Broncos “right in striking distance” as season’s quarter pole arrives

Eleven things about the Broncos entering Thursday night’s game against Indianapolis:

1. As Week 5 begins, 13 of 16 AFC teams sport records at or below .500. That includes the 2-2 Broncos and fellow AFC West foes Las Vegas (1-3) and the Chargers (2-2). “Every game has a history of its own,” Denver quarterback Russell Wilson said this week. “You can worry about a lot of things that are ahead, but what I know is there’s a lot of teams that are 2-2, a handful of teams that are 3-1. We’re right in striking distance. We’ve got them right where we want them. We’ve got to go get it.”

2. Denver’s offense has lacked consistency and too often finds itself mining a section of the playbook offensive coordinator Justin Outten would rather watch collect dust.

3. “We call them GBOTs, ‘get back on track’ plays,” Outten said. “That’s any time you’re behind the sticks. We’ve been leaning on that section way too much, whether it’s negative runs or penalties or false starts, whatever it may be. It’s self-inflicted, it’s something we want to get away from as much as possible. … We’re treading mud right now. We’ve got to get that traction so we can get rolling.”

4. In measuring progress offensively Thursday night following mostly up-and-down performances, Wilson went straight to the bottom line. “Winning. That’s it. That’s all that really matters,” he said. “We want to be great on third down, we want to be great in the red zone, but at the end of the day, we put on the pads and cleats to win.”

5. Wide receiver KJ Hamler only played four snaps against Vegas but made them count by hauling in a 55-yard pass from Wilson in the fourth quarter. It was his first catch of the year. Hamler played extensively against Seattle but then missed the Houston game and played sparingly the next two weeks as he continues to come back from hip and knee surgery last year.

6. “He’s so focused on getting better,” Wilson said of Hamler. “He’s gone through such tough moments this last year. I wasn’t here for it, but hearing about it, knowing about it, seeing him progress every day, what a gift it is for him to play in this game. We can take these moments for granted. … I’m excited for him, excited about where he’s going, what he has in store for the rest of his career and just the rest of this season.”

7. Hamler may end up being an ascending player for the Broncos, but tight end Albert Okwuegbunam’s role in Denver’s offense has waned. He has six catches for 45 yards so far this season but played just one snap against Las Vegas and has seen his snap count drop each game. Of course, it can’t go much lower and coaches are adamant he’ll be more involved going forward.

8. “That tight end room is unique because we’ve got so many people for different packages each week,” Outten said. “His reps will climb depending on the game plan itself. I see it going up more this week. You can use those guys in different roles and different responsibilities. I think he’s progressing each and every day. I don’t think there’s anything more he has to do, it’s just more consistency throughout the practice and just understanding everything that’s expected of him.”

9. Hackett spent two years alongside now-Colts cornerback Stephon Gilmore in Buffalo. What does he think now? “I remember he would sit in our quarterback room — I’m regretting that a little bit now,” Hackett said with a laugh. “He would sit and he studies the game. He’s another humble guy. When you see people as humble as him and he just wants to go out and play, it’s something special. I remember when he was at Buffalo, you knew what type of player he was going to be and he’s proved that consistently throughout his career. He’s still playing at an elite level.”

10. Life as a rookie in the NFL is rarely easy. Denver defensive back Delarrin Turner-Yell has been inactive twice and hasn’t played a defensive snap yet this season, but logged a season-high 20 snaps on special teams Sunday after safety P.J. Locke suffered a concussion on the opening kickoff. Special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes said, “there was no dropoff,” and clearly had pride in how Turner-Yell handled his business.

11. “Knowing the makeup of ‘Trey,’ he’s a confident kid, so me as a coach, you’re nervous for that situation,” Stukes added. “It’s the first quarter, first half of the game and now you’re inserting a new (guy) into the game and he didn’t get any reps in practice because P.J. got all the reps. Knowing Trey, knowing the school (Oklahoma) that he came from, knowing how he is in meetings, we were confident in his ability to get everything accomplished.”

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