The Denver Broncos started off the season looking like a disaster. They went 1-4 in their first five games, with the only win being a game where they had trailed by double digits against the to-that-point winless Chicago Bears. Worse yet, Denver gave up 28 or more points to every team but the hapless Las Vegas Raiders, and got beat up for SEVENTY points and SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX yards by the Miami Dolphins.
During that five-game span, the Broncos were the worst defense in the NFL by a mile, and they were pretty close to the being the worst against both the run and the pass, as well. But a funny thing has happened since then: Denver has won three of its last four games, and didn’t allow more than 22 points in any of them. After forcing just five turnovers through the season’s first five contests, the Broncos have come away with 11 in their last four games, and are working on back-to-back games with four or more. By just about every measurement, it has been a stunningly dramatic turnaround.
By both FTN’s DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) and Tru Media’s EPA/play, they are the most improved defense in the league during this more recent stretch, and it’s not particularly close.
Run12.8% (31)-2.1% (24)-14.9% (4)0.10 (31)-0.03 (20)-0.13 (7)Pass63.5% (32)-8.8% (7)-72.3% (1)0.43 (32)-0.04 (3)-0.47 (1)Total38.4% (32)-4.0% (9)-42.4% (1)0.20 (32)-0.06 (11)-0.26 (1)
When we see massive improvement in-season like this, it’s important to look for the root causes.
When it comes to the run game, the answer seems simple. Not having the ridiculous Dolphins game included props up the numbers quite a bit. Miami ran for an outrageous 350 yards on 43 carries — an average of 8.1 a pop. The Broncos missed about a zillion tackles in that game, while also allowing several runs where the back when untouched all the way into the end zone. Including all of that in a relatively small, five-game…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/how-the-broncos-defense-went-from-disaster-to-strength-heres-whats-changed-since-allowing-70-to-dolphins/
Author : Jared Dubin
Publish date : 2023-11-17 15:56:56
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