DENVER — Sean Payton had all the balance of Cosmo Kramer.

And like“Seinfeld,” the sitcom where Kramer’s falls became part of the joke, the Broncos spent most of the first half against the sloppy Titans providing a show about nothing.

Denver threw the ball on 15 of its first 19 plays. If that’s Payton’s idea of balance, I’d think twice before letting that man build me a bookshelf.

“Thank God we have the defense that we do,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey quipped after Denver held on for a 20-12 victory at Empower Field. “We’ll get it cleaned up for next week.”

Week 1 Bo Nix looked uncomfortably close to Preseason Bo Nix. But forcing the ball in the air won’t help No. 10 find his mojo again.

Running the ball will.

On drives outside the two-minute warnings on Sunday, the Broncos averaged 13.4 yards on first down every time RJ Harvey carried the ball. They averaged 7.36 yards when they tried something else. Anything else.

In the first half, an absolute slog that Denver somehow led 10-9 at the break, Payton threw it eight times for 30 net yards on first down while running it seven times for 17 yards. Harvey accounted for 10 of those 17 yards on two carries.

If you don't want to trust your peepers, coach, trust the math.

"Could you start faster by running the ball more early?" I asked Harvey, the rookie back, who wound up with 70 rushing yards on six attempts.

"Yeah, definitely," Harvey replied. "Yeah, we definitely should ... I feel like we should start running the ball more, but it's not my decision, it's the coach's decision."

Fair enough. A few yards away, McGlinchey was singing the same tune from a different cubicle.

"Yeah, those two guys (Harvey and J.K. Dobbins) are awesome talents and they're going to be great for us," the veteran right tackle noted. "We've got to get them the football a little bit more."

Bingo.

Also, amen.

If the NFL's best defense is Nix's best friend, a consistent and committed running game is an awfully close second.

But the commitment starts at the top.

"I knew where we (were) at run-pass-wise," Payton said. "I was well aware of it. I mean, look, there’s a way you want to be playing the game, and we had a good plan going in. Obviously, it wasn’t perfect. We’re going to look closely at ourselves. (In Monday's) debrief of this game, all of us will learn something.”

Will he learn to lean a little more on Harvey early? Will he learn to mix in a little more Dobbins and a little less Tyler Badie on third downs? Will he learn that throwing to set up the run is still gambling with a young QB's confidence?

Funny, isn't it? Once the Broncos leaned harder on their wide-zone runs, the Titans began to crack.

"Yeah, and I think that's the identity you want to have, is being able to wear a team out," McGlinchey said. "But like I said, you have to earn the privilege to run the football."

Harvey's 50-yard jaunt in the fourth quarter, the blow that broke an uncomfortably close game open, was the longest single carry of the Payton Era. And it was the Broncos' longest since Latavius Murray posted a 52-yard run at Carolina on Nov. 27, 2022.

"Everybody has something to get better at," Harvey said. "I feel like (there's) a lot that I can get better at, whether it's pass protection or being quicker with my decisions. But, yeah, as the season goes on, it's going to get better."

Especially if they stick with him. Because without a run game, Payton's putting a Super Bowl parade float before the horse.

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