Getty Denver Broncos WRs Courtland Sutton and Marvin Mims Jr. celebrate after a Broncos TD against the Chicago Bears.
The Denver Broncos have won three games in a row for the first time since 2001 and everything seems to be going well for them except for maybe one thing.
Before the Broncos pulled off a victory over the Buffalo Bills on November 13, Denver’s rookie wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. took a shot at his very own quarterback Russell Wilson.
During warmups, Mims was signing autographs and taking pictures with fans and a Bills fan shouted “You’re locked up. Zero catches,” meaning that he was going to have a rough day against the Buffalo defense.
Mims then responded to the fan, “He (Wilson) don’t throw it to me anyways.”
“He don’t throw it to me anyway”
Broncos rookie Marvin Mims isn’t too happy with Russell Wilson
In his game against the Bills on Monday Night Football, Mims was only targeted just 1 time and didn’t record the catch.
Along with the 1 target, Mims also got the green light for a rushing play on a reverse in which he lost 3 yards. Mims was also a threat on special teams in the return game.
Mims returned two punts that helped get the Broncos into great field position in which he averaged 22 yards per punt. The 2023 second-round pick also returned a kick for 31 yards.
On the season, Mims is averaging 33 kickoff return yards along with 20 punt return yards per game.
Broncos Need to Give Marvin Mims Jr. the Ball More
Mims is not in the wrong for wanting to get the ball more in this Denver offense.
During the first four games of the season, Mims totaled nine receptions on 11 targets for 242 yards and one touchdown.
Since then, Mims has been targeted just four times in the last five games and has two receptions.
When talking to the media on November 6 on a Zoom call, Broncos head coach Sean Payton acknowledged that he wants to get Mims more involved as well.
“How do we get Marvin more touches and how do we incorporate him more into what we’re going offensively?’’ Payton said. “I’m sitting here looking at a notepad with his jersey number on it in front of me. And that’s our job as coaches. We really believe we have a good, young, talented player.
“Obviously, there’s other players on the offense that deserve the same type of attention relative to play design. But we’re going to work out tails off to move that needle where he’s getting opportunities not only in the passing game but he just does a lot of things well and he’s really good with the ball in his hands.”
Mims has the speed to take the top off defenses and the Broncos could take advantage of it to help Wilson with the deep balls too.
In Week 2, against the Washington Commanders, Mims scored on a 60-yard touchdown pass of a play action pass from Wilson.
Marvin Mims gets his first NFL touchdown.
Mims also scored on a 99-yard kick return against Denver’s blowout loss to the Dolphins.
Marvin Mims Jr Kick Return TD (1)
Safe to say, there are plenty of ways to get Mims more involved in the offense.
Broncos Have Turned Things Around Since Week 7
There was plenty of hype surrounding the Broncos in the offseason with the acquisition of their new head coach, but then things didn’t start off as planned.
Denver opened the season 0-3 with losses coming against quarterbacks, Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Howell, and Tua Tagovailoa. The Broncos would make a comeback against the Chicago Bears, but then fell to Zach Wilson and the New York Jets, followed by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
After a 1-5 start to the season and the NFL trade deadline approaching, there was some discussions that maybe the Broncos should trade any of their assets that could bring back as much return as possible to move up and draft one of the top quarterbacks in 2024.
Instead, the Broncos went out and beat the Chiefs for the first time since 2015 and decided that they would not trade any of their top players, because they thought they could make a legit playoff run.
After shutting down Mahomes and the Chiefs, Denver’s defense went out and shutdown Buffalo’s elite quarterback Josh Allen.
During the first seven games of the season, Denver’s defense forced just seven turnovers. Over the last two games, they have forced nine turnovers.
Over the first six games and a 1-5 record, the Broncos were giving up 33.3 points per game. During their current three-game winning streak, they’ve held opponents to just 16 points per game.
On offense, Payton has figured out how to establish the running game as well to take a load off of Wilson and a struggling offensive line.
In the first six games, Denver was averaging just 106 rushing yards per game, over their last three wins; they’re averaging 140 yards per game.
The Broncos’ next challenge comes Sunday night as they host the Minnesota Vikings with quarterback Josh Dobbs making his third start for his new team.