Drake Maye can’t spoil the party if he’s too busy chilling in the corner.
“Body blows hurt a little bit more (in January),” Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey told me a few days ago. “Got to keep the legs warm, things like that. But, yeah, the weather, it shouldn’t be a factor. Denver’s beautiful. The sun will be shining. Yeah, it’ll be fine.”
If by “fine,” you mean, “colder than a witch’s armpit,” then sure. Fine. You betcha.
Layer up. The hour-by-hour forecast for the AFC championship between the Broncos and Patriots projects that it’ll be 25-ish degrees at kickoff under a mostly cloudy sky. And a balmy 16 degrees in the shade.
Fun fact: Jarrett Stidham is 1-0 as an NFL starter when his teams run the ball 33 times or more. More fun: Stiddy’s 1-0 when his team outrushes the opposition.
Meanwhile, Maye, the Bo Nix of Beantown, is 3-6 lifetime when the opponent possesses the ball for 29 minutes or more. The Patriots’ young quarterback is 2-4 when the other guys have the rock for at least 34 minutes.
Don’t know about you, Sean Payton, but I’d be awfully tempted to run the dang ball Sunday. Or die trying. With or without J.K. Dobbins in my saddle bag.
“I think it’s humongous,” McGlinchey said of the ground game in the postseason.
“It’s obviously a huge factor in controlling the sticks, controlling the clock, controlling the flow of the game — and to be efficient on first and second down. And all that does is make third down easier. It’s just one of those things (where) you gotta command it, you gotta call it, you gotta execute it. And then it’s a very, very important piece of what’s going on.”
A very, very important piece of Mile High history, too. The Broncos have been in the AFC title game five times since 1995. They’re 4-0 in those tussles when they’ve run for 99 yards or more, 0-1 at 98 yards or fewer. Denver’s 3-0 in AFC championships since ’95 when it outrushes the opponent. The Broncos are 4-0 all-time against New England in the playoffs when they’ve outrushed the Pats.
“I had to be in on one of those,” former Broncos tailback C.J. Anderson laughed when I read him those stats over the phone.
He was. Anderson’s game-high 72 rushing yards on 16 carries — Denver amassed 99 as a team — helped send Tom Brady packing in the ’15 AFC title game 10 years ago.
“RJ (Harvey), Jaleel (McLaughlin), (Tyler) Badie, they’ve all got to contribute,” Anderson continued. “You don’t really need a huge game by one of them. You just need all of them to have 120 yards rushing combined. But will Sean run it 18-22 times in the game?”
And there’s the rub. Payton being Payton, the Broncos coach bristled this past Thursday morning when a reporter asked about his dedication to running the ball during a media teleconference.
“We just won the (Bills) game,” Payton said in an exasperated tone. “There was a lot of talk how … games unfold differently. Look, the first running play of the game for Buffalo went for 24 yards.
“I’ll write it on the script for you (Thursday) again, so that it’s a reminder. The key is understanding how to win that game. And then understanding how to adjust.”
Understanding your personnel helps, too. Much of the joy from The Bo Show stemmed from what he could do with his legs, his ability to make something out of nothing, whether scrambling to buy time in the pocket or taking off to keep moving the chains. Denver’s QB1 was the Broncos’ leading rusher against the Bills in terms of attempts (12) and yards (29). He paced Denver on the ground against the Chargers, too. That’s gone now.
“You hear people talk about, ‘This team’s built for December (or) January football,’ that usually means you’ve got a good defense, which we do,” Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi replied when I asked about the run game. “And it means that you run the ball well — which at times, we have. So I think it’s important, regardless of who the quarterback is.
“We live in Denver, but I feel like we’re a warm-weather team. So this will be different for us as we look at the weather report. Hopefully, we can go out there and run the ball well and do what we need to do.”
Dobbins hasn’t played since early November while rehabbing a Lisfranc issue. Even if he’s on a pitch count, it would at least give Payton an option he trusts to run between the tackles and to soften those early downs. Harvey’s most effective looks have come as a safety valve, or on swing and wheel routes, when given the chance to make defenders miss in space. The rookie’s 24-yard catch and run in overtime against Buffalo got the Broncos to the 47-yard line and set up the game-winning field goal.
“Yeah, I think (he’s) close,” Lombardi said of Harvey. “I think we only had six carries last week, just the way that game went. Yeah, I think it’s coming … and as we get here in late January, hopefully we can get, as an overall team, just more consistent in that aspect of the running game.”
Stidham, Nix’s understudy, is going to need all the help he can get, from every hand imaginable. And having the comfort to hand off sure as heck wouldn’t hurt. Over Stiddy’s career, per Pro-Football-Reference.com, the Broncos’ signal-caller has put up a 97.6 career passer rating when throwing off of play action, compared to 72.9 on all other throws. Average pass yards per attempt? It’s 9.3 per throw off play action, 5.3 otherwise.
“The biggest thing that (the Broncos) can do to help Jarrett is run the football,” former Pats quarterback Brian Hoyer told The Post recently. “You don’t want him throwing 35-40 passes in this game against this defense.”
Not if you want to win, at any rate. Which might explain why McGlinchey is walking straight into a witch’s armpit with a smile on his face.
“It doesn’t matter which quarterback’s back there. (The) run game helps the whole offense and helps the defense too,” the Broncos blocker said. “It’s a vital piece of what we’re trying to do. And I think I like our plan, and I’m ready to go try and get it executed.”
Winning QBs have been known to reward their offensive lines with gifts for services rendered. Especially after massive postseason moments.
“Is Stiddy going to treat you guys to some extra steaks?” I asked McGlinchey.
The big guy grinned.
“I hope not,” he laughed. “Because if he wins this game, I’ll get him something.”
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