ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- To understand why Sean Payton mentioned the Joker more often than Commissioner Gordon this offseason, you only needed to see what two players adorned with that tag did against the Denver Broncos during their heartbreaking loss on Sunday.

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor and tight end Tyler Warren combined to catch nine passes for 126 yards and a touchdown. The duo created mismatches from different alignments that left them, on more than one occasion, running wide open for quarterback Daniel Jones.

"It's just something when we were trying to identify the tight ends or running backs that are rare pass receivers," Payton said this offseason when explaining a term that both Colts players illustrated Sunday. "That'd be the definition (on) AI, Wikipedia -- tight ends and running backs that are rare receivers."

There was a glaring absence of a proverbial Batman figure for the Broncos, who needed someone to help neutralize the Joker threats on the other side. It's not a one-to-one comparison, but Indianapolis made a concerted effort to attack Broncos inside linebackers Justin Strnad and Alex Singleton. The Colts feasted when either of those players was the nearest defender on Sunday. Warren ran right between the two linebackers on a 41-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter. A few minutes later, Singleton got stuck as he ran horizontally across the formation at the snap and ran into safety Brandon Jones. That left Taylor open in the flat with room to run for a 43-yard gain.

Denver signed Dre Greenlaw to address some of those vulnerabilities in the middle of their defense. The veteran is not a perfect antidote in coverage -- few linebackers anywhere in the league are going to consistently win one-on-one matchups against explosive tight ends and running backs -- but he is quicker to the edges and has exhibited play-making skills in the passing game throughout his career. When he does take the field, he should give defensive coordinator Vance Joseph more flexibility in how he attempts to patrol the space that Warren and Taylor manipulated so well Sunday.

The Los Angeles Chargers, who will host the Broncos on Sunday, do not have a Warren, but Will Dissly and Tyler Conklin are both capable receiving threats who have gained 75 yards on four combined catches this season.

Before Greenlaw can help minimize the types of mismatch problems that plagued the Broncos against the Colts, though, he has to get healthy. Greenlaw appeared to be making progress in his recovery from an offseason quad injury when he practiced, on a limited basis, for the first time this season on Friday. However, he was listed as a non-participant during the Broncos' first practice in preparation for the Chargers. Payton has provided limited information about Greenlaw's status since the regular season began, but he shed some light Wednesday on the "nebulous" nature of the linebacker's recovery from the injury he first suffered in April and aggravated early in training camp.

"We felt like he's kind of on our schedule," Payton said when asked whether the Broncos thought Greenlaw would be practicing fully by this stage after choosing not to place him on IR to start the season. "And, look, we spend time on it because it's a little nebulous relative to the injury. That's all I'll say."

It's too early in the season to say the Broncos are on the wrong side of the Joker equation, but the early results haven't been encouraging on either side of the ball. Offensively, it starts with Evan Engram, the tight end who signed a two-year deal in March to give the Broncos a pass-catching presence they haven't had at the position since Payton took over as the team's coach in 2023. The idea was that Engram would be a shifty, big target who could find space in the middle of the field and be a reliable target for Bo Nix, particularly on third down.

It hasn't yet materialized that way, and Engram also missed Wednesday's practice with what was listed as a back issue.

Engram has run only 36 routes in Denver's first two games, according to TruMedia. He has been targeted six times and has four catches for 33 yards. During the previous six seasons in which Engram played the first two games, he never ran fewer than 60 routes and was never targeted fewer than 12 times. His previous low for receptions through two games was eight, and he never had fewer than 74 receiving yards.

There are necessary caveats. Engram has joined a new offense, one that is "still molding," Nix said after Sunday's game. The tight end suffered a calf injury in the Week 1 game against the Titans and was on the field for only one route in the fourth quarter. Nix said after the loss to the Colts that Engram was the primary option "quite often," but Indianapolis "did a good job, as a whole, taking away No. 1." The Colts at times gave Engram the same bracketed-coverage treatment they used against top wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who had only one catch for 6 yards in Sunday's loss.

"Sometimes the ball finds you," Nix said. "Sometimes it doesn't."

The Broncos' passing game can be described as egalitarian in the season's early days. Eleven different players have made a reception, nine have at least two grabs and only one player -- Troy Franklin (12) -- has more than seven receptions. Even with that context established, though, it's been a puzzlingly slow start for Engram, who embraced the Joker role when he signed with Denver by posting a video of Heath Ledger's depiction of the villain. It's not just that he hasn't been involved in the passing game. He simply hasn't been on the field. Engram has played in only 38 percent of Denver's snaps through two games. Again, his second-half injury in the opener played a role, but Engram has typically played in 70 to 80 percent of his team's offensive snaps during his previous stops with the Giants and Jaguars.

Denver has also struggled to find a Joker-type impact from the running back position. The team's 62.5 percent completion rate when targeting backs is 28th in the NFL through two weeks, and its 4.3 yards per target on those throws ranks 23rd. This offseason, Payton called rookie RJ Harvey a "candidate" to fill a Joker-type role in Denver's offense. Harvey gained 16 yards after running a crisp choice route in the red zone, a play that preceded a Broncos touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter, but he has been targeted only three times in the passing game and has two catches.

The Broncos need to create more of those opportunities in the middle of the field against a Chargers team that has given up explosive plays on only 7.4 percent of opponent passes this season, according to TruMedia, the fourth-best mark in the league.

"They do a good job staying on top and limiting the explosive plays," Payton said. "They do a good job disguising their coverages. They force you to be patient."

Evan Engram's slow start, Dre Greenlaw's 'nebulous' recovery foil Broncos' 'Joker' plans