an emphasis on the low first-half numbers of Weeks 1 and 3, for whatever reason.

"Now, we’ve had a couple halves that have been real low-numbering halves, like Week 1 and then this week," Payton said. "We just have to—because I think it’s more difficult to play defense if you look at time and possession. So that area needs to get better."

No Mandates

Sean Payton and Davis Webb. — Sean Payton and Davis Webb pass each other on the sideline. | Dustin Bradford / IMAGO / Icon Sportswire

After a scoreless first half that once again got the pundits' tongues wagging about how long offensive coordinator Davis Webb might last calling the plays, Payton opted to make suggestions rather than dictate to his young coaching protégé.

Payton claims he didn't step in and mandate any specific second-half plays. That alone tells us a lot.

“No, we haven’t had any mandates. It’s too difficult to do that and yet there’s... I think this, when things aren’t going well and you’re trying to— you’re always open to suggestions," Payton said. "So just try to be, 'Alright, next series, here are the things,' and we got to some runs that I think put us on schedule and took some of the pressure off the QB and I think that’s part of it."

Finding the fundamental ability to run the ball and keep a defense honest has proved fairly difficult for the Broncos thus far, but Webb stuck to his rushing guns in the second half against the Rams. As Payton opined, prioritizing "under-center football" was and will be key moving forward.

"We talked a lot about under-center football. I think that’s important as well, so [the] second half was much better," Payton said. "We’ll look at the tape, I’m sure, and we’ll pull our hair out with some stuff, and then we’ll be excited about some things too."

The injuries the Broncos have suffered at running back haven't helped the offense's rushing consistency. All three of Denver's top running backs have been hurt thus far, with rookie Jonah Coleman landing on short-term injured reserve last week.

Run-Game Commitment Eventually Paid Dividends

J.K. Dobbins. — J.K. Dobbins looks to make his cut. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Broncos eventually found a rhythm in the second half against L.A. Nix believes the Broncos' ground game was a big reason why, helping Webb gain traction as a play-caller.

"I don’t know if we necessarily put Davis in the best position possible because, like you said, we ran the ball better in the second half," Nix said post-game. "So I think he just continued to call an efficient game. He stayed to the plan, and he’s done that two weeks in a row. He just continues to put us in a good situation throughout the game to go and score and make plays. Tonight, he did it again.”

Until the Broncos figure out the slow starts, Webb is likely to continue to receive heavy scrutiny. Amid the criticism of the past three weeks, though, Nix has stood doggedly behind his play-caller.

That speaks to a strong constitution inside Broncos HQ. The outside world might be making a lot of noise about the slow starts, play-calling, and quarterback play, but the Broncos seem to remain internally resolute and unified.

VJ's Counterpunch Delivers the Knockout Blow

Making critical in-game adjustments isn't confined to the slow-starting offense. Sunday night's hero, Talanoa Hufanga, highlighted how defensive coordinator Vance Joseph had to find a viable counterpunch to the Rams' scathing attack, which allowed the Broncos to be much more effective in the second half.

“Coach did a great job. ‘VJ’ came in and really talked about, just our eyes, discipline in our coverage, getting sticky," Hufanga said. "Sometimes you get into this habit of early in the game, you’re trying to figure out this offense."

Sean McVay's offense is multiple and versatile, and the Rams use a lot of heavy tight-end sets to force opponents into their base defense, only to gash them through the air. But the Rams can also run the ball from those personnel groupings, making it exceedingly difficult to substitute with sub-packages and win the chess match.

"They do a lot of movements. They’re a team that predominantly went into 13-personnel, which is really big and they can spread the field still, some way they do it," Hufanga said of the Rams. "But for us, it was playing with leverage. Our coach made a great adjustment in just getting our guys and eyes in the right spot. It wasn’t perfect in the second half, but it did a good job of what we needed and went out there and got the win.”

Hufanga's pair of interceptions, including a 67-yard pick-six, illustrated the success of Joseph's half-time adjustments and call for his players to have better eye discipline.

'A Sense of Urgency': Better Late Than Never

Pat Surtain II. — Pat Surtain II tackles Davante Adams. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Despite the ongoing search for early-game offensive cohesion, the Broncos' clutch-time moxie has become unrivaled across the league. Patrick Surtain II had a rough outing against Davante Adams and Matthew Stafford, but the Broncos' Pro Bowler finally got a couple of stops late in the fourth quarter.

The Broncos' unflinching belief and the sense of urgency with which they attacked the second half made all the difference in Surtain's opinion.

“There was never [any] doubt. We came in [at halftime] saying we’ve got to feel a sense of urgency. I feel like the urgency was lacking in the first half," Surtain said post-game. "We always want to start fast. I wish that we started fast so we wouldn't have to talk about it, but we found a way to push through, put the pedal to the metal, and [found] a way to finish in the second half.”

Surtain and his teammates are getting tired of having to talk about the slow starts, as you can tell. They eventually created a sense of urgency against the Rams, and the result proved it's better late than never, because the Broncos could just as easily be sitting at 1-2 entering Week 4.

The Takeaway

The Broncos have their head above water at 2-1, but a win over the 3-0 San Francisco 49ers next week would firmly put them ahead of the eight-ball.

Sustaining this momentum will be critical. The Broncos have now won 10 straight against NFC opponents, but three of their next four inter-conference matchups are against teams that made the playoffs last year, including the 49ers on the road this week.

It would be helpful if the Broncos could forge an identity beyond their clutch-time reputation as these tough games continue to stack up. However, each time the Broncos get punched in the mouth, at least they keep learning more about themselves.

There's some value to that resilience. Fans can only hope that it eventually leads to an epiphany and doesn't leave Denver too punch drunk to think straight.

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