Can Marvin Mims Jr. get back into the pass-catching groove?

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Whither Marvin Mims Jr.?

The promise that he showed as a deep-ball receiver during the first four games of his NFL career last season seems far in the rear-view mirror just one year later.

He has only two catches this year — and none last week. And even though he’s accounted for 24 percent of the team’s passes of at least 30 yards since the start of last season, he has just 5.7 percent of the total receptions in that time.

“Listen, there’s a lot of guys we’d like to get more catches,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said when a reporter brought up the meager reception total for the Pro Bowl selection.

“… He’s very important to what we’re doing in a lot of different ways. So we’ll continue to use him, and I’m glad we have him.”

Broncos HC Sean Payton, on WR Marvin Mims Jr., who has just 2 catches this season. “Listen, there’s a lot of guys we’d like to get more catches. … I mean, I go through the script with you, and so, he’s very important to what we’re doing in a lot of different ways. So we’ll… pic.twitter.com/W5RONP633v

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) October 6, 2024

But meanwhile, when it comes to offense, Mims will continue to wait. And if the pattern of recent weeks continues, much of that waiting will take place standing in the bench area, as three of the four lowest offensive snap totals in his career have come in the last four weeks.

Last week against the New York Jets, Marvin Mims Jr. played just 10 offensive snaps. A fortnight earlier against Pittsburgh, he saw just 9 snaps.

“I think you’ll see his pitch count week to week — depending on the team we’re playing — go up,” Payton said heading into Week 2.

That hasn’t happened — at least, not yet.

15 for 154

The reception and yardage tally of Marvin Mims Jr. over 16 games played since Week 5 of last year. Mims racked up 242 yards on 9 receptions in his first 4 games to kick off his rookie season. And while his playing time gradually increased over the final 12 games of last year, his opportunities diminished; after being targeted 2.75 times per game in Weeks 1-4 last year, he was targeted 1.83 times per game in Weeks 5-17.

This year, he’s averaged 1 target per game. And last Sunday, he wasn’t targeted at all.

15

Years it had been since the Broncos allowed 2 or fewer touchdowns and fewer than 29 points over a 3-game stretch. Not even the “No-FLy Zone”-led defense of 2015 accomplished that, but these Broncos have over the last three weeks.

The 2024 Broncos joined eight other teams in club history to have such a 3-game stretch in a single season.

The 1976, 1978 and 1979 defenses that featured nearly all of the same players as the 1977 Broncos that will be honored Sunday, and all of those defenses had 3-game runs like the current Broncos.

12-3

This is the record of teams quarterbacked by current Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew when he doesn’t commit a turnover. When he gives away the football at least once — either via interception or a lost fumble — the teams he quarterbacks are 6-20. When he has at least two turnovers in a game, his team has never won, going 0-9.