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Eleven things about the Broncos entering Sunday’s home opener against the Houston Texans:
1. The Broncos’ home-field advantage at Mile High — altitude plus crowd noise — has mostly disappeared during their current six-year playoff drought. The only way to jump into playoff contention is to correct that trend. From 2012-15, the Broncos were 28-4 at home in the regular season; from 2016-21, they were 23-26. The Texans game starts a stretch of three home dates in four weeks (San Francisco in Week 3 and Indianapolis in Week 5, both prime-time starts). The Texans are 4-13 on the road the last two years.
2. “There is nothing like home and having the crowd on your side,” coach Nathaniel Hackett said. “It was definitely a hostile environment last week (in Seattle). We’re so excited to be in front of our fans to hear them cheer and get excited for all the guys.” The Broncos had three false start penalties against the Seahawks.
3. Quarterback Russell Wilson had home-field seasons of 8-0 (2012), 7-1 (’13-14 and ’16) and 6-2 (’18) for Seattle. “I’m excited about (the home opener) because these fans are the best in the world,” he said. “I was stunned how many fans were able to travel to the game up in Seattle — there was a ton of orange in the crowd.”
4. Among 16 red zone snaps in Week 1, Wilson was in the shotgun nine times, including both third-quarter plays from the 1-yard line. The shotgun at the goal-line eliminates the quarterback sneak option; Melvin Gordon fumbled on fourth down and Javonte Williams on third down to equal empty possessions.
5. Hackett said of using the shotgun in the red zone: “In Green Bay, we saw that it gives a lot of run-pass options. I think it makes that (defenses) have to cover the whole field. You can still get the downhill runs with riding some of those double teams on the backside, but at the same time, if you need to throw the ball, you’re in better position to get the ball out.”
6. The Broncos were one of four teams with no red zone touchdowns in Week 1. They went 0 for 4, Seattle and Miami both 0 for 2 and Dallas didn’t run a red-zone snap.
7. When I posted the statistics about how often the Broncos ran down the play-clock against Seattle (two delay-of-game penalties and 13 snaps at one second), Seahawks fans pointed blame at Wilson, not the Hackett-led operation. In Wilson’s last five full seasons (2016-20), the Seahawks had 20 delay of game penalties (including 15 in 2018-20). From 2017-21, the Broncos had 22 delay of game penalties.
8. Defensive lineman Matt Henningsen was the only Broncos rookie draft pick to play any non-special teams snaps (three) at Seattle. Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto didn’t play a snap on defense or special teams, slotting in as the fifth edge rusher. Henningsen was active instead of Eyioma Uwazurike against the Seahawks.
9. The NFL rolled out its Week 1 roster data and the Broncos’ average age was 26.26 years, their players had an average of 4.0 years of experience and they had nine rookies and 10 players of at least age 30.
10. The Broncos are not inducting anybody to their Ring of Fame this year, choosing instead to honor the 25th anniversary of the first Super Bowl championship team. But next year, there is an unofficial nomination for former trainer Steve “Greek” Antonopulos. He started with the club in March 1976, is the only team employee to be a part of all eight Super Bowl appearances and retired in June 2021. The comparison for honoring Greek is the Ronnie Barnes, who is going into the New York Giants’ Ring of Fame this season. Barnes joined the Giants in 1976.
11. Finally, on my last day at The Denver Post before I join The Buffalo News next week, thanks to everybody for reading since I joined the paper in May 2018. The Broncos lost a lot of games, but there was always something going on — five quarterbacks, three coaches, two general managers and a new ownership group.
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