Anatomy of Denver’s Opening Drive

Kyle Orton's first touchdown as a Bronco came after the QB calmly marched the offense 78 yards down the field. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Breaking down the Denver Broncos‘ opening 12-play, 78-yard drive against the Seattle Seahawks that resulted in the first team offense’s first touchdown this preseason.

Saturday’s live broadcast left pieces of the first drive missing as the NFL Network stuck with the fourth quarter of the Redskins-Steelers game (what were they thinking?), but I was able to record the replay last night and caught the first few plays this morning. The 12-play drive featured nine passes to only three runs. Orton lined up in the shotgun seven times, only taking the snap under center five times.

The first play, Kyle Orton lined up under center and delivered a perfectly executed bullet to Jabar Gaffney on an in-route for a solid 16 yards. The pass protection was good, although RT Ryan Harris struggled with Cory Redding a bit. Redding gave Harris quite a bit of trouble in the early goings; the offense overcoming these struggles would become a theme this drive.

The next play, again under center, was a handoff to Correll Buckhalter who ran off right tackle. Redding got the better end of Harris’ block and made the tackle for a one-yard loss.

The first play everyone saw Saturday showed Orton scrambling out of the shotgun and gaining a couple of yards. Orton had a few options available short in front of the line of scrimmage, including Brandon Stokley and Correll Buckhalter, but Harris was again beat by Redding, who flushed Orton out of the pocket.

I’m happy to report that Harris’ troubles with Redding largely stopped after these first three plays. Overall these plays tell me two things – Orton is not a compete statue in the pocket and can move when he needs to, and Harris was able to adjust to Redding’s bull rush before it became too big of a problem.

The next play was a thing of beauty, netting the Broncos 26 yards. The entire left side of the offensive line – Ryan Clady, Ben Hamilton and Casey Wiegmann – left the line of scrimmage without touching the defensive line. Seahawks came untouched, but Orton immediately delivered the ball to Eddie Royal. Royal followed a cavalcade of blockers that included Stokley, who joined Wiegmann and Hamilton in making clutch blocks. Meanwhile Clady rolled in the direction of a defender, eliminating him without actually making the block.

Following the well-executed bubble screen, the Broncos ran a seven-step drop play action pass out of an I-formation. A seven-step drop means big play, which also means the pass protection needs to hold up. Unfortunately, Clady had a bad angle on Patrick Kerney, and the Pro Bowl DE recognized the play, beat Clady and forced Orton into a hurried throw. Orton still delivered a nice 45-yard toss to the end zone that might have been a touchdown to Jabar Gaffney if the protection had held up a second longer.

For those keeping track, that’s two very creative trick plays from the offense that included a deep bomb to the end zone. The criticisms regarding Josh McDaniels‘ lack of aggressive playcalling seems unwarranted.

The next two plays were both out of the shotgun and included a quick dumpoff to Buckhalter (Bucky made a move on Lofa Tatupu then benefited from another clutch Stokley block to get eight yards), followed by a dart to Stokley that moved the chains.

Buckhalter’s final two runs during this drive were back-to-back. Buckhalter gained eight yards off right guard that saw Chris Kuper deliver a dominating block at the second level, then had less success behind Hamilton from the I (Peyton Hillis was a decoy rather than lead blocker).

It was all Orton the rest of the drive, and all out of the shotgun. Kyle tossed a quick pass to Gaffney that brought the Broncos to the three-yard line. Buckhalter was open along the left sideline and might have been able to score a touchdown. The next throw was a bit risky, as Tony Scheffler had to fight for an intercept-able football. #88 nearly had it himself. Again, Buckhalter was open, this time in the flat, and might have been able to score a TD with the safe throw.

Then came third and goal…

Broncos' Brandon Stokley catches a 3-yard pass for a touchdown in the first quarter against the Seahawks' Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009, in an NFL preseason football game. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Orton delivered a perfect toss high and outside to Stokley, who was in great position against single coverage. Touchdown!

The first-team offense has showed the ability to march far down the field several times now in the preseason, only really struggling in the red zone. Is it something to worry about? A little, but don’t get too panicked – the Broncos will certainly call quite a few more running plays in the red zone during the regular season. It seems McDaniels is testing the execution of his passing offense beyond the 20-yard line, and finding mixed results at best. This drive, however, was a thing of beauty.