Sean Payton made it clear Monday: The Broncos need to be more assertive in running the football.
He saw the same numbers as everybody else: 14 passes and three runs on Denver’s first 17 snaps against Tennessee. By the end, 43 drop-backs for quarterback Bo Nix.
Payton suggested the discrepancies, which closed some with a bruising, 95-rush-yard fourth quarter, were not a matter of being pass-happy but instead a matter of letting Tennessee’s defense too often set the terms.
“I have to be better there,” he said. “And it’s one of those day-afters where you look back and say, ‘All right, let’s look at how we really wanted to start this game,’ and get those two runners going because we think we’ve really improved in that area.