Two ways Phillip Lindsay can be even better in 2019

Denver Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay ran for over 1,000 yards and made the Pro Bowl his rookie season, but he can be even better in 2019.

Although Denver Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay had a rookie season fans will never forget, everyone is looking forward to his encore presentation in year two.

Lindsay ran for over 1,000 yards in 2018 with over 1,200 total yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns.

Averaging just over 15 touches per game (15 games), Lindsay’s usage in Denver’s offense was nothing like what the Giants did with their star rookie Saquon Barkley, who finished his rookie year with 352 total touches compared to Lindsay’s 227.

Extrapolated over the same number of touches, Lindsay could have also eclipsed 2,000 yards last season, but that’s assuming there would be no uncontrollable factors along the way like an injury, which Lindsay suffered in the Broncos’ second-to-last game of the 2018 season against the Raiders.

The point remains that on a per-touch basis, Lindsay was one of the most effective offensive weapons in the NFL in 2018 and he did it in an offense with a poor passing attack, a revolving door on the offensive line and at tight end, and some key losses at the wide receiver position.

It also didn’t help that the Broncos spent more time behind on the scoreboard than every other team in the NFL except for the Arizona Cardinals, who got the number one overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft as a result of their poor play.

The Broncos ranked 31st in the NFL in time of possession trailing and 30th in the NFL with over 31 minutes of average game time trailing in general.

I don’t think we can fully appreciate the great work Lindsay did in his rookie season until we understand that he was running for over five yards per carry while facing stacked boxes with no legitimate passing attack behind him and an offensive line constantly being re-shuffled.

What he did to teams this past season was remarkable. Let’s refresh our memories:

So how can Lindsay be even better in 2019? I think there are a couple of ways or reasons Lindsay can be a better player in 2019 than he was in 2018 and they both involve the passing game.