Even though the arrow seems to be pointing in the right direction for the Denver Broncos, there still is a chance that the team crashes and burns in 2023. What would that look like? This is the last thing that we as fans and the organization wants to happen in 2023.
The 2022 season felt like the rockiest of bottoms in recent memory for the Broncos. Could it get much worse than last year? Well, I don't think so. I do think that the Broncos at least not finishing with a winning record would be a huge disappointment, but I don't think that would come close to what we saw in 2022.
There are a few things that can happen to the team in 2023 that would spell disaster for their season. They'd be absolute catastrophes. What three disasters in the 2023 season should the Denver Broncos try to avoid?
3 catastrophes the Denver Broncos must avoid in the 2023 season
1. Injuries pile up once again, many starters miss games
The Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans were the most injured teams in the NFL last year. Just take a look at this table, which looks at total man games lost due to injury:
NFL 2022 regular season injury plot. Games missed to injuries and health protocols versus team wins. Bubble size represents cumulative quality of players lost for games (Lost-av metric) https://t.co/HBPgJxYIPz pic.twitter.com/oBHD5oQubB
— Man Games Lost NFL (@ManGamesLostNFL) January 12, 2023
And, imagine that, some of the healthiest teams in the NFL in 2022 were also making deep playoff runs, so there does appear to be a bit of a correlation between staying healthy and some form of success.
The Broncos did redo their strength and conditioning staff in 2023, moving on from Loren Landow and bringing in Dan Dalrymple as the head strength and conditioning coach. Will that be enough? Well, the Broncos have been one of the most injured teams in the NFL over the last five seasons, so perhaps this change will yield better results.
Denver losing players, specifically starters to injuries in 2023 will put a dagger in the coming season.
2. Making silly mistakes, not playing complementary football, and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
I'm lumping all of these into one category. So, one of the biggest sore spots for the Broncos over the last six seasons and a big reason why they haven't won many games is them, as a more general idea, not being able to play complementary football.
Whether it's silly, drive-killing penalties committed on offense, unnecessary penalties on defense, poorly-timed turnovers, or whatever else has plagued Denver since 2017, the Broncos have constantly shot themselves in the foot.
And even with many of their wins, they seem to make it harder than it needs to be. Well, this would be a tough watch again in 2023 if it were to happen again. I don't even want to begin to think about the kind of issues and poor football the Broncos could put on the field in 2023 that would cause them to lose some games.
I'd like to think that it wouldn't happen because of the stellar staff that Sean Payton built and the fact that he's Sean Payton, but again, you never know.
3. Russell Wilson, Sean Payton's offense not meshing
The worst thing above all that the team should work to avoid in 2023 is Russell Wilson not playing at a good enough level to win games. I don't think anyone expected Wilson to play as poorly as he did in 2022, but rumors swirling from Denver indicated that the offense never really had an identity and simply threw things at the wall on offense and hoped it stuck.
Then there was the disastrous amount of injuries the team had to deal with as well. There was a laundry list of things that went wrong but the offense and Russell Wilson was front and center.
In 2023, I think it's clear that based on the Broncos' offseason moves, they plan on being a run-first team. Their offensive line signings and other offensive free agent additions indicate a clear offensive identity being established, and one that Russell Wilson excelled in when he was in Seattle for a decade.
I truly believe that Russell Wilson will be fine again in 2023. He did unveil a significant weight loss this offseason, so perhaps some of his mobility will come back too, which would be a huge bonus. Now, to be fair, if Wilson is truly falling off the cliff, then I don't think there's much that can be done by Payton and co. to get Wilson where he needs to be.
I'd like to think that he's not washed up and still has some great years left in the tank.