Broncos Have A Bye-Week To-Do List

The passing of the annual trade deadline prompts NFL teams - however briefly - to reassess the state of the league as well as their position in it. While it will never be as frenzied as MLB's annual trade bacchanalia, more and more significant in-season moves have been made in recent NFL seasons.

As for the Denver Broncos, the trade deadline passed relatively quietly, which surprised some who hoped they would add a piece to the offensive backfield. Instead, Denver's only move was adding linebacker Daiyan Henley as a depth piece for the defense in a somewhat rare intra-divisional deal with the befuddling Los Angeles Chargers.

The Chargers are befuddling because 1) they are somehow 0-8 after being a chic preseason playoff pick and 2) despite being 0-8 their front office did nothing to either improve or, conversely, signal a rebuild for their struggling team through the glories of the trade route.

The Chargers are also no longer a threat to the Broncos this season. One team that is, though, is the Kansas City Chiefs who made a huge upgrade to their receiving corps with the acquisition of Indianapolis Colts' wideout Josh Downs.

Lastly in the AFC West, the Las Vegas Raiders, losers of five of their last six, punted the ball to 2027 with their trade of quarterback Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings, signaling the launch of the Fernando Mendoza Era, which is bound to come with its share of speed bumps and false starts amidst any good things that may happen.

While the Broncos will obviously keep an eye on the 6-2 Chiefs, looking farther afield, the teams that appear, on Nov. 11, to be Denver's main competition for ultimate AFC supremacy made significant additions.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, who the Broncos have already beaten this season, but way back in Week 2, added three significant names to their defense, signaling an "all-in" run at a Super Bowl title.

The AFC's current No. 1 seed, the 7-1 Buffalo Bills, who sit half-a-game ahead of the 7-2 Broncos, added safety Amani Hooker to a somewhat porous secondary and an overall defense that has struggled at times this season.

This year's trade deadline was fortunate to fall during the first days of Denver's two-week bye hiatus, meaning they aren't scheduled to take the field again until they host those new-look Raiders on Nov. 22.

That gives them time to thoroughly self-scout and identify ways to make the things that have gone well get better and those that have been troublesome get fixed.

Here are three things the Broncos may have on their to-do list during their mid-season vacation:

1. Fill the cracks in what has been a dominant defense

Denver has made life a living hell for opposing quarterbacks from Day 1 this season thanks to their first-class ability to collapse pockets and force signal-callers to move off their spots and make hasty decisions with the ball.

Through nine games, they rank in the top five in sacks (T4, 26), quarterback hurries (1st, 53) and QB pressures (1st, 104) while intercepting eight passes (T5th).

Where they can improve is against the run as they have allowed the seventh-most yards on the ground (1,135 or 126.1 per game), but only six of the 248 rushing attempts against the unit have resulted in touchdowns.

The other niggle regarding the defense is fixable through the incorporation of improved technique: Denver's D leads the league with 74 missed tackles, one more than the Cleveland Browns but nearly 20 more than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have the third-most at 55.

2. Get the ground game - whatever its ultimate form - going

Denver's running-back room has been a revolving door of starters and backs who have attempted to seize the bell-cow role but haven't succeeded, whether it be because of underperformance, injury or unproven youth.

That helps explain why they rank 24th in rushing yards with 848 (94.2 per game) with a 28th-best average of 3.7 yards per attempt.

While RBs J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey (who is now on IR) and rookie Jonah Coleman most certainly haven't taken the league by storm, they haven't been helped out much by an offensive line - especially the interior trio of guards Quinn Meinerz and Ben Powers and center Luke Wattenberg - that has played together exclusively for 2.5 seasons now but ranks near the bottom of the league in run-block win rate.

Find a way to pair better blocking with increased continuity in the backfield and the Denver ground game should begin to flourish.

3. Make sure QB Bo Nix keeps heading in the right direction

The third-year signal-caller's first six games were certainly concerning. Throw out the 288-yard effort against the Jaguars in Week 2 and his combined numbers in the other five games were the definition of pedestrian: 92-for-158 (58.2%) for 761 yards (152.2 per game) - with a high of 214 yards and three games with 131 or fewer - with five touchdowns and two interceptions.

He was also no longer running the ball like he used to, with 17 carries and 31 yards combined in those five games, while he had also fumbled the ball five times.

Ironically, it appears that a running play may have played a role in kick-starting his season, the 63-yard TD scamper in the 30-16 defeat of the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7. Counting that game, Nix has thrown for 681 yards (227.0 per game) and completed 61.2% of his passes (60-for-98) in Denver's last three contests.

Maybe most importantly, Nix has maintained his ability to create late-game magic offensively as he has set the NFL record since 1970 for most game-winning drives in the fourth quarter by a QB in their third season (15) and has led the Broncos to 16 straight wins in one-score games, an NFL record.

Keep Nix's arrow pointing up over the final eight games - along with tightening up the defense in certain areas and establishing an at least adequate running game - and the sky could be the limit for this team.