Denver Broncos: 3 things team must improve on following bye week

Run defense

Looking at the overall statistics, it doesn’t look like the Broncos are that bad in this area. They allow an average of 110 yards per game on the ground, which ranks right in the middle of the pack (16th) in the league.

But if you watched the game against the Eagles, you saw how badly the team defended the run.

And that came against backup running backs in Boston Scott and Jordan Howard, who each had over 80 yards rushing in the game. Earlier this year against the Cleveland Browns, third-string running back D’Ernest Johnson ran all over them.

Much of the team’s struggles can be attributed to losing both starting inside linebackers, Josey Jewell and Alexander Johnson, for the rest of the season.

Looking at the final seven games on the team’s remaining schedule, the Broncos don’t face a rushing offense that is currently better than 17th in the league. They need to take advantage of that and shut these teams down, forcing them to beat them in other ways.

Of course, most of those teams can as they have quarterbacks that can really air the ball out, but the Eagles were really able to expose the Broncos in the rushing department and if a team like the Chiefs, Raiders or Chargers are able to do that, Derek Carr, Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert will all completely pick them apart in the passing game and make those games quite ugly.

Vic Fangio is a defensive specialist and he needs to use this bye week to make sure his defense is not gashed in the run game again the way both Cleveland and Philadelphia have been able to do.