J.K. Dobbins finds beauty in storms.
“If you really look at it, hurricanes, tornadoes, they are beautiful,” Dobbins said Thursday.
In this context, he’d been talking about his journey through two major injuries — a destroyed knee at the end of his rookie season and then a torn Achilles tendon in 2023 — that slowed the early stanza of his career.
Dobbins totaled 1,000 offensive yards for Los Angeles last year while also missing four games due to another knee injury and he’s off to a terrific start for the Broncos as a summer free agent signing this fall.
The Broncos run game isn’t exactly getting stormed on at the moment, but the forecast is perhaps partly cloudy. That’s because Dobbins himself and the group as a whole followed two dominant performances against Cincinnati and Philadelphia — the kind that made it feel like perhaps at last Denver had a true offensive identity — with a bad outing against the lowly New York Jets in London last Sunday.
Dobbins’ 40 rushing yards and 2.9 per carry clip were each easily season lows for him and the Broncos tallied just 78 total rushing yards after gaining at least 118 in each of their first five games and averaging 140.6.
“I just felt a little bit off,” Dobbins said of the outing. “This week, I’m going to do better. They were just on my ass. They were. This week, I’m going to try to make that different.
“I don’t know, I just didn’t feel like I made the plays that I usually make—tried to do everything the same being in London, being gone from home for like two weeks. But it just, I don’t know. This week I feel like it’ll be a great week again.”
Denver still enters Week 7 seventh in the NFL in total rushing yard and tied for No. 10 in per-carry average at 4.9, though they’re No. 20 in first downs generated on the ground.
“The key, obviously, is (staying) on schedule,” head coach Sean Payton said Friday. “When you see those big rushing numbers, you probably see a higher play count. We’re playing a good front with how we handle the run, how we handle protections.
“Obviously, you’re searching for that balance.”
Dobbins thought in a way the poor outing in London and the reaction to it showed the progress the Broncos have made.
“We set a good standard around here, I see,” he said with a smile. “We’re going to get back to that standard.”
That’s how right tackle Mike McGlinchey sees it, too. Not quite that last week was an anomaly, but that Denver should be able to get back on track quickly.
“It’s just one of those things where (the Jets) were really good up front and they have been for years,” McGlinchey said. “It’s always one of those funny things as an offensive lineman when a team’s record is really crappy, but they’ve got like four guys that can really rush the passer or really play the run well. …
“Preparation, (Jets coach) Aaron Glenn knowing Sean, that all plays into it. Going across the pond, playing three games in 14 days. That stuff adds up a little bit. But at the same time it’s about execution, it’s about staying on schedule, it’s about the penalties. It’s about not being in second-and-10.”
The Giants, like the Jets, have a bad record at 2-4. They’ve also won two straight games and have a disruptive, talented defensive front.
“We’ve played great groups pretty much every week if you really think about it,” Dobbins said. “We’ve just got to stick to our basics, stick to our fundamentals and it’s going to come. … They’re great. I know big (Dexter Lawrence). The whole D-line is great. So we’ve got our hands full, but it’s the NFL and we’ve played some pretty good fronts pretty much every week.”
The Broncos think the Giants’ front is one of football’s best. Besides their own, of course.
“They’re probably the best group we’ve faced since training camp,” McGlinchey said. “They’re very, very talented … The focal point is, hey, what runs worked? What schematics worked? What personnel groupings are we giving too much away? Are we too predictable? You take each game plan and you analyze and that’s what you learn on Mondays. Why did this happen?
“I really love the plan that we put into place this week. I’m really excited to try to go execute it and take another step forward in our offensive journey.”
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