The Broncos need a run game to support Bo Nix, and Javonte Williams is struggling to help provide it

DENVER — Javonte Williams still doesn’t look like his pre-injury self when it matters most.

During Denver Broncos training camp, the fourth-year running back had some dazzling moments that left onlookers to believe that old Javonte, pre-injury Javonte, “Angry Runs” staple Javonte had returned with a vengeance. It would have made sense; usually a player coming off of a significant knee injury — especially one as complex as the one Williams suffered in Week 5 of the 2022 season

But in the first two weeks of the regular season, the dazzle has become fizzle. And since a 9-yard run on the first play of scrimmage last week, he has just 31 yards on 18 rushing attempts.

Sunday’s 13-6 loss marked the 12th-consecutive game in which Williams has failed to average 4.0 yards per carry. And with 14 sub-4.0-yards-per-carry games in which he had at least 8 carries, he has more such games since the start of the 2023 season than any other running back in the NFL.

Last week, the Broncos offensive line ranked sixth in the NFL in run-block win rate, per ESPN Analytics. In 2023, it ranked third.

Opportunities and holes have been there — generally more often than they are for running backs on other teams. But the production has not been. And while Williams contributed 48 yards on five receptions, his 17-yard day on 11 attempts left him understandably frustrated.

Williams says the knee is not an issue.

“Now, it’s just back to regular football,” he said Sunday. “I might be sore after the game, but it’s not with my knee.”

But with diminishing returns for both Williams and the ground game, what’s going wrong for the Broncos there?

“[There is] not one thing that I could pinpoint,” Williams said when asked about whether he could ascertain a single cause for the struggles on the ground. “I mean, just getting off the ball and starting a little faster … and then just going from there.”

Through two games, quarterback Bo Nix leads the Broncos in rushing yardage. That was decidedly not part of the Broncos’ plan to build a ground game to support Nix.

And with the ground game sputtering constantly, the Broncos must examine it.

“When you run a play and it has success, you look at the pieces. When you run a play and it does not have success, are we putting our guys in the best position?” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.

“We are rotating a lot of different personnel groups in and out. I do not know if that is helping us, quite honestly. We need to evaluate that closely relative to our personnel.”

Javonte Williams, on the frustrations of the running game and the offense: "Ueah, it's frustrating because everybody want to have those 200-, 300-yard games, but it's the NFL. Like I said, everybody professionals. But you gotta get it fixed before it's too late. Coach said, 'The… pic.twitter.com/gtXR3FipTI

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) September 16, 2024

JAVONTE WILLIAMS IS NEEDED TO MAKE THIS OFFENSE WORK

During both preseason and after Week 1, Broncos Payton returned to a core belief regarding the necessary infrastructure to develop a young quarterback: They must run the ball well and play stout defense.

The Broncos had one half of that support system working Sunday. Despite losing defensive end John Franklin-Myers and edge rusher Baron Browning to injuries, their defense kept Pittsburgh under wraps for most of the day. Their first-quarter touchdown drive was their last.

Just once did Steelers quarterback Justin Fields make the Broncos buckle with his legs; the rest of the afternoon, he was simply steady. Pittsburgh’s ground game jabbed at the Broncos, but never gashed it; Steelers running backs didn’t have a single carry longer than 11 yards.

“I thought we played good defense,” Payton said.

And then there was the running game. It did not hold up well to support Bo Nix.

The Broncos NEED Javonte Williams to flourish. Or anybody in the running-back room. Providing the proper backing for a developing young quarterback depends on it.

Williams’ struggles aren’t all. Jaleel McLaughlin is off to a rough start, too. He has just 2.5 yards per carry this season.

The most explosive run of the season for Broncos running backs belongs to practice-squad member Tyler Badie, who took advantage of a hole on the left side and exploded through for a 16-yard rush in the second quarter.

And then he never carried the football again.

“We have to start really looking at who we are asking to do what,” Payton said.

No matter who gets the ball, the clock is ticking on the Broncos to get it right.

“But you gotta get it fixed before it’s too late,” Williams said. “Coach said, ‘The first four weeks, it’s a race to improve.;

“So we just gotta improve better than everybody else and go from there.”

Broncos running backs are averaging just 3.11 yards per carry so far this season.

Denver has no choice but to improve here, because without a ground game that can take pressure off of Nix, his development — and that of the team at large — is in jeopardy.

Could lineup changes and and situational groupings be coming to the Broncos offense? Sean Payton indicated changes were coming … and I also point out how right Riley Moss was about how this game would go.

My postgame wrap from the field is here. I've got a lot to say today. pic.twitter.com/cYFrcGaFJ0

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) September 16, 2024

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