Even Sean Payton is mystified by Broncos offensive incompetence

The Denver Broncos did not have a great offensive effort against the Pittsburgh Steelers, their second straight week of significant struggling on that side of the ball to start the 2024 season. Of course, the first one to point fingers at is head coach Sean Payton, who is also pointing the finger squarely at himself first and foremost after this loss to send the Broncos to 0-2 and sole possession of last place in the AFC West right now.

Payton spoke to the media after the loss to the Steelers and while he took ownership for the offensive struggles, you could tell even he was mystified by the ineptitude of the personnel the Broncos currently have on that side of the ball.

Broncos HC Sean Payton seems blown away by his bad offensive skill players

Payton noted in his postgame press conference that you weigh the success (or lack of success) of each play and whether you're putting your guys in the "best position". He said that they have been rotating a lot of different personnel groups in and out and said that he didn't know if that was helping the team.

So, relative to personnel on the field, mixing packages has been a hallmark for Sean Payton. He uses his offensive skill players like chess pieces but he's not sure that's really working out for everyone. And obviously, it isn't.

The Broncos are struggling with getting play calls in on time on top of the wholesale personnel changes, and teams have been keying in on some of the Broncos' more obvious personnel groupings. Notably, teams are keying in on Jaleel McLaughlin's presence on the field being a clear tell that he's about to get the ball.

Something similar could be said of Greg Dulcich, who was featured heavily in the passing game on his snaps with very little success (3 catches on 8 targets).

In other words, Payton is mystified right now about how incompetent his chess pieces have been thus far in the 2024 season. The Broncos' best receiver through two games has been Josh Reynolds. They are not getting Courtland Sutton or Marvin Mims Jr. involved. Devaughn Vele was arguably the team's best skill player in the Week 1 loss against Seattle, and he's a 26-year-old rookie 7th-round pick.

As Payton is watching his guys out there struggling to catch passes, struggling to create yardage after contact, struggling to get set in the right positions, and struggling to make really anything happen at all, even he's wondering if the offensive coaching staff needs to go back to the drawing board.

It might be time for the Broncos to decide on a set group of guys to get the lion's share of snaps and stop rotating so many different players in and out. Having different personnel packages is fine...if it works. But the Broncos are struggling to get their top playmakers going.

When Lil'Jordan Humphrey has four catches for 50 yards on five targets and Courtland Sutton has one catch for 26 yards on four targets, something is systematically wrong.