ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Everybody loves it when a plan comes together. It looks logical, well-put-together, the path to take.
And as the Denver Broncos get ready for the postseason, the plan they had for the offensive line is nowhere to be found.
"We’ve had some things go on," Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. "... But it’s like a lot of spots on our roster and I’ve told the players, we’re going to need everybody and everybody’s going to have a hand in it."
Kubiak expressed hope just before training camp that the Broncos would pick their five starters on the offensive line as soon as July so "we can kind of get them working together and get ready to go."
But things really haven’t gone that way since the moment left tackle Ryan Clady suffered a season-ending torn left ACL during the first day of organized team activities. After the Broncos kicked the tires on several combinations up front and appeared to settle in through much of training camp, they then signed guard Evan Mathis just before the final preseason game.
After they got Mathis into the lineup, Clady’s replacement, rookie Ty Sambrailo, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 3, an injury that forced right tackle Ryan Harris to play left tackle for the remainder of the season.
Then Mathis, guard Louis Vasquez, tackle Michael Schofield and Harris all missed practice time because of injuries. Mathis and Vasquez each missed a game. Toss in their share of struggles up front in both the running game and in pass protection -- highlighted by the Raiders' Khalil Mack's five-sack day last month -- and the Broncos will enter their playoff opener still trying to find their rhythm.
They have rotated Schofield and Tyler Polumbus -- signed in October -- at right tackle and have used a three-player rotation -- Vasquez, Mathis and rookie Max Garcia -- at guard. And because of injuries, the starting offensive line has gone into several games having practiced together just once during the week.
"It’s not really an exact science, but as we’ve kind of stated throughout the year, we’re trying to make sure that there’s a good balance so that we keep fresh guys inside," offensive coordinator Rick Dennison said. "I think it’s really been important, especially with ... the guys that are playing inside on defense. We’re playing some good defenses. We just keep throwing new guys at them, fresher guys. Just trying to keep a rotation, however that science works out."
When the regular season wrapped up, Harris and center Matt Paradis were two of the three Broncos who played at least 1,000 snaps -- cornerback Chris Harris Jr. is the other. Paradis, who spent his rookie year in 2014 on the team’s practice squad, was a revelation in his first year as a starter and was the only player on offense or defense to play every snap during the regular season.
Asked if Paradis could be in the lineup for many seasons to come, Dennison said; "We’re hoping. I don’t have a crystal ball now. Don’t get me in that crystal ball thing. We’re hoping that he’ll keep progressing, along with the rest of them. We’ve got some good young players, and we just keep developing and make sure we’re all here for a while."
Harris has joked that Paradis, who grew up on a ranch in Idaho and played eight-man football, has "probably blocked more cows than people in his life."
The Broncos hope they turned at least a bit of a corner in the regular-season finale when they rushed for a season-best 210 yards on the way to the offense’s second 500-yard day of the season. But opposing defensive coaches will certainly challenge the Broncos' tackles in pass protection during the playoffs. Defenses have consistently had success during the season with extra rushers -- linebackers and defensive backs -- coming after a delay, from off the line of scrimmage.
The Broncos surrendered the 13th most sacks in the league this season -- 39 -- but most troubling for them is that 26 of those sacks have come in the past eight games (3.25 per game).
"All we can do is keep working," Harris said. "I think we’ve shown what we can do when we’re all on our assignments -- 200 yards rushing -- and limit our mistakes. That’s always the formula you’re looking for, and I think our chemistry is there for the playoffs."
