Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason. Click here to submit a question.
No question, just a thank you. Always grateful. Love your coverage of all things Broncos. Really appreciate everyone in the Post sports department. Go Broncos!
— Dennis, Mt. Laurel, N.J.
Hey Dennis, thanks for the note! A good way to kick things off today. There’s a lot of folks at The Post that make it go. Many of them don’t have their name on stories every day, like Matt, Sarah, Lori, Joe and Jeff, but we appreciate them all the same! And we appreciate everybody who reads and supports our work.
Whatever happened to Greg Dulcich? Is he still on IR? I was looking forward to him returning to the field to give our offense a boost. What’s up?
— Lou Hanebury, Billings, Mont.
Hey Lou, good question, it’s been sort of a developing situation. Dulcich has been on injured reserve since Week 6 with the latest in a series of right hamstring injuries. He returned to practice last week and participated one day, then had some swelling and discomfort in his foot. So, the training staff held him out of Thursday’s practice. Head coach Sean Payton said Monday that he still thinks Dulcich will play again this year. Obviously it’s mostly a lost season for him, but getting out there and playing in a couple games would be a good boost for him after so much frustration.
If he and the Broncos can find a sustainable way to keep him healthy, he can be a real weapon in the passing game. Whether that actually happens, of course, remains to be seen at this point. He’s still a young guy, though, and he’s got real dynamic ability, so all parties are hoping he can get his career back on track.
Despite the success the Broncos have had lately with wins and good defensive play I am worried about the mediocre play by the offense and Russell Wilson specifically. The late-game heroics aren’t sustainable for long-term success. Are receivers not getting open or is Wilson not so good at spotting an open receiver who isn’t first in his progression of looks? Thanks.
— Mark Heckart, Albuquerque, N.M.
Yeah, Mark, good question. The defense really did drive the big turnaround in the middle of the season. The Broncos’ offense hasn’t been bad — or, at least, it’s been much better than last year. They’re middle of the pack in scoring (No. 16), but No. 25 in yardage overall and also No. 25 in passing yards. Part of it is a volume conversation. Denver’s 30th in the NFL in passing attempts. Recently it’s felt a bit like a hitter in baseball who decides to sacrifice some plate discipline to tap into more power. The Broncos have taken more shots down the field and generated some big plays, but that’s also come with turnovers and a little bit more variance. Wilson has five games this year with a completion rate lower than 60% and three of them are in his past four.
It’s a little bit of a few different things. There’s more downfield throws, which are lower probability. Wilson has missed a few that he should have had, too. And the team’s run game hasn’t been as efficient the past three weeks, which leads to more true drop-back passing situations. That makes protection more difficult and gives defenses the upper hand overall.
Those aren’t excuses, though. The Broncos have to find a way to score and they have to find a way to be more consistent offensively. It might sound strange coming off a game in which the opponent scored 42 points, but I think the offense is a bigger question mark than the defense if you’re trying to forecast whether Denver can win its final three games and get to 10-7 for the year.
Do you feel like the Broncos gave up on the run game too early? Russell Wilson thrives with the play-action and that doesn’t work if no one bites on the running back.
— Gil M., Parker
Related to the question above, Gil. Analytics tell us in the NFL that a team doesn’t actually have to run the ball particularly efficiently for play-action to be effective. However, when a run game gets rolling, the offense is in control of the tempo of the game. Plus, when you’re confident that you can run the ball, you have more spots where you feel good about taking shots down the field. Right now, teams are selling out to stop Denver in the run game. Some way or another, they’ve got to figure out how to loosen up defenses without completely getting away from running the ball.
Who is the most fired up in the locker room before a game and who is the most zen?
— Kathy Slenker, San Diego, Calif.
Hey Kathy, great question. Not one I know the answer to specifically because we’re not in the locker room before games. Can we combine the answers? Because we can say with good authority that Quinn Meinerz is pretty zen most of the time, but he’s a fire-breather on gameday. Here’s what offensive line coach Zach Strief told me a few weeks ago when I was reporting a feature story on Meinerz: “Certainly on game days he’s an emotional player and he’s really not like that during the week. That’s really good, too, that he’s very even-keeled during the week. Gameday there’s a switch. When we brought in Mike (McGlinchey) and Ben (Powers), part of it was to provide some leadership from winning programs and guys that have experienced it. Then you watch them all situate themselves and Quinn is right there with them, which is exactly what you want with a young player.”
So, apparently Meinerz is a laid back guy who likes chill synth music, space and bowling during the week and then turns into a different cat on game day.
What’s your thoughts about the Broncos finishing the season strong by defeating the Patriots, Chargers and Raiders in the last three games? Do you foresee any problems with this?
— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.
It’s certainly possible, Ed. The problem, if there is one, is simply that winning in the NFL is really difficult. And now, more specifically in terms of the Broncos, the reality is that winning those three games doesn’t guarantee them a Wild Card spot. They’re still likely to get one at 10-7, but the analytics say it’s about a 75% chance.
But look, those teams are a combined 14-28 this year. None of them are starting the same quarterback they began the season with. Two of them already have interim coaches and there’s been a ton of speculation about whether this might be the end of the road for Bill Belichick in New England, too.
If you look at the other teams trying to crack the AFC Wild Card, none of them finish the year facing Bailey Zappe, Easton Stick and Aidan O’Connell. So, it’s still very possible.
Can you imagine, though, how anxious Broncos Country will be if Denver wins the next two and then has to win on the road against the Raiders, who have won seven straight against the Broncos and will be playing to try to ensure interim coach Antonio Pierce gets the full-time job, in order to make the postseason? It almost seems destined to line up that way at this point.
Hey Parker, what’s the latest on Nik Bonitto? Our pass rush looked awful against the Lions without him.
— Mark, Arvada
Hey Mark, good question. We don’t know at this point what the exact diagnosis for Bonitto’s injury is. But we do know that the Broncos are hopeful he can play again before the end of the regular season. That, obviously, would mean he avoided a major structural issue when he got hurt in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Certainly Denver missed him. Detroit also did a good job of staying away from obvious passing situations because it ran the football effectively. The Broncos would love to have his pass-rush juice back, though, and we’ll see if he can make progress toward that by returning to practice in any capacity this week.
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