Sean Payton: Broncos OL has 'Got to be More Consistent'

Let's hope the Denver Broncos' starting five got the memo.

Sep 15, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) huddles with teammates in the first quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Empower Field at Mile High. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The age-old front office tactic of throwing truckloads of money at a problem simply isn't working for the struggling Denver Broncos. For all the millions of dollars the Broncos have invested in the offensive line in recent years, critical issues continue to haunt the unit.

Now, starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey faces an extended absence due to a knee injury. On the heels of Sunday's 13-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, head coach Sean Payton seems to understand how much the Broncos' O-line has struggled, both in run blocking and pass protection. Still, these issues are severely exacerbating the offense's ongoing failure to launch.

"I would say we were inconsistent," Payton said of the O-line's Week 2 performance. "There are times we'd do a pretty good job and there are times we're either allowing penetration or getting beat maybe right at the snap. We've got to be more consistent. I think that's the one thing that you'd definitely take away from it."

The fact that Denver was returning four out of five O-line starters up front was deemed a major advantage. However, the vastly experienced unit has run headlong into a mountain of adversity out of the gates.

Excuses are pointless. How the Broncos react to this nasty curveball is crucial, according to right guard Quinn Meinerz, who emphasized accountability post-game on Sunday.

"I mean, offseason and regular season are completely different things," Meinerz said. "So you know, you get ready, you try to prepare as best you can for the regular season. When it's finally here, there's going to be unexpected challenges and some adversity. And we're experiencing that adversity early, and so we got to continue to stick together, see the light at the end of the tunnel, and keep putting the pressure on us, because it's on us at the end of the day."

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Having a seasoned group of veterans up front had to have some kind of bearing on Payton's decision to start rookie quarterback Bo Nix out of the gates. Now that McGlinchey will miss significant time with his MCL strain, it's clear that the challenges to turn things around just got a lot stiffer. Considering that Broncos rookie tackle Frank Crum only made this roster for his developmental upside, expect swing tackle Matt Peart to land the assignment moving forward.

On Monday, Broncos defensive end Zach Allen lamented McGlinchey's injury but expressed his confidence that the group can persevere through the adversity. Finding a way to compensate for the loss of McGlinchey's veteran leadership won't be easy. Once again, it's all about trusting the next man up.

"It's obviously going to be a blow," Allen said during an appearance on 104.3 The FAN. "But I think that room is really deep, and he's such a great leader that whoever steps up, he's going to help out a lot. And we have full confidence in that room. They've done a lot of good for us."

Working on the premise that success starts in the trenches, the Broncos' failures of the O-line are bound to have a knock-on effect on how Nix is performing. On Monday, Payton agreed that every cloud has a silver lining as he shared his Nix observations from studying Week 2's film.

"A couple of things you see on tape. You see early on us struggle inside which forces him out of the pocket," Payton said of Nix. "Then you do see later in the second half, a cleaner pocket and then him hurry it. It's developing the confidence of climbing, developing the confidence within the framework of your protection. He does have a good pocket presence for the most part. He's not someone that's just going to look to take off and look to scramble. So we've got to build on that and make sure it kind of begins with that, relative to the design of what you're trying to do in the drop-back passing game."

One of the few positives from the Broncos' two deflating defeats has been how Nix has looked when going off-schedule. Ideally, Payton would prefer that the Broncos stayed more on-point with his offensive game plan, but that's just not happening. 

Truth is, for as long as the Broncos continue to chase games, Payton has to at least consider actively adopting the more unexpected elements on offense, both earlier and more often. Payton isn't against letting his rookie signal-caller run some gadget-type plays, as we saw on Sunday in Nix's 49-yard strike to Josh Reynolds off a flea-flicker.

Whether it's all planned out or conjured out of thin air seems irrelevant. Framed within the glaring absence of basic O-line execution, Nix and his running backs have found the going extremely tough.

Now staring down the barrel of a brutal two-game East Coast road swing, the Broncos arresting this alarming early losing skid will require both inspiration and perspiration.

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