INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Jonah Elliss used a coaching point to create a turnover.

The Broncos’ second-year outside linebacker forced a fumble on a Chargers kickoff return Sunday at SoFi Stadium. Elliss punched out the football from Los Angeles return man Derius Davis and it was recovered by safety JL Skinner. Elliss was a bright spot in an otherwise devastating 23-20 loss to the Chargers.

He gave credit to special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi for the turnover.

“On special teams, I feel like (Rizzi) has been preaching to me not to just run into the blocker,” Elliss said Monday. “It’s a bad habit of mine just to go initiate contact. This week, I was really focusing on just using my speed and getting around him. … We knew he carried loose, and he was a prime candidate to get some punch-outs (against). Once he had me beat, that was pretty much what was going through my mind. Just try and hit that ball out and, you know, (we) got it.”

Elliss is off to a strong start this season. He logged four quarterback pressures against the Chargers. Elliss also sacked the Titans’ Cam Ward in the opener. He’s become a key piece of Denver’s pass rush rotation behind Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper.

“Last year, honestly, everything started with my get off (the line of scrimmage),” Elliss said. “When I had a good get off, it opened up a lot of different pass rush for me. But the issue was that I wasn’t getting a good get off. I was so worried about my assignment. I was so worried about not jumping offsides. Just trying to do everything right, I was playing slow. Honestly, that’s how I felt playing in the Colts game, too. This week, I really just tried to lock in to just playing free and playing with my athleticism.”

Dobbins ‘brings the juice’

Running back J.K. Dobbins is among the Broncos’ most explosive players through three games.

He scored on a 19-yard touchdown run against the Titans. His longest burst against the Colts went for 23 yards. On Sunday, the veteran NFL back broke free on a 41-yard scamper in the third quarter, and two plays later, Dobbins rushed 19 yards for a touchdown.  

“J.K. is a great person. Another great leader on this offense. He brings the juice to the run game,” right guard Quinn Meinerz said on Monday. “As we continue to marry the phases of our game — of run, play action and drop back — J.K. has been an incredible source of juice on our offense. You can see how explosive he when we are all executing at a high level together.”

The Broncos offense still struggled to close games in consecutive outings. Dobbins is averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Meanwhile, rookie RJ Harvey posted just seven carries for 10 yards over the last two weeks.

“The run game needs to get better. It has to get better,” Meinerz said. “It definitely starts with us as an offensive line. I think there is plenty of room to improve our execution in the run game. Being able to handle those pressures (and) handling those defensive line movements. And seeing a little bit more of those looks pre-snap. Obviously, it’s a little bit harder on the road. I’ve got to look back at the quarterback or the center has got to look between his legs. Those are things that we’re looking at in our room and understanding how we can get better.” 

Briefly

Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper lamented 10 team penalties for 90 yards against the Chargers. Cooper said: “It’s an imperfect game. Stuff like that is going to happen. But we’ve got to find a way to minimize it. We’ve got to find a way to just execute better.” … Wide receiver Courtland Sutton is confident Denver will bounce back from its 1-2 start. Sutton said: “How do we go into this next week and learn from the mistakes of this week and grow from it? Not allowing the things that beat us today beat us again next week. Once we do that, then it’s about stacking those positives on top of each other.” … The Broncos opened as a 7.5-point betting favorite over the Bengals on Monday night at Empower Field.