Three weeks. That is all it took for the country to turn on the Broncos again. They are corn to a garden. The worst seed ever.
Failing to score more than 20 points in three straight games to end the season was all America’s armchair quarterbacks and well-paid analysts needed.
The offensive impotence is catnip for critics.
So, it is no wonder that the AFC’s top dog is an underdog. Fine.
There is a way to win every game, as Sean Payton reminds us weekly, and the path Saturday involves mud flaps, not a cockpit.
The Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse has hidden its secret long enough.
Want to beat the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round? Run Jaleel McLaughlin. Trust him. Treat him like a weapon, not a diversion.
The idea that the outcome of the Broncos’ biggest game in a decade hinges on a running back who has been inactive for nine weeks is ridiculous. You are probably laughing at this premise. Cackling at the idea that Payton will actually lean on the ground attack.
But Payton has made a career of pushing the right buttons and finding answers. And this one is staring at him from inside the fieldhouse walls, where McLaughlin can often be found after practice getting in extra reps to stay sharp.
All Payton needs to do is follow the script written by Gary Kubiak, the last Broncos coach to win a playoff game.
As Denver clumsily reached the end of the 2015 season, creating doubts about reaching the Super Bowl, Kubiak spent part of his day checking video from Peyton Manning’s workouts with receiver Jordan “Sunshine” Taylor inside the fieldhouse as he recovered from a plantar fasciitis injury.
Kubiak refused to close the door on Manning returning. And Manning was tired of waiting. At one point, he flipped off the cameras, knowing Kubiak would see it. Kubiak finally took the suggestion, turning to Manning in the second half of the season finale, a move that triggered a Super Bowl 50 victory.
McLaughlin does not possess the gravitas to give his coach the middle finger. And he is not the key to a championship run. But he is the key to winning this game.
You see, backs have run through the Bills like Taco Bell after a night on Pearl Street. Only the 2006 Indianapolis Colts allowed more than 5 yards per rush and won the Super Bowl, per CBS Sports. The Bills have yielded 5.2 in 18 games. It is their fatal flaw.
McLaughlin can expose it. His entire football journey has built up to this moment. He never had a backup plan. He slept in a car for a time growing up. He refused to give up on his dream. His resilience helped him make the roster three years ago as an undrafted free agent.
This is different. He can go from a feel-good story to the headliner.
Look, this might backfire. But he is the best option to exploit the Bills, even if injured defensive lineman Ed Oliver returns. The trade deadline long ago passed, and Denver declined to deal for Breece Hall.
Then J.K. Dobbins got hurt, and R.J. Harvey has not filled his cleats. Forget attacking downhill, Harvey has been going downhill. He has averaged 3.36 yards per carry over the past three games on 36 carries, and if you subtract his 38-yard touchdown against the Jaguars, it shrinks to 2.37.
Compare that to McLaughlin, who has 118 yards on 18 carries during the same stretch. That is 63 percent of his season total, and 6.56 a pop.
“He outworks just about everybody in the building,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “It’s not a shock to anybody that, when his opportunity came, he did a great job with it.”
So, lean on McLaughlin and call more designed runs for Bo Nix (102 rushing yards since Dec. 21).
Who says no? Payton?
Not so sure. Not this time. He appears to have learned his lesson from abandoning the run last year at Buffalo, from turtling against the Chiefs and Chargers.
It was encouraging to hear Payton’s tone publicly last Friday when asked if he held stuff back over the final two weeks. He made no excuses. Used zero qualifiers. Made it clear that the Broncos have to execute better and become more explosive.
If Payton is not stubborn, the Broncos will win because of the run game in general and McLaughlin specifically.
Don’t believe it?
The Jaguars are watching this weekend because they simply did not run the ball enough. They were gashing the Bills on the ground, and inexplicably finished with 30 passes and 23 carries. They posted 154 yards rushing, and Liam “Keep Your Head Up” Coen decided to keep putting the ball in the air.
If Payton is similarly hard-headed with Nix, the Broncos will follow the Jaguars to the emergency exit.
My insistence on running is rooted in winning.
The best way to neutralize Josh Allen is to play keep away. If the Broncos produce long drives and impose their will upfront, it will create urgency from the Bills.
We all know Josh Allen is not going to play like Woody Allen. It is safe to assume the Broncos are going to struggle at times as Allen bullies his way for yards or finds his tight ends and running backs for easy completions. How Denver’s defense performs in the red zone will be critical.
But the offense has to do its part.
It won’t be easy. It never is with this group. The Broncos have only reached the red zone five times in the last three games, scoring two touchdowns, and only once in a goal-to-go situation.
That won’t cut it on Saturday.
Let McLaughlin provide the body shots. And Harvey or Nix, the haymaker (the Bills have allowed eight touchdown runs of 30-plus yards, most in a season in NFL history).
McLaughlin was already known for rolling up his sleeves and breaking a sweat before the sun wakes. But he added night duty to stay sharp, to be ready, when he lost his role on game day as the fourth running back in the three-man rotation of Dobbins, Harvey and Tyler Badie.
“It was a real challenge just because I am so competitive,” McLaughlin said. “But I just had to trust and believe in what coach Payton was telling me.”
Everyone is running their mouths again. All the Broncos need to do is run the ball with McLaughlin to shut them up.
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