Broncos’ offensive task Sunday vs. Baltimore: Control tempo, by run or by pass

In the time Sean Payton spends each week with the entire Broncos team in meetings, he typically outlines a specific version of the game to come.

This week’s recipe. These things happen, we win. They don’t, we don’t.

Like many arrows in Payton’s quiver, this one comes from Bill Parcells.

“What’s the way to win that game?” Payton mused last week. “That can vary based on your opponent. We played the Chiefs one year. They had the No. 1 offense in football, and this was 2003 or ’04. They were explosive. Tuesday morning, we had a staff meeting and we were all waiting for Bill to talk about how time of possession, run the ball, and he came in … he did the exact opposite. He said, ‘We’re going to outscore them.’ We all kind of looked at him.

“You have a way, in your mind, how you think you have to win the game. And then you have to midstream adjust if sometimes that way doesn’t necessarily unfold the way you’re thinking.”

Conventional wisdom might suggest a similar situation unfolding Sunday in Baltimore. The Ravens are explosive offensively. They’ve scored 30-plus in four of their past five games, including a pair of 41-point outings. They are the best rushing team in football but Lamar Jackson is equally dangerous throwing the football.

So, what do the Broncos do? They boast one of the NFL’s best defenses and an offense that’s 20th in scoring and 25th in total offense.

One might think: Run the ball, limit possessions, help the defense that way.

The question Sunday: Does Payton think differently?

“It’s still a team game. Each aspect of it is important,” he said Wednesday. “If we’re not on the field long, there’s more stress on the defense and vice versa.”

When the Broncos started 0-2 and ran the football poorly, a game at Tampa Bay against a beat-up Buccaneers defense screamed for Denver to get the ground game going.

Instead, Payton and the Broncos offense came out firing. Rookie quarterback Bo Nix completed all four passes for 70 yards on the opening drive and capped it with a touchdown run. The Broncos used the passing game to move the chains and stay on the field. Then once they had control of the game in the second half they got the running game going.

“The flow of an offense really starts by getting that first first down and I think we’re becoming a more dynamic offense as we‘re finding our identity to put a string of plays together to find that first first down,” right guard Quinn Meinerz said this week. “Bo’s got some wheels, we’ve got some good blocking combinations and in that partnership, we’re staying ahead of the chains whether it be running the ball, run-pass option, straight drop-back pass.”

Baltimore’s defense is surrendering just 3.3 yards per carry but has given up 17 touchdown passes against just five interceptions.

Broncos players and coaches downplayed that disparity some this week.

“I see a lot of teams having to go to the pass because they’re down by a few scores,” Nix said. “You can’t chase points, but essentially that’s what they force teams to do. They get an early lead and teams stop running the ball on them and they have to go to the pass. Because of that, naturally, teams are going to gain yards through the air if they’re one-dimensional.

“I think in saying that, we have to do a good job of staying balanced this game,” he said.

The key, then: Staying on the field, no matter how you accomplish it. Controlling the pace of the game regardless of whether it’s ground-and-pound or something else.

“A 12-play drive on a defense is difficult,” Meinerz said. “There’s constant rotations on the d-line.

“This week it’s important for us to convert those third downs, stay ahead of the chains and keep the ball out of their hands.”

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