Denver Broncos Rumors: Ronnie Hillman May Replace C.J. Anderson At Running Back In Order To Ignite Struggling Ground Attack

The Denver Broncos are one of nine teams — and one of only four AFC squads — that will enter Week three with a 2-0 record. However, Broncos coach Gary Kubiak told 247 Sports that the team realizes the way things have gone — particularly on offense — “isn’t good enough.”

“When it’s good, when you win, you got to make corrections. We’re 2-0, but we got to look at things and say ‘This isn’t good enough.’ And when things aren’t good, sometimes you’re doing good things that you got to let players hang onto. So it’s a fine balance right there, but you do everything you can week-to-week to find a way to win. That’s the bottom line.”

Denver is averaging 25.0 points a game and put 31 points on the board in week two against the Kansas City Chiefs, but the offense has only managed 259.0 total yards a game and just three touchdowns — the defense has the Broncos’ other two touchdowns. The Broncos also have had five three-and-out series, allowed seven sacks, punted the ball 12 times and turned the ball over twice.

While the entire offense has sputtered, far and away the most concerning for the team is their lack of a ground game. Denver is averaging 65.0 yards rushing per game (2.8 yards per carry). Jeff Legwold of ESPN is reporting that 19 of the Broncos 47 carries (31 percent) have been for no gain or negative yardage — 12 of those rushes for no gain or negative yards came against the Chiefs. Denver has accumulated seven first downs on the ground.

There are a few ways to explain Denver’s struggles on the ground. The Broncos have four new starters on the offensive line, and the group didn’t play as a unit in a game until the team’s opening season game against Baltimore. Also, starting running back C.J. Anderson is battling through toe and ankle soreness, according to The Denver Post.

Anderson, who ran for 849 yards (4.7 ypc) last season, has 56 yards on 24 carries for 2.3 yards per attempt. He had his longest run of the season on the first play from scrimmage against Kansas City, but had 13 yards the rest of the game on 11 carries.

Backup Ronnie Hillman has been a quite a bit better than Anderson when running the ball. Hillman has totaled 75 yards on 21 carries (3.6 ypc), which includes 34 yards on nine attempts against the Chiefs. His longest run is 16 yards.

So, that leads to the question: should Kubiak make a change in the starting lineup?

Troy Renck of the Denver Post believes that Kubiak should wait until after Denver’s game against Detroit.

“Anderson figures to have one more game to secure the starting job. At this point, any evaluation is complicated, if not unfair. Anderson is battling through toe and ankle soreness. He says he’s fine, because he’s tough like that. But he has received no help from the struggling offensive line. Some of his best runs have been making tacklers miss in the backfield for a 1-yard gain.”

Despite the Broncos struggles, one thing is for sure, Kubiak is not going go away from running the ball.

“Well, it just has to be demanded,” Kubiak said. “If you’re going to be physical as a football team then you’ve got to stay committed and demand it…. I’m going to demand that we be a physical football team and that we can line up and get a yard. I’m not going to run away from that regardless of what happens. We’re going to work through that and we’re going to demand that we get it done.”

Juwon Thompson is the team’s third string back. The second year pro has yet to garner a carry this year. He rushed for 272 yards on 54 carries (5.0 ypc) and three touchdowns as a rookie last year.

[photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images]