Good luck, Wayne Gallman, Paul Perkins, Orleans Darkwa and Shane Vereen.
The Giants are next on the Broncos’ schedule, on Oct. 15 after a Denver bye, and the Giants’ running backs should dread the thought already.
The Broncos held Marshawn Lynch to 12 yards on nine carries Sunday. His longest run was 4 yards.
Lynch followed Melvin Gordon (18 carries, 54 yards), Ezekiel Elliott (nine carries, 8 yards) and LeSean McCoy (14 carries, 21 yards) in spending a frustrating afternoon against the Broncos run defense. Together, that’s 50 carries for 95 yards and no touchdowns for Gordon, Elliott, McCoy and Lynch.
“That’s really four special backs and really four special offensive lines,” Broncos coach Vance Joseph said, via quotes distributed by the team. “Our run defense has been really stout. Again, adding [nose tackle Domata] Peko [Sr.] and [defensive end Zach] Kerr and [defensive end] Ahtyba Rubin now and obviously coaching it differently than it was coached in the past.”
The Broncos entered Sunday ranked first in the league against the run, allowing only 59.7 yards per game, and Oakland had 15 carries for 24 yards in Denver’s 16-10 victory.
“It’s extremely hard, especially if you’re a run-first offense like the Raiders are,” Joseph said. “Again, our run defense has been stout the entire year. So, I have been very proud of how those guys have played the run. With a back like that and an offensive line like that, that’s really special [to hold them to] 24 yards.”