Broncos offensive line benefitting from continuity that has been largely elusive

May 07, 2024

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — After he finished helping running back Javonte Williams bulldoze a path through the middle of the Kansas City Chiefs defense, Quinn Meinerz popped up from the ground and emphatically pointed forward. It was a brief celebration of a hard-earned first down during the Denver Broncos’ 24-9 victory. Or perhaps it was an expression of gratitude from Meinerz for a game plan fit for the Broncos’ 6-foot-3, 340-pound right guard.

“You look at the most recent game we played and we were able to get 40 runs called,” Meinerz said. “When you’re able to do that in any game, I’m pretty sure the stats are that you have a 100 percent win rate. It shows that we were having a lot of success, and in the weeks leading up to that game, you were seeing a ramp-up in the run game. That’s all of us working together — O-line, tight ends, running backs, receivers. It takes all 11 to have successful runs, and it’s been a lot of fun to have more of those called.”

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Meinerz was off in his accounting, but not by much. Teams that rush for 40 attempts in a game since 2000 have a 92.4 percent win rate (749-61-2), according to TruMedia. Plenty has to fall in place for a team to reach that total during a game, but the 40-carry effort for the Broncos against the Chiefs was part of a broader movement toward a more run-centric approach. During their most recent three-game stretch, from Week 6 to Week 8, Denver ranked seventh in rush attempts (88) and third in yards per rush (4.7). The Broncos found that success despite facing defensive fronts with eight or more defenders in the box on 50 percent of their rush attempts, tied with the New Orleans Saints for the highest rate in the league.

In short, the Broncos have leaned into their strength: the offensive line in which they invested heavily during the offseason. It’s a five-man group full of players who are generally better run blockers than they are pass protectors, particularly new additions Ben Powers (left guard) and Mike McGlinchey (right tackle). And it’s a group that has benefitted from a level of continuity that has largely been elusive for Denver’s offensive lines of the past several seasons. The starting five of left tackle Garett Bolles, Powers, center Lloyd Cushenberry, Meinerz and McGlinchey have shared the field for all but two snaps this season. It’s a far cry from last season when Bolles missed more than half the season with a broken leg, Meinerz missed time early with a hamstring injury, Cushenberry missed the second half of the year and the right tackle spot was a revolving door.

The Broncos signed free-agent right tackle Mike McGlinchey to a five-year, $87.5 million contract with $52.5 million guaranteed during the offseason in an effort to bolster their offensive line. (Jamie Sabau / USA Today)

“It’s a tremendous help for all of us to have as many snaps as we’ve had together,” Meinerz said. “There’s nothing that can replace those game day reps together. It goes into the work we’ve all put into keeping our bodies healthy. It goes back to the spring when we were working out here, all of us together. We’ve done a good job staying healthy, and that’s been really important.”

The Broncos rank second in the NFL in ESPN’s run-block win rate, and the offensive line’s growth as a road-grading unit starts in the middle. Cushenberry is having a career year during his fourth season in the league. The 2020 third-round pick out of LSU ranks 17th out of all interior offensive linemen in run-block win rate, a metric using Next Gen Stats that assesses how frequently linemen can sustain their blocks for 2.5 seconds or longer. Cushenberry has been stronger at the point of attack, and Denver is building an increasingly diverse ground attack around him.

“He’s the heartbeat of that line up front and he does a great job of it, man,” Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson said of Cushenberry recently. “I’m really excited for him. He’s been healthy, too. Last year he got dinged up and that was unfortunate, didn’t work in his favor. But it’s working in his favor now and it’s working in our favor as a team. It’s going to continue to.”

The Broncos should view the upcoming matchup with Buffalo’s battered defense as an opportunity to continue playing to the line’s strength. The Bills have been without cornerstone players in cornerback Tre’Davious White (Achilles), defensive tackle DaQuan Jones (pectoral) and linebacker Matt Milano (leg, knee), and other injuries have popped up continuously across the defensive roster. The Bills remain a well-coached and disciplined unit defensively under head coach and play caller Sean McDermott, but this is far from an invincible unit. The group allows 4.9 yards per rush, which ranks 30th in the NFL.

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If the Broncos are going to pull off another upset, the path to victory will flow behind their offensive line. It’s a group that is beginning to benefit from the continuity it has enjoyed to this point in the season, and it’s a unit that will have a big role in determining Denver’s ceiling in the second half of the season.

“You want the game to be in your hands,” McGlinchey said. “I’ve always debated whether you want to be the starting pitcher or the closing pitcher. I want to be the starter. I want the ball in my hands. I think the rest of our O-line feels the same way.”

(Top photo: Dustin Bradford / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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