Has rookie running back Audric Estime surpassed Javonte Williams? A review of him and the offensive line.
If we’re looking at snap counts alone, it seems like there is a new sheriff in the Denver backfield and it’s the rookie Audric Estime.
The Denver Broncos have seemingly been looking for a new starting running back this year. Javonte Williams has been good, and great at times, but it seems like Denver doesn’t trust him to consistently produce at the levels they’re looking for. Estime has shown flashes, and even seemed like he’d be taking the reigns at the beginning of the year but then he had to be put on the IR. And if it wasn’t for his early fumbling issues, everyone would be a lot more confident in him already.
The last couple of weeks Sean Payton hinted at Estime getting more reps, and that promise came to fruition on Sunday when he took the predominant amount of snaps against the Kansas City Chiefs.
How did Estime do on Sunday and did he earn the starting job? Let’s take a look at see how Estime and the offensive line performed against the Chiefs.
Stat crunch
Estime ran the ball on 14 of the 20 designed runs by everyone besides Bo Nix. He was on the field for 26 offensive snaps (45%) compared to Williams’ 17 snaps (29%), and Jaleel McLaughlin’s 7 snaps (12%).
With Estime, the Broncos aligned with a strength to the right the majority of the time (9 of 14 rushes) and ran the ball to the strength six times, and to the weak eight times. They had mixed success running to the strong or weak side.
Most of the rushes came out of the singleback formation (7), and they also ran out of Gun (3), Strong (2), Weak (1), and Strong Gun (1). The most successful plays came out of Singleback or one of the variations of Strong.
The play they ran most with Estime was Inside Zone, coming in at five times. They also ran Dive three times (two times leading up to the field goal attempt), HB Lead twice, Inside Toss once, Long Trap once, Draw once, Duo Left once, and Y Wham once. Dive and HB Lead were their most successful plays.
Estime gained 1-2 yards on six of his carries, 3-6 yards on six carries, and 7+ yards twice. He gained 53 yards total and averaged 3.8 yards per carry.
In general
Estime had himself a nice day on the ground, considering it was his first time being the main man in the backfield. He ran well behind his blockers and showed good vision throughout the game.
One thing you notice his how strong he is driving through contact and an ability to get an extra yard.
And while the offensive line gave him some good running lanes, at the end of the game, when the Chiefs knew Denver was running, Estime was unable to break a tackle and extend the play. He showed flashes of that ability, but as of now, that’s not his strength.
His strength is hitting a gap with a head of steam and burst through the hole and get an extra yard or two after contact. Obviously he’s not near the top of the league in talent, but there’s plenty there to build off of.
The specifics
The good
Strong HB Lead Lt – Gain of 8
On his first rush of the game Estime is able to make a couple of nice cuts and anticipates the block by LJH nicely to pick up a good gain. Estime is able to hug the blocks tightly and cuts right off the butt of LJH. It takes the backside backer coming all the way across the field to hit Estime from behind.
Troutman does a great job sealing off the edge (he’s turning into a fantastic run-blocking tight end), and both Bolles and Powers do a nice job moving the DT to the right and picking up the backer when he shoots the A gap.
And on the backside both Wattenberg and Meinerz bully the DT. That’s a perfect double team. Great footwork and ability to stay hip-to-hip and not let the DT split them.
Singleback Inside Zone Rt – Gain of 10
Firstly, the offensive line does a great job (particularly the left side) of displacing the defense to the right, and because of LJH’s good block, Estime is able to see the gap and he makes a nice cut out of the backfield and hits the hole with speed and gets down field quick. And the stiff arm at the end earns him another yard or so.
The first step by Bolles wins him this block. His job is to get inside leverage on the DE, and even with the DE slanting inside, Bolles is able to get his head on the right side and locks his hips into the block. Wattenberg also does a solid job displacing the NT (helps that the NT was slanting right).
Singleback Dive Right – Gain of 6
While there is an obvious hole for Estime to hit, he still has a part to do on this play. McGlinchey comes across Estime’s face late, and Estime is able to make a slight cut to stay behind the block McGlinchey is giving him. You can see the kind of wide base that he’s hitting the hole with two, and that gives him the patience to see the blocks develop and the balance to be able to make that quick cut.
And speaking of patience, I really like what McGlinchey shows on this play. He does a good job keeping his base wide, his hips parallel to the line of scrimmage, and his eyes downfield, and when the backer tries to get across him, McGlinchey locks him up and keeps his feet moving.
Meinerz buries his guy inside and looks very strong on this block, and Powers and Wattenberg do a solid job handling the backside DT. Decent blocking by Adkins but he gave up too much space at the end.
The meh
Singleback Inside Zone Right – Gain of 2
This is just a bad read by Estime. And it comes off of a couple previous plays where a gap did open up on the left edge, and it looks like he’s expecting that to happen again and it never developed. And in doing so he misses an open rushing lane to the inside. And then he’s not able to run through contact.
But the offensive line does a solid job on the interior. Powers gets good initial contact on the DT and moves him while Wattenberg keeps a nice base while moving up to backer and gets a good block. Meinerz and McGlinchey both do a good job of getting good inside leverage on the initial engagement and they lock the DT and DE out with good hip leverage.
Singleback Inside Zone Left – Gain of 2
There is a better hole for Estime to choose at the beginning of this play and it’s the backside B gap, and that’s something he should likely key in on pre-snap. If the DT is to the inside of Meinerz, then that means Meinerz will be displacing the DT to the left. If done right (which he does), this will open up a cutback lane on the backside. Estime should be ready for that but he makes the cut too late.
Another issue about this is McGlinchey not securing proper leverage on the backer on initial contact, which allows for the backer for keep his eyes inside and rip off of the block as soon as Estime makes his cut back to that gap.
Also great job by Powers to move that DT in a big way and get him to the ground (maybe with a little help by the right heel of Adkins).
Singleback Wing Y Wham Left – Gain of 1
The blocking up front does not do Estime much help on this play. He makes the right choice but both Bolles and Adkins fail on their blocks.
Everyone from Powers and down the line do a solid job on this play. Powers and Wattenberg work well together in moving the DT and contacting the linebacker. Meinerz gets a nice pop on the DT too.
But on the playside, Bolles is too lateral on the block and doesn’t gain any ground up field. His second step very likely should be vertical because what happens when you just move laterally, the running lanes can close very quickly. And Adkins just sort of scrapes off the inside of the defender and doesn’t get any push on him.
Final thoughts
I think on most plays Estime did a good job seeing the field and he does make some nice cuts. The offensive line mostly did a good job for him as well. Both positions made mistakes but there wasn’t anything that was egregious.
Estime has plenty of potential and the offensive line had another good showing in the run game.