It’s way too early to say the Denver Broncos' defense is one of the best of all-time, but if it keeps playing at the same level it is now a case will be made come January.
A look back at some of the great defenses since 1980 in the NFL shows several common threads with all of them, and Denver’s current unit is following that same path to success.
It’s simple, really.
Limit points, choke off the run (yards per rush), attack the quarterback, limit the passing yards and take the ball away.
A look back at the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers and the 2013 Seattle Seahawks, all Super Bowl-winning defenses, shows they excelled in almost all of those areas, but all finished ranked first in points allowed -- the most important stat of all.
This year’s Broncos are no different, ranking best in the league in points given up with 112 scored against them. Denver is also first in yards passing per game at 171.9, sacks with 29, and is tied for fourth in yards per rush at 3.7. The Broncos are tied for third in takeaways with 17.
The 171.9 passing yards per game is better than the 172.0 yards Seattle’s Legion of Boom allowed in 2013. That’s why the 7-0 Broncos have taken to calling their secondary “The No Fly Zone.”
| Comparing Broncos to the best | |||||
| Team | Pts (rank) | Yards/rush | Passing/game | Sacks | Takeaways |
| '85 Bears | 198 (1st) | 3.7 | 176.0 | 64 | 54 |
| '00 Ravens | 165 (1st) | 2.7 | 187.3 | 35 | 49 |
| '08 Steelers | 223 (1st) | 3.3 | 156.9 | 51 | 29 |
| '13 Seahawks | 231 (1st) | 3.9 | 172.0 | 44 | 39 |
| '15 Broncos* | 112 (1st) | 3.7 | 171.9 | 29 | 17 |
| *Through seven games | |||||
I spent the past few days diving into the Denver defense on tape to get a better idea of what makes it work. It starts with a good coordinator. Wade Phillips, in his first season with the team, does a great job of scheming things in his hybrid 3-4 front.
There are a lot of times when the offense has no idea where the Broncos will be attacking the quarterback from in terms of rushers. I will show one of those plays here later.
All great defenses must have pass rushers. The Broncos have a bunch. It starts with Von Miller, one of the best in the NFL. But it includes DeMarcus Ware and two lesser-known edge rushers in Shaquil Barrett and Lerentee McCray. That’s not even counting Shane Ray, this year’s first-round pick, who was coming on early before he got dinged with an injury. That means they have five capable edge rushers in a league where most teams would like to have just one, with a true star in Miller.
Then there are the corners. With Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib, the Broncos can play a lot of man coverage -- and excel at it -- which allows Philips to get creative in other areas. Harris Jr. and Talib are the best pair of corners in the league, and Harris Jr., who made his name as a nickel corner, is so comfortable sliding inside when he’s asked to do so -- a rarity for a lot of corners. That’s what makes him so valuable.
We hear a lot about the pass rushers and corners on this Denver team, but the rest of this defense is loaded with really good, talented, young players you might not know. Guys like defensive linemen Derek Wolfe, Sylvester Williams and, especially, Malik Jackson. And then there’s speedy linebackers Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan. Their speed really shows up on the tape.
I mentioned earlier how impressed I am with Phillips. He’s always done a great job coordinating defenses, even if he wasn’t a great head coach. This unit is no different. Here’s a play that shows how Phillips can out-scheme an opponent to get to the quarterback.
- Play: First-and-10 at the Denver 28 with 2:00 left in the third quarter
- Offense: Posse (3WR, 1RB, 1TE) -- trips to the left, shotgun, offset back
- Defense: Nickel, five-man rush, Cover-3
You can see the Raiders clearly thought the pressure was coming from Carr’s right. But Miller, the elite pass rusher, dropped out on this play instead. That left a 3x2 on the other side for the Denver defense.
The Broncos brought both Marshall and Barrett from that side, along with defensive end Vance Walker. When guard Gabe Jackson picked up Marshall, it meant left tackle Donald Penn had two guys to deal with on the play.
The design of the offensive play is clearly to get the ball out quickly after a fake inside, but Michael Crabtree wasn’t looking when Derek Carr set to throw, and Trevathan’s drop out helped take that window away. The result was a sack by Barrett.
This was clearly a case of the scheme helping free up a pass rusher to get a sack.
Here’s a play from later in that game where the Broncos fooled the Raiders into thinking it was a run-favorable look. It wasn’t.
You can see initially Denver showed a two-high safety look.
That’s something that all teams would like to run against. The numbers are favorable. But just before the snap, the Broncos rotated both safeties down for a nine-man front.
With two receivers outside for the Raiders against Denver’s off-man coverage, it made for tough running inside. This is risky, but when you have corners like Harris Jr. and Talib, it’s possible.
The Raiders did a decent job blocking up front, and Latavius Murray thought he had a chance for backside run. But that’s where Darian Stewart, who had rotated down, was waiting. He tackled Murray for a 1-yard loss.
No scheme, though, is better than the talent. And this team has the pass rushers and cover people that are a must in today’s NFL. I’d like to say it starts with the rush, but for this team the corners might be just as important.
Against the Packers last week, a game in which they limited Aaron Rodgers to 77 yards passing, the lowest total of his career in any game he started and finished, it was more about the coverage unit. There were times when Rodgers had time, but couldn’t find an open receiver.
That’s not to say the Broncos didn’t get after him up front, but I was truly more impressed with the coverage than the pressure in this game.
Here’s a play where Miller pushed the pocket initially on a four-man rush against Rodgers, but it was the coverage that prevented a big play after Rodgers was able to re-set. Take a look:
What stands out is how the man coverage plastered the receivers across the board, even as Rodgers tried to move around and then re-set. That’s great technique because Rodgers and that Packers passing game can be killers after the initial read is covered and they get to the scramble drill.
Here’s another look from later in the game at how well they covered.
The Broncos sent five on this play, with a spy on Rodgers for a sixth man up front, and the Packers did a solid job blocking it up. Rodgers had time to make a throw. The problem was the coverage was outstanding. Harris Jr. took away Randall Cobb inside. He then tackled him for a 3-yard gain when he optioned back out and Rodgers was able to complete a pass to him. The other receivers were blanketed. Take a look:
Here’s a play that was actually a 7-yard completion to Cobb, which seems like a positive, but it should have been a lot more. Harris stopped it with a great play.
The Packers, like so many teams, love to run picks or rubs. Getting through the trash and traffic is the tough part for a corner. But watch how Harris gets through the traffic to limit this to a 7-yard gain. Take a look:
If he doesn’t, that’s a huge play. That’s key moving forward because later this month the Broncos play the Patriots, who love those rub routes.
With corners that good, the Broncos can be aggressive in the run game. Here’s a look at a play from last week’s game where the Broncos played a single-high safety look, brought Stewart down, and helped limit the run.
On this play, James Starks had a chance for a big play on a potential cutback to the left. But that’s where Stewart was waiting. The play was blocked pretty well by the Packers, but Stewart was the unblocked defender. He was able to be down because of Harris Jr. and Talib’s ability to play coverage.
There are so many plays that I could highlight here involving Miller. He is so good as an edge rusher, both with power and speed, but he’s also really good as a run player. With he and Ware controlling the edges, it makes it tough to run on them wide.
Marshall and Trevathan get to a lot of footballs and the down players might be grunts of a sort on this star-filled defense, but they are good players. Jackson gets better by the season and should get more attention than he does.
Add it all up, and these Broncos have a chance to truly be a special defense, maybe one of the best of the past 30 years. The next eight games and the postseason will decide that.
But they’re off to a damn good start.
More observations from watching tape this week
The weekly J.J. Watt review: In my weekly look at Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, something only he gets here because he’s the best defensive player in the league, I noticed he was back to his menacing ways last week against the Titans.
Correction: Abusive ways.
It was criminal what he did to the Tennessee line last week. He had 2.5 sacks and seven other hurries -- and a roughing-the-passer penalty. He first sack was so easy because the Titans blew the blocking assignment and he waltzed in to knock down Zach Mettenberger. The funny part about that was seeing running back Antonio Andrews try and block him at the last second. No chance.
His next sack came when he charged hard inside guard Chance Warmack and center Joe Looney did a poor job of picking him up. Watt came around the back and knocked the ball out of Mettenberger’s hands for a lost fumble.
Watt’s play ended up sending rookie right tackle Jeremiah Poutasi to the bench. But replacement Jamon Meredith wasn’t much better.
More on the Texans' defense: While watching Watt, a couple other things stood out about the Texans defense. Whitney Mercilus had 3.5 sacks and had another wiped out by a roughing-the-passer penalty. Mercilus was also good against the run.
On one play, he stood up the tight end, got underneath him, shed him, and tackled Andrews for a 2-yard loss. If Mercilus can continue to grow -- flashing the skills many expected to see when he was a first-round pick -- he will prove to be a nice complement to Watt.
Texans rookie corner Kevin Johnson had his best game, and is clearly a player on the rise. He is a fluid cover player who is also a willing tackler in the run game. Johnson started in place of the injured Kareem Jackson and more than held his own. The Texans have a star corner in the future.
Tennessee, we have a problem: The Titans' line is a mess. Left tackle Taylor Lewan, who was good as a rookie in 2014, has struggled big time lately. He was bad against the Texans. I mentioned Poutasi’s struggles, but Warmack wasn’t very good either, nor was left guard Byron Bell. They have major issues up front. Looney, who is playing for the injured Brian Schwenke, also struggled.
Stars in St. Louis: The Rams have legitimate stars on their defense in tackle Aaron Donald and end Robert Quinn. They are both among the best at their respective positions. Now some other younger players are starting to emerge on that defense as well. Michael Brockers, playing next to Donald, had an impressive game last week against the 49ers. He was all over the tape, getting a sack and a safety and doing some good things in the run game. That’s the types of games the Rams expected out of Brockers when they drafted him the first round in 2012.
Another player who is quietly having a good season is corner Janoris Jenkins. Known for his big plays and gambling style, he is much more consistent this season and it shows in his play.
I also liked the way the Rams have turned safety Mark Barron into a weak-side linebacker in their scheme. He is a bigger safety who wasn’t great in coverage, but in his new role he does a good job. He can blitz. He is solid against the run and he even rushed the passer several times last week.
Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has always been creative, and he’s showing off that form with Barron.
This is a defense that will only get better. They are still without end Chris Long, who is out with an injured knee, and he is expected back soon.
It will be fun to watch them this week against the Vikings offense in what is a big game for both teams.
