Facing The Denver Defense Has Been A Nightmare For Opposing Quarterbacks

At night, NFL quarterbacks dream longingly of "clean pockets," those luxurious four or five seconds when they can leisurely survey the field, unencumbered by waving hands or piles of bodies at their feet, before they confidently and accurately rip the ball to wherever it needs to go.

But when quarterbacks face the Denver Broncos, those heavenly dreams instantly transform into hellish nightmares as those desired clean pockets quickly turn messier than a classroom inhabited by preschoolers who have been allowed to finger paint without adult supervision for an hour.

The overarching team defensive numbers after the Broncos have played seven games bear this out: tied for first with 21 sacks, a year after leading the league with 68, which was just four off the all-time record; first with 68 quarterback hits; first with 43 quarterback knockdowns; and second with 76 quarterback pressures.

Individually, defensive tackle Zach Allen leads the team with 4.5 sacks with outside linebacker Nik Bonnito close behind with 3.5, while so far 12 Broncos' defenders have recorded at least one-half of a sack. Allen also leads the way with 18 pressures, with Bonnito and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach each recording 12, and 12 knockdowns, with Roach compiling eight.

This season-long dominance in the pass rush is made more impressive by the fact that the Broncos faced a schedule that many called a "gauntlet" through the first six weeks, with star quarterbacks sprinkled throughout.

A look at the game-by-game breakdown versus opposing signal-callers is informative:

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

• Week 1: 15-27 (55.6%), 184 yards, 2 TDs, 1 Int, 6.8 yards per attempt, 2 sacks taken

• Season: 124-191 (64.9%), 245.7 yards per game, 9 TDs, 4 Ints, 7.7 Y/A, 7 sacks

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

• Week 2: 17-29 (58.6%), 189 yards, 0 TDs, 1 Int, 6.5 Y/A, 2 sacks

• Season: 120-184 (65.2%), 246.7 y/g, 14 TDs, 4 Ints, 8.0 Y/A, 10 sacks

Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams

• Week 3: 30-55 (54.5%), 390 yards, 2 TDs, 2 Ints, 7.1 Y/A, 4 sacks

• Season: 187-278 (67.3%), 284.1 y/g, 14 TDs, 7 Ints, 7.2 Y/A, 11 sacks

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

• Week 4: 19-30 (63.3%), 218 yards, 2 TDs, 0 Int, 7.3 Y/A, 0 sacks

• Season: 146-211 (69.2%), 249.7 y/g, 15 TDs, 4 Int, 8.3 Y/A, 7 sacks

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

• Week 5: 14-24 (58.3%), 121 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int, 5.0 Y/A, 5 sacks

• Season: 107-180 (59.4%), 190.2 y/g, 5 TDs, 8 Ints, 6.3 Y/A, 21 sacks

Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks

• Week 6: 27-51 (52.9%), 278 yards, 0 TDs, 2 Ints, 5.5 Y/A, 5 sacks

• Season: 110-177 (62.1%), 215 y/g, 8 TDs, 8 Ints, 7.3 Y/A, 14 sacks

Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals

• Week 7: 27-48 (56.3%), 272 yards, 1 TD, 0 Ints, 5.7 Y/A, 3 sacks

• Season: 183-282 (64.9%), 228.6 y/g, 10 TDs, 6 Int, 5.7 Y/A, 15 sacks

The three most glaring outliers where opposing QBs were able to overperform against the Broncos D, specifically in yardage, all come with caveats: the game with Stafford was a shootout and he did throw two crushing interceptions late in the contest, including a Pick 6; Darnold needed to engineer a fourth-quarter comeback to force overtime, meaning more throwing than typical for him; and the Cardinals were playing catchup the entire game, with Brissett throwing more often than not and picking up some empty-calorie yardage.

Overall against the Denver defense, opposing QBs are completing only 56.4% of their passes (149-264), which is 31st in the league, with eight TD passes, seven interceptions and 6.3 yards per attempt, all of which rank in the bottom 10.

In all of their games, those QBs are 977-1,503 (65.0%) with 75 TD throws, 41 interceptions and 85 sacks, meaning the Broncos have recorded 24.7% of the sacks those QBs have taken and grabbed 17.1% of the interceptions they've thrown while allowing just 10.7% of the touchdown passes they've connected on.

Of course, football is a team game and the Broncos have enviable talent at all three levels of the defense, personified by linebacker Alex Singleton and a secondary of ballhawks, who have continued to perform well every week though usual starting cornerbacks Patrick Surtain II and Riley Moss have missed four combined games with injuries.

The next test for the Denver D is another familiar one as Mahomes and the Chiefs come calling to Empower Field at Mile High for an AFC West showdown on Sunday (2:25 p.m. MT on CBS). Better get your rest, Patrick.