Going into the playoffs, the Denver Broncos are probably the ultimate embodiment of the old “defense wins championships” bromide. It’s considered beyond outdated in today’s NFL, but here the Broncos are, knocking on the door with a defense-driven team that’s considered elite enough to do what Denver’s defense did back in 2015.
Can they win the Super Bowl again this year do it this year? According to Ben Solak of ESPN, Denver’s ability to win three more games against top-quality competition will depend largely on the ability of defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to marry his blitz-happy approach with the more conservative principles of former Denver DC Vic Fangio.
“What we do is mostly pressure up front with matchup principles in the back end,” Joseph said back in November. "It's like playing a box-and-one defense in basketball. It's zoned inside and match outside. These days, the beauty of playing great defense in this league is the ability to have different structures. If you can get [defensive backs] close [to wide receivers] without giving it that 'man' tag, that's the expertise."
Much of the physical expertise is provided by shutdown corner Pat Surtain II, who is the reigning defensive player of the year in the AFC. Cornerback Riley Moss is competent on the other side, although he’s prone to bad penalties when he’s matched up against a better receiver on the other side.
The other thing that makes it worse is that there’s a flat-out emphasis on sacks. Denver ended the season with a sack on 10.3% of opponent dropbacks -- one out of every 10. They are only the ninth team this century to pull that off.
The team that countered that best, however is a possible playoff opponent. The Jacksonville Jaguars took some sacks, but quarterback Trevor Lawrence was able to sense pressure well enough to minimize lost yardage, and he was also able to buy enough time in the pocket to have a field day against the Broncos secondary.
The Broncos are making a big bet on their elite, sack-happy defense, but we’ve seen some teams counter it effectively in the last couple of weeks. The Broncos already know they’ll either be facing Lawrence again or quarterback Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, which means they’ll have to get home against two of the best in the league when it comes to beating pressure, avoiding sacks and making plays.