The Denver Broncos' offense was not prolific in Thursday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks, but Royce Freeman gave Vic Fangio a positive building block for the rest of the preseason.
Freeman, who will share carries in the backfield with Phillip Lindsay this season, needs to take pressure off quarterback Joe Flacco and give Denver the balanced offense it will need to be competitive in the cutthroat AFC West.
This 50-yard run against the Seahawks — on the first series of the game with comparatively higher-profile players on the field — is a very encouraging moment for the Broncos. The fact that they lost 22-14 to the Seahawks is relatively insignificant.
ROLLIN'@rolls_royce28 breaks free for 5️⃣0️⃣ yards!#DENvsSEA pic.twitter.com/2PasUEKlze
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 9, 2019
The results of preseason games matter far less than how frontline players play in the first quarter. The players who need to perform well in the regular season need to show their stuff in the preseason.
Freeman's burst is a story unto itself. The Broncos, with an effective two-headed monster in the backfield, can become legitimately dynamic and keep opposing defenses off balance. Play selection can be more unpredictable if the Broncos develop a running game.
Joe Flacco is very likely past the point where he can carry an NFL offense. He could surprise everyone this season in his new locale, but that's not a reasonable expectation for Fangio and the rest of the Denver staff. The Broncos need a running game to make Flacco's job easier, and also to play ball control against Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Philip Rivers of the Los Angeles Chargers.
This is a big part of why Freeman's dash is an important development for the Broncos from Thursday's game.
The other big part of the Royce Freeman story is that his productive first quarter says something positive about Denver's offensive line.
The Broncos' multi-year playoff drought — a rare sequence for one of the most consistently successful franchises in the NFL — was based partly on mediocre quarterback play, but mostly on subpar offensive line play. Von Miller held up his end of the bargain, but the Broncos' defense didn't gain the help it needed.
If the Broncos' first-quarter thumping of Seattle's defensive front is a genuine indication of how well Denver's O-line will perform in September, the 2019 outlook will become a lot brighter in the Mile High City.
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