Denver Broncos

Lessons the Broncos Must Learn from their Last Meeting with the Chargers

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Chargers continued the NFL’s trend of avoiding the secondary entirely, and instead focused on their tight ends. Hunter Henry carved up Denver’s defense.

Monday was a good day. My birthday was on Tuesday and Brock’s magical 7-yard fumble was the best gift I could have asked for. Bronco fans are breathing a little easier after that comfortable win.

A big reason why we were so stressed in the first place is due to the debacle in San Diego last Thursday. The offense was restricted by their one-armed quarterback flying solo without his play-caller, so there isn’t a whole lot to parse through on that side of the football that would be useful to analyzing this weekend’s rematch.

However, the Chargers had some success on offense, especially early. They continued the NFL’s theme of avoiding the No Fly Zone, and instead opted to win the game against Denver’s linebackers.

The Broncos came out disorganized on defense. On the second play of the game, Boss Ward dropped down into the box, Rivers audibled, and Marshall and Harris desperately motioned for him to swing back to the other side of the formation.

Rivers hit Benjamin on an 8 yard out to the sideline as Harris had to play farther back on the speedster without safety help. There were a few more plays on the first drive where players seemed to be out of position, but this was not the main reason for the defense’s early struggles.

Oct 13, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers (17) looks to pass during the third quarter against the Denver Broncos at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The prevailing theory in the NFL seems to be: spread out the Broncos defense and find a 1 on 1 matchup you like. Given the ballhawks on the edge, the offense’s best bet is in the middle, and Rivers threw 18 of his 29 attempts towards running backs or tight ends.

Even though that play was a drop, it was a harbinger of things to come, as Antonio Gates pretty much did whatever he wanted on that route, and his counterpart was even more dominant. Watch the inside wideout on the top of the Chargers formation here.

Hunter Henry made a slow break out of a bunch trips formation, as this was one of the concepts San Diego stressed all night. They wanted to put traffic in front of their speedy tight end and isolate him against the Broncos linebackers.

Oct 13, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers tight end Hunter Henry (86) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the first quarter of the game against the Denver Broncos at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Hunter Henry was easily their most effective weapon, finishing with 6 catches for 83 yards. He either lined up as their inside-most wide receiver, or on the outside in a two tight end set with both split to one side.

However, on this play, the Chargers moved three tight ends to the left, and ran Henry underneath the other two routes very much like what they did when they spread him out as a wide receiver above.

Henry capped the drive off with a touchdown that was a display of Rivers’ football genius. The following play is a great example of how the Broncos matchup zone scheme works. Towards the bottom of the screen, it looks like a simple man alignment with Harris and Stewart, but watch what happens when the ball is snapped.

Harris’ matchup was in the endzone, while Stewart covered the underneath route. Rivers clearly knew this as you can see him audible to the bottom of the screen, called a perfect play, and fired a dart right into the space he knew would be uncovered.

Oct 13, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers (17) looks across the line before the snap during the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Here is another example of a common attack faced by the defense every week.

Rivers spreads the running back to the top of the screen just like Atlanta and New England did, except instead of isolating the back in space, he went up there to bunch the area up and take a player away from their real target: Hunter Henry.

Rivers fired a perfect pass right down the seam for a huge gain. A big part of why the defense struggled had to do with the fact that Rivers was on top of his game all night, even if his final statline didn’t completely look like it (18-29 for 178 yards 1 TD 0 INT).

But as Blake Bortles reminded us this Thursday with his bankrupt 300-yard outing, stats never tell a complete story in this game.

Oct 13, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers tight end Hunter Henry (86) runs with the ball while defended by Denver Broncos free safety Darian Stewart (26) during the first quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. San Diego won 21-13. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

As the Chargers threw more and more bunch trips formations at the defense, Denver adjusted by bringing a safety down into the box. You can see Chris Harris motion for Stewart to cut off the underneath route in this play below. Unfortunately, Rivers sees this and fires a strike to the sideline.

Henry was the focal point of their passing attack all night, and they got a matchup they thought they wanted on this play out of their double tight end set, but Shaq Barrett is a man who can do everything. This was probably Denver’s best individual coverage on Henry all night.

Next: San Diego's Run Game

Oct 13, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers running back Melvin Gordon (28) is stopped by Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller (58) and outside linebacker Shane Ray (56) during the second quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Rivers mostly operated out of a two tight end set, and one would think that would help the ground game. The Chargers struggled mightily, save for this mistake by Chris Harris. He misread the play as a pass and followed his man out of his lane, enabling a 48-yard gain.

Remove that play, and Melvin Gordon ran for 46 yards on 26 carries with a long rush of 8 yards. Most Charger runs looked like this:

Next: Conclusion

Nov 15, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

On Sunday, the Broncos are probably going to have to double Hunter Henry, as they do not have a linebacker capable of staying with him for more than 5 yards on every play. The safeties must get more involved, and we’ll need to see more big plays like this from Darian Stewart and TJ Ward.

The Chargers are a solid team with an elite quarterback. They are not the doormat last year’s injury decimated team was (although this offense is certainly trending in that direction for them), and the Broncos will have their hands full again on Sunday.

Henry is questionable with a concussion but he expects to play. He ran all kinds of double moves last Thursday, and Denver should be hyper vigilant in staying disciplined against his routes if he does suit up. With a healthier quarterback and a defense more focused on the tight ends, they should be able to tie the season series with this century’s biggest divisional foe.

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