The Broncos are the NFL’s hottest team, a sentence that over a month ago would’ve been describing the heat of the flame inside the dumpster fire in Denver, not that the club has won a league-high five straight.
After Week 6, the Broncos were 1-5 with an epically embarrassing 70-20 defeat to the Dolphins on their resume and a lone win coming by three points against the Bears. Things couldn’t have gotten worse.
And they didn’t.
Because in the parity-driven NFL, every game is an opportunity, and Sean Payton’s squadron took full advantage.
They squeaked past the still-finding-themselves Packers 19-17, then bamboozled the previously unbamboozleable Patrick Mahomes to the tune of three Mahomes-inflicted turnovers in a convincing 24-9 win. An absolutely bananas 24-22 win in Buffalo out of the bye proved the throttling of Kansas City wasn’t a fluke. Then a one-point win to halt the Josh Dobbs train and now a comfortable handling of the Dorian Thompson-Robinson led Browns, and Russell Wilson and Co. are tied in the win-loss column with the currently No. 7 seed Colts.
WHAT?!
Yeah, believe it.
October’s NFL laughingstock is squarely in the playoff hunt. Heck, they’re only two games back of the Chiefs for the AFC West crown.
How has it happened?
Somehow, after trading 2022 prized free-agent signing Randy Gregory, the Broncos went from the NFL’s third-worst pass rush from a pressure perspective (28.8% pressure rate), to the 12th-best at 39.5%. Every Gregory-less snap has been meant more opportunity for youngsters Nik Bonitto, Baron Browning, and Jonathan Cooper, and that trio has rocked with a hefty collective pressure-generation rate of 17.7%.
And the secondary has worked in tandem beautifully with the pass rusher, as the last five quarterbacks Denver’s faced — two of which were Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen — have a combined passer rating of 71.7.
Baked into the…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/broncos-win-fifth-straight-examining-how-denver-has-turned-it-around-and-whether-it-can-be-sustained/
Author : Chris Trapasso
Publish date : 2023-11-27 16:28:13
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