I think we’ve seen enough of Javonte Williams for now. Give the young rookie more snaps and more opportunities!
The Denver Broncos run game is driving me insane. More specifically, the playcalling from Sean Payton in situations is driving me insane. He is far too quick to throw away drives with a pass-happy call sheet. It must be something his own staff has noticed and he himself wrote “Run it!” on his own playsheet.
For a while, he kept that note in the forefront. Then at halftime he ditched it. We all know what happened from there.
Part of it may have been his all-in commitment to Javonte Williams. I’ve always like Javonte and am not here to disparage him, but with the team fighting for a playoff berth it is time to go with the hot hand. He had a decent 4 for 24 on Thursday, but 15 of those yards came on one run. He has broken the 25 yard rushing barrier just six times all season as the primary ball carrier in most games.
Estimate, on the other hand, has done it four times with touches that were a mere afterthought it seemed in most games. He had just 13 snaps in the whole game to Javonte’s 33, yet piled up 48 yards and a touchdown. Almost all of that came in the first half.
It’s maddening.
On the season, in a very limited role — including Thursday against the Los Angeles Chargers where he didn’t get a single back-to-back carry in the game — Estime has less than half the carries on the season yet is not that far from Williams in yards.
- Estime has 55 carries for 252 yards and a touchdown for 4.6 yards per carry.
- Williams has 134 carries for 485 yards and four touchdowns for 3.6 yards per carry.
Since his injury, Javonte Williams has been a 3.6 yards per carry back in each of the last two seasons after starting out a 4.4 yards per carry back. Something is missing from his game and the approach Sean Payton has taken to the run game this season is, in my opinion, hurting the season.
It would be very upsetting if the Broncos head into the final week of the regular season needing a win over the Kansas City Chiefs to secure a playoff spot.
Roll with the hot hand, Sean, and stop being cute in games with your playcalling. Sheesh!
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