Denver Broncos: Five simple fixes that can turn the ship around

Put Case Keenum in position to succeed

It might sound crazy, but it’s actually not — Case Keenum is capable of playing at a pretty high level in this league, even if he’s never going to be what we saw out of Aaron Rodgers on Monday Night Football.

The problem is, the Broncos right now are trying to force Keenum to be what Rodgers is and not utilize him in the ways he’s most effective.

Keenum is one of the best play-action passers in the NFL. He’s also very good throwing in the short-intermediate range and operating an up-tempo offense.

The solution would seem fairly simple. Get Keenum in an offense where he’s getting rid of the ball quickly, allowing receivers to make plays after the catch, and taking shots off of play-action.

We already discussed the importance of establishing a ground game for the Broncos, and this is an area that will benefit from that.

The Broncos are very capable of striking big plays downfield. Keenum doesn’t have the best arm in the league, but he can get the ball downfield and the Broncos right now are just too predictable offensively.

It feels like the Broncos are knowingly playing into Keenum’s weaknesses to try and prove something, but all they are proving right now is that they don’t know how to use the tools in their own toolbox.

Keenum hasn’t been as effective this season because the Broncos are getting the ball into scoring range, and getting cute with their offensive formations and play calling. This is part of the reason why Garett Bolles and others on the line are getting called for penalties, because the Broncos are creating obvious pass formations pre-snap, and forcing Keenum to take five- and seven-step drops when he should be making quick reads and keeping the offensive tempo up.

I’m not a football coach by any means, but I’ve seen the game long enough and have seen what is working around the league enough to know that the Broncos are shoving square pegs into round holes weekly.