The Denver Broncos are one win away from clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC Conference. In Week 18, the Broncos play the Los Angeles Chargers. The latter will be without quarterback Justin Herbert. That said, it is the Chargers’ defense that the Bo Nix-led Broncos offense has to worry about this week.
Bo Nix on Facing a Lot of Zone Defenses
And with that comes the potential to face another zone defense. Nix, No. 12 in PFSN’s NFL QB Impact Metric, spoke on facing a slew of zone defenses lately.
He said, “They want to make you run the football, and that’s what the zones and the two high shells invite. And so it’s just all about executing whatever the defense gives you. I would wish like crazy, a team would just play us man to man the whole game. It would make my job a lot easier, but that’s just what the defense gives us, and we’re going to continue to just find what they do, and we’re going to do something that counters it. You can’t necessarily pick and choose.”
The defensive looks have put increased pressure on running back RJ Harvey, No. 49 in PFSN’s NFL RB Metric, after the injury to fellow RB J.K. Dobbins. Since taking over as the lead back, though, the former has 14-plus touches in all but one game. And Harvey has 65-plus scrimmage yards — a 1,100-yard pace — in all but two of those games as well.
Nix continued, saying, “For us on offense, we just have to have a lot of ways to beat a defense, and some of that, sometimes that’s just taking the 15-play drive and going down and scoring. Sometimes that’s just as tough on a defense because you did it the hard way. But every once in a while, explosives are obviously good too. But just overall excited where we are as an offense.”
Heading into Week 18, the Broncos’ offense is No. 9 in total yards per game (349.1). That includes 230.2 passing yards per game (No. 9) and 118.9 rushing yards per game (No. 19). The Broncos’ offense is No. 14 in points per game as well (23.9). The Nix-led offense is in a good place, headed into the playoffs, and with one more good showing, can clinch the lone No. 1 seed in the conference.
