The Denver Broncos have played a handful of tight, low-scoring games this season thanks to an elite defense and an offensive unit that’s still looking to find its stride. However, in two of those games, victories over the Titans and the Jets, the score has been tighter than the Broncos have wished because of two lackadaisical plays on kickoff coverage.
The Broncos allowed a 71-yard kick return against the Titans that resulted in a field goal, and allowed a 72-yard burst against the Jets that also netted three points for the opponent. Those three points ended up being very important down the stretch, as both the Titans and Jets had the ball down by one score late in each contest thanks to the free three points they got from special teams.
Chimere Dike with a HUGE return to get the @Titans in FG range before the half.
TENvsDEN on FOXhttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/rWAp8Pf1GK
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025
Kene Nwangwu with a HUGE kickoff return for the @nyjets
DENvsNYJ on @nflnetwork
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/tk1BicnbMr
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025
Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi knows that the big plays are a problem, but says it boils down to a few minute things that aren’t getting taken care of.
“In both instances we had some missed tackles. You watch the play, there were some missed tackles. That’s really what we’re finding out in this scheme is one guy out of place, one guy misfit, one guy missed tackle and then there’s these big plays,” he said after Broncos practice on Thursday.
Something that coincides with the guys being out of place in Rizzi’s mind is the fact that these new kickoff rules are still somewhat of a novelty for his guys. With the emphasis on the “landing zone” around the league this season, the rate of kickoff returns is higher than its been in years, so kickoffs are no longer a play that guys can just jog down the field and take off.
“So going back and looking at it, one interesting thing we have to keep in mind is you look at last year, the first year of the dynamic kickoff last year, the Broncos were more of a touchback team,” Rizzi said. “We covered less than 20 kicks here last year. We’ve already covered more kicks in six games this year than we covered the entire season last year. Marvin Mims Jr. already has more kick returns this year because everyone was kicking touchbacks. So for a lot of these guys, it’s the first time playing the play, if you will. There’s going to be some growing pains there, but listen, the bottom line is that our kick coverage hasn’t been good enough.”
There definitely is somewhat of a learning curve to covering kicks in the NFL, as most of these players have been covering kicks the traditional way all their lives by sprinting as fast as they can down the field. With them lining up on the other side of the field in this new way of doing things, there’s a different technique and strategy to go about preventing big returns. Lane integrity is more important than ever, but now it’s harder to get off blocks with a lack of momentum they used to have from running down the field.
“We have to coach it better, we have to play it better, we have to fit it better, we have to tackle better. So that’s really what it is. That’s something obviously that’s a point of emphasis and we’re going to… We don’t just look at ours—I’m talking about with the players—we look at all the good and the bad throughout the league, the good coverages, the bad coverages. We’re learning from it on a daily basis, so we just have to get better at it,” Rizzi said.
That sentiment should please Broncos fans, but how much do words mean when the game is played on the grass? Rizzi can say all he wants in front of a microphone, but his unit needs to prove that they’ve made the changes to prevent teams from racking up big returns and putting free points on the board.