The Denver Broncos have a dominant defense, and that comes with the risk of complacency going into this season.
The Denver Broncos have a nasty, accomplished defense, and big things are expected. The unit was one of the toughest in the NFL last year, and expectations are high going into this season.
Given all that, you might think complacency could creep into the picture, but that’s not the case at all. A lot of that is about defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who has set a high standard that the players support.
“That’s the really cool thing about this group is we’re just constantly trying to find new ways to get better,” said defensive Zach Allen in a piece written by Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post. “It all starts with ‘V.J.’ He sets such a high standard. Yeah, we were good last year, but there were still a lot of things that we could have been better at and cleaned up. We want to be as consistent as we can be and play at the highest level that we can.”
One big advantage the Broncos have is that most of the players have done the heavy lifting when it comes to learning the basics of Joseph’s schemes. They’ve seen it work over and over again, so a lot of the process now is about refinement.
“When we’re installing, take those notes again,” said linebacker Alex Singleton. “Rewrite the little basics of the calls because then, when the intricate stuff happens, and stuff happens during the game — the basic stuff is easy. That’s the stuff that’s already locked in; that’s muscle memory.
“Now you’re learning the nuances and all the stuff that really will define what we are this season on the critical plays during the season.”
One of the big themes the Broncos are tackling right now is staying strong down the stretch. The Broncos had a couple of bad games defensively against the Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars, and they nearly proved costly in the quest to get the top seed in the AFC.
Takeaways are another big goal. Coach Payton harped on this down the stretch, and the Broncos responded in a big way, especially in their division round win over the Buffalo Bills. The game turned into a shootout, and those takeaways became huge.
“It’s a great unit, but they’re motivated, and they’re not satisfied with what we did last year,” Joseph said. “Our talks and meetings are always about, ‘It might not look like it did last year as far as all the numbers, but the play style should be the same and the end result can be the same.’ It can be different as far as where we ranked. That’s not important for us.
“It’s about winning games and getting back to where we were. It may look different, and that’s OK, but the goal’s the same.”
