Broncos Win, but Defense Shows It Has Work to Do After Win over Dolphins

The Denver Broncos were able to get back on the winning track in Week 12 against the Miami Dolphins. They improved their record to 8-3 with a 39-36 win at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. With the win, the Broncos gained distance in the AFC West over division rivals the Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) and the San Diego Chargers (7-4).

The win is great, but the 36 points scored by the Dolphins represents the second-highest total the Broncos have allowed this year.

After the win over the Dolphins in Week 12, Broncos defensive tackle Terrance Knighton talked about the struggles on the defensive side of the ball in recent weeks.

“Teams watch film, teams do what they have to do. This team (Miami) created a situation where they were coming out in four wide and were running the ball and getting our big guys off the field, our pass-rushers were out there. All-in-all, the run didn’t hurt us today, but we definitely focus on that first and foremost. That will be something as a D-line that we key on each week.”

The Broncos defense still has work to do before the team makes a postseason run.

Run Defense

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

The Broncos have only allowed a single 100-yard rusher all season long. In Week 11, St. Louis Rams rookie running back Tre Mason posted 113 yards against Denver, surpassing the 88-yard season-high mark established against the Broncos by Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch in Week 3.

On the first drive against the Broncos, the Dolphins were able to compile 44 yards rushing even though the Broncos came into the game only allowing about 74 yards on the ground per game. 

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for the season #Broncos allow only 73.4 rushing yards per game (2nd in #NFL) on that 1st drive, #Dolphins had 44 yds & rushing TD

— Cecil Lammey (@cecillammey) November 23, 2014 "

Broncos linebacker Von Miller wasn’t surprised by Miami’s ability to run the football.

“I wasn’t surprised because they have a really unique and very, very effective running game. We were able to cut some of that stuff out in the second half, but the first half got away from us a little bit. They have a very, very capable offense and a pretty good team.”

Since the loss to the New England Patriots, the Broncos run defense has gotten stronger than it was earlier in the year—even with the big game allowed to Mason against the Rams.

	Att	Yds	YPC	TDs	1D/Rush
Weeks 1-8	149	507	3.4	5	16.1%
Weeks 9-12	94	324	3.4	2	12.8%

As the weather changes, the Broncos could face more teams who try to soften up opponents with the ground game. In the playoffs, the Broncos will need to get back to stuffing the run like they did to begin the season.

Pass Defense

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

No team in the league sees a higher dropback percentage than the Broncos. Opponents drop back to pass against the Broncos on 69.8 percent of plays. The league average is only 61.0 percent.

They see more passing plays than any other team because opponents usually fall behind to Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense, so they have to play catch-up football earlier than normal. This leads to a pass-happy game plan when facing Denver.

Ryan Tannehill finished the game against the Broncos with a 104.9 passer rating. He was able to complete 72.2 percent of his passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns.

The Broncos showed more weakness on third down than normal. For the season, Denver ranks fifth in the league with a third-down conversion percentage of 36.7 percent. Against the Dolphins, Denver allowed 50 percent of the third-down plays to be converted into first downs. That’s a breakdown the team can’t afford when playing playoff-caliber opponents.

Blitzing

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

A sore spot for many Broncos fans is the lack of blitzing by the Denver defense. Simply put, the Broncos don’t use blitzes that often and instead try to get pressure by rushing only four defenders.

The NFL average for blitzes per dropback percentage is 30.6 percent. The Broncos rank fourth-lowest in the league with an average of only 21.5 percent blitzes per dropback.

Against the Rams, the Broncos only blitzed Shaun Hill on 12.5 percent of the passing plays. The team ramped up the blitzing against Tannehill in Week 12. He was blitzed on 35.1 percent of his dropbacks, and he felt pressure on every blitz the Broncos sent his way.

Broncos strong safety T.J. Ward wouldn’t mind blitzing more.

“Oh, absolutely. I love blitzing. Whenever I get the opportunity to put pressure on quarterbacks and make third downs a little harder for them, then that’s where I’m most comfortable. But whatever Jack wants to call, then it’s the best defense. I’m fine with that too.”

Denver has two of the best pass-rushers in the game today in Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware. They can get pressure without blitzing, but sending a little extra heat from time to time wouldn’t be a bad idea going forward.

Summary

The Broncos have a championship-caliber roster led by a future Hall of Fame quarterback. If their defense can start playing better, the Broncos could be peaking at the right time of the season.

Broncos cornerback Chris Harris had a few takeaways from the Dolphins game.

“We started out slow. We never want to start out the first drive and give up a touchdown, but we were able to adjust and come out in the second half and make enough plays to be able to get us the win. The Dolphins were a good team.” Harris emphasized, “They are a playoff-caliber team.”

Denver needs to work on starting faster defensively. They did a good job of adjusting in the second half of the Dolphins game, but they had already dug themselves a 28-17 hole heading into the fourth quarter.

This was a big win for the Broncos, but it highlighted a few of the areas the team needs to improve on defensively.

All quotes and injury/practice observations obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information provided via email from the Denver Broncos unless otherwise noted. Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac.com. Transaction history provided by ProSportsTransactions.com.