The Denver Broncos clearly had something going on the ground in the first half, but the total abandonment of the run game in the second half was odd. It was a tale of two halves for the Denver Broncos, as the team went into halftime with 21 points, three touchdown drives from the offense in which the ground game was more than established.
Denver was imposing their will on the LA Chargers run defense, and early on, the game felt like it was going to turn out to be a convincing Broncos victory. Well, in the second half, not only did the Broncos only score six more points, but they were not able to score another touchdown, and the run game was also totally nonexistent.
Audric Estime had just three rushing attempts in the second half for 13 yards. In the first half, Estime had six carries for 35 yards and a touchdown. In fact, Estime was just tough to bring down in the first half, and it's clear that when he has the ball in his hands, he's always falling forward and is breaking tackles at a high level.
What we have seen this year from Estime, the Broncos 2024 fifth-round draft pick, does feel a lot like what the Broncos got a few years ago with a rookie Javonte Williams. It just made no sense to me that Audric Estime barely touched the ball in the second half, and Denver is also a team that is constantly rotating their backs in and out of the game.
According to NFL Pro, the Broncos rushing success rate went from 76.9% (season-high) in the first half to 12.5% in the second half
— Jordan Lopez (@JordanTLopez) December 20, 2024
Denver recorded 3 rushes of 10+ yards in the first half
In the second half, they had none
5th time they had none in the second half this season pic.twitter.com/sENeWIDnDo
Why not just ride with the hot hand? Why was Estime coming out after solid gains on early downs? Maybe I am just ignorant to all of this; but if something was working in the first half, why not continue it? It just felt like Sean Payton was overthinking things at times in the second half, and it did not help that the team's defense could not stop a nosebleed all game.
The first half of Week 16 felt like the absolute best and most efficient rushing attack the Denver Broncos had all season, and it just... stopped in the second half?
In Week 17, the Denver Broncos will embark on yet another win-and-in scenario against the Cincinnati Bengals, but that is unless the Bengals, Miami Dolphins, and Indianapolis Colts all lose in Week 16, which isn't likely. Perhaps with this extra rest, the Broncos can figure out their rushing attack.