5 Lessons the San Francisco 49ers Can Learn from the Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos

An Effective if not Dynamic Rushing Attack

Not long ago, the 49ers were a run-first offense led by former 49ers back Frank Gore. As the bell cow of the offense, Gore would almost directly dictate how the Niners would fare, offensively, over the course of any given game.

But Gore is gone now, new No. 1 running back Carlos Hyde has injury concerns and the plethora of backs behind him have yet to inspire plenty of confidence.

Still, the Broncos made it to the top without much of an offensive prowess on the ground. Yet, not unlike the 49ers in 2015, Denver had no qualms of running the ball a lot simply because they had to.

Denver quarterback Peyton Manning was no longer capable of leading the offense in the manner he once was known for doing. So a willingness to run the ball had to be a part of the Broncos game plan. The Broncos ranked No. 17 in the NFL with 1,718 yards on the ground. And their leading rusher, Ronnie Hillman, netted only 863 yards.

The Broncos did have a nice complement to Hillman with running back C.J. Anderson, who amassed 720 yards. But the net results still aren’t overwhelming.

In comparison, the 49ers ranked No. 21 on the ground with 1,544 rushing yards. This number likely would have been higher had San Francisco’s offensive line been more effective and Hyde had avoided his foot injury.

But the 49ers were forced to run the ball more than pass it — 390 plays compared to 322 — simply because the offense couldn’t effectively move the ball through the air.

San Francisco’s ground game will need to be better in 2016. There isn’t much doubt to that. Yet this scheme won’t have to be the mainstay to ensure any sort of effectiveness.

Next: Matchups Everything