Has Sean Payton been holding back on offense ahead of NFL playoffs? .. Broncos Mailbag ...Middle East

Hi Parker, do you think Sean Payton is holding anything back offensively that he’s waiting to unleash in the playoffs?  It just seems like against lesser opponents, they don’t try to be as dynamic as they can. Thanks.

— Brandon Brown, Rogers, Minn.

Hey Brandon, thanks for writing in and getting us going this week.

At the basic level, no, I don’t think Sean Payton and the Broncos offensive coaching staff is sitting on some big, secret set of plays that they’ve just been waiting to unveil.

There is obviously nuance in the conversation about how the final two games went against backup quarterbacks. Then throw in two games against the Raiders and half of their final eight felt like kind of ugly, vanilla slugfests.

First, here’s what Payton himself said when asked if they played intentionally basic on offense over the final two weeks of the regular season against the Chris Oladokun-led Kansas City and the Trey Lance-led Chargers.

“I’d like to say that, but honestly, you guys know me well enough,” Payton said. “We’re going to have to play better. I’d love to say that we pulled a bunch back, but the tape from last week wasn’t really good offensively. It wasn’t great at Kansas City either. It was good enough to win that game. We have to be sharper as we get to these next few games here. We’re going to see good teams that can score, and we’re going to see (quality) defenses.”

Now, there’s a difference between holding things back and understanding what it’s going to take to win a game. If you tell Bo Nix and the offense, “the only way Oladokun is beating us is if we turn the ball over a bunch,” that might lead to more conservative decision-making in terms of trying to push the ball down the field, throwing into coverage, so on and so forth. It might lead to a slightly different posture in two-minute scenarios or deciding what to do on fourth downs.

As for the postseason, Payton on Friday very much wanted to say that Denver would be much more aggressive going forward, but even then, he’s so matchup-driven that he still couched his answer.

“Do I think (Nix) needs to be more aggressive going downfield in the playoffs? A lot of that would be based on who we’re playing,” Payton said. “We want to be aggressive. We obviously want to — we will take our shots. But a lot of it is, tell me the opponent and then it’s, ‘All right, tell me how that’s going to be done? Are they a zone team, or are they a man team? We’ll definitely stretch the ball down the field.

“We feel like we have some guys that can go down and get it. We’ll be aggressive in how we call these games.”

That’s a long way of saying that the Broncos didn’t have to take much risk to win their final two games. In fact, they saw that risk as unnecessary.

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The question is whether they can flip the switch and effectively attack Buffalo. Another version of the question: If the Bills play Denver top-down and try to force Nix into the kind of dink-and-dunk outings that popped up several times in the second half of the season, are the Broncos comfortable playing that way? Or will they feel the need to push the envelope and dial the risk meter up?

Was Sean Payton holding back the last few weeks of the season on offense? We were able to put together some long, methodical drives but finding the end zone seemed to be an issue. I know the offense isn’t the most dynamic, but it seemed like we weren’t going all out against the Chiefs and the Raiders. What do you think?

–Sam T., Grand Junction

Hey Sam, basically got to most of this in the above question, but your red zone point here is a good one. In the win at Las Vegas, Payton and Nix were happy with the three mega drives that ended in two touchdowns and a field goal.

The final two weeks would have looked and likely felt a little different had similarly bruising, methodical drives hit paydirt.

In the final two games of the regular season, Denver had four drives of 8:02 or longer that all went to the opponent’s 11-yard line or deeper. They resulted in three field goals and a touchdown.

The wild card games are a good reminder: So much of the NFL — and particularly in the postseason — is about the red zone and third downs.

When Bo Nix scrambles (and I mean pretty far from the original line of scrimmage), he carries the football with his grip still on the laces and away from him, like he’s ready to throw a pass. I get it when you’re at the line of scrimmage, but as soon as you’re 5 yards clear, you better be tucking the ball in a traditional running back mode, or someone soon is going to knock it out of your hands. Have you noticed?

— David S., North Charleston, S.C.

Hey David, good observations. Nix does indeed do that. It seems as though he’s got a pretty good feel for when he needs to put the ball away and protect it. He doesn’t go galavanting through the middle of the field with the ball hanging out loose in one hand.  Most of the time, when he keeps something like his normal throwing grip on the ball, it’s when he’s out near the sideline and headed out of bounds.

Ball security has never been an issue for Nix. In fact, he’s put it on the ground twice this year — one lost — and that was his first lost fumble since his days at Auburn. He didn’t fumble his rookie season or either of his two years at Oregon.

This season, he had a ball knocked away in the pocket and had one bad exchange with running back Jaleel McLaughlin.

So, he’s quite literally not had an issue with open-field ball-handling in at least the past four seasons. Of course, it only takes once to change a playoff game.

Hi Parker, is there any chance Bronco’s ownership pays Vance Joseph as one of the highest-paid coordinators in order to keep him from moving to a head coaching position? Would this work?

— Kevin, Pueblo

Hey Kevin, Joseph is well paid as it is, but the choice for Joseph isn’t really about money. It’s about whether he wants to be a head coach again. Joseph has said, clearly, multiple times and on the record, that he does. Now, that doesn’t mean, necessarily, that he should or will jump at any job that comes up. Payton talked on Friday about advising his staff to consider the quality of job opportunities as they come up. Joseph has been on the head coaching interview circuit for two seasons now and he’s talked with a bunch of teams already in preliminary fashion this week.

He can be picky, but there are now nine openings. It’s difficult to imagine a better set of circumstances for trying to find a second head coaching gig.

What’s going on with Drew Sanders? I saw he was designated for a return. Is he going to play for us this week?

— Matt S., Wheat Ridge

Hey Matt, thanks for writing and good question. The short answer: Sanders probably will not play this week. Beyond that? We’ll see.

It’s just been a really long time since he’s been on the field in any capacity. A Saturday walk-through was his first time on the practice field since July. He still hasn’t tackled anybody in that span and hasn’t played in a game for a year.

The way the injured reserve rules work is he’s got up to 21 days to practice before the Broncos have to decide on whether to return him to the 53-man roster.

That means Denver doesn’t have to decide on his roster spot until after a potential AFC Championship Game.

Basically, he can get up to three weeks of work in and then, if the Broncos are playing in the Super Bowl, they can decide whether to activate him.

If Denver did activate him, then he’d count against the 53-man roster. In that scenario, you’d be saying he’s going to be an upgrade over a guy who has played special teams and/or backed up at linebacker previously, like, say, Karene Reid or Jordan Turner. At this point, that seems unlikely, but not impossible.

Hello from Finland! Who are your favorite draft prospects for the Broncos that fans should monitor? Drop some names, please. A tight end, perhaps? What about free agents?

— Jude, Lahti, Finland

Jude, thanks as always for writing. Funny thing about a postseason run: It causes a delay in really diving into things like the draft and free agency.

You’re right about tight end being a need. In terms of the draft class, Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq is considered a likely first-rounder, but there aren’t the kind of no-doubters in this class like there were last year in Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren.

I like Ohio State TE Max Klare and Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers is interesting, too. It’s too early to talk free agency because there will certainly be players who end up re-signing with their current teams before mid-March arrives. Obviously, Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts broke out this year, catching 88 balls for 928 yards and five touchdowns. He hadn’t approached those numbers since his rookie season. If he hits the market, he’ll have suitors, but he’s the kind of pass-catching weapon the Broncos are still lacking. Payton and general manager George Paton have long been bullish about their receiving corps, but there are a couple of prospective free agents that are interesting, at least on the surface level, in Green Bay’s Romeo Doubs and Indianapolis’ Alec Pierce.

Early impressions on the draft class overall: There are a bunch of defensive players that would be interesting late in the first round. If you’re looking for a very early list of Denver needs, let’s say tight end, defensive line, linebacker, safety and wide receiver. Not all critical, but all positions the Broncos could conceivably target early in the draft — and you can never count Payton and Paton out when it comes to corners and tackles.

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