Broncos Hitting Stride on Both Sides of the Ball Entering Playoffs

The Denver Broncos are hitting their stride on both sides of the ball as they enter the postseason. They finished 2014 with a 12-4 record and the regular season on a high note, with a 47-14 win over the Oakland Raiders in Week 17.

With the victory, the Broncos finished 2014 with their third perfect divisional record and their sixth unblemished home record. This team joins the 1998 squad as the only Broncos team to finish perfect at home and in the division in the same year.

Year	Division Record	Overall Record	Result
1998	8-0	14-2	Super Bowl Champs
2014	6-0	12-4	TBD

Building momentum for the postseason was imperative, according to head coach John Fox:

"

Obviously it’s important how we finish in our division. Obviously it’s very important—our red-letter games, our home games. So I thought it was important we won in front of our home fans, we’ve done that every time we’ve been here this year in the regular season. That hasn’t been done a whole lot.

I think that was the biggest thing—to finish the regular season strong.

"

Here are a few players who are causing the Broncos to peak at the right time.

C.J. Anderson

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

Second-year running back C.J. Anderson is the engine to the offense. Since the Broncos' Week 11 loss against the St. Louis Rams, Anderson has featured heavily as the Broncos starting running back. In the Rams game, Anderson only had nine carries, but he’s been averaging 23.3 carries per game since. 

"

Over the last 6 weeks, C.J. Anderson has 648 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns, both figures which lead the NFL over that span.

— Football Perspective (@fbgchase) December 29, 2014"

After the victory on Sunday, starting quarterback Peyton Manning had nothing but praise for Anderson:

"

C.J.’s been great. He’s been really solid and good in the passing game, good in the pass [protection] and made a lot of big runs. The [offensive] line’s done a good job of bringing him. It was good to get [RB] Ronnie [Hillman] back today. The two of those guys can be a pretty good little one-two punch.

"

Anderson is a punishing runner who gets stronger as the game goes on. He makes his living between the tackles, and he has proven this year that he has a nose for the end zone. Anderson scored more touchdowns this year than any other undrafted player in Broncos history.

Player	Year	TDs
C.J. Anderson	2014	10
Mike Bell	2006	8
Larry Canada	1981	4
Reggie Rivers	1992	4
Derrick Clark	1994	3
Cecil Sapp	2007	3

He could be the key to the Broncos making it to—and winning—the Super Bowl.

Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders

USA TODAY Sports

The Broncos have a fantastic duo at the wide receiver position. Demaryius Thomas has been with the team since they selected him in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. Emmanuel Sanders was a free-agent addition by the team earlier this year after spending his first four years with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Manning is happy to have both on his team:

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That says a lot about them. Those guys have had excellent years. They worked hard all season, they worked hard in the offseason. They played injured—those are tough guys. I know those guys can use this week to get healthy.

Two outstanding years—Emmanuel should’ve made the Pro Bowl, in my opinion, with the statistics he put up, and Demaryius has been a marked man from defenses. To still have the year that he did, both those guys are outstanding players.

"

Thomas had 1,619 receiving yards in 2014—a new Broncos single-season record. He finished the year with 111 receptions—two shy of tying former Broncos receiver Rod Smith (113 catches in 2001) for the single-season team record.

He also posted his 10th 100-yard receiving game of the year, representing one of just seven players in NFL history to accomplish that feat.

Player	Team	Year	No.
Michael Irvin	Dallas Cowboys	1995	11
Calvin Johnson	Detroit Lions	2012	11
Demaryius Thomas	Denver Broncos	2014	10
Marvin Harrison	Indianapolis Colts	2002	10
Charley Hennigan	Houston Oilers	1961	10
Torry Holt	St. Louis Rams	2003	10
Herman Moore	Detroit Lions	1995	10

Sanders posted 101 receptions for 1,404 yards on the season. His reception and receiving yardage totals rank fifth and fourth respectively in NFL history for players in their first year with a new team.

Sanders knows what the end goal is—and always has been—for this team: “Obviously it’s a Super Bowl-or-bust season, and it’s been that way ever since I got here. You know, we’ve got four weeks to prove it. The playoffs are going to be important and we’re looking forward to it.”

Thomas (111 catches) and Sanders (101 catches) join Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey (2000 season) as the only duo in team history to post 100 receptions each in a season.

Von Miller

USA TODAY Sports

The Broncos defense can get after the passer. In 2014, they ranked seventh in the league in opposing QBR allowed. The team also ranked third in the NFL with only 305.2 yards allowed per game.

Linebacker Von Miller recorded his 14th sack of the season in the first quarter of the team’s Week 17 game against the Oakland Raiders. This moved him into fourth place on the club’s single-season sack chart.

Player	Year	No.
Von Miller	2012	18.5
Elvis Dumervil	2009	17
Simon Fletcher	1992	16
Von Miller	2014	14

Miller will be getting some much-needed rest during the bye:

"

[Resting during the bye] is just about all you can do. For me to rest, just focus on some of the little nagging stuff I have going on. I sure want my teammates to do the same.

For one, the short week, the bye week, it gives us the shortest path to the Super Bowl. It’s not the easiest path by any means but it’s the shortest path. It helps us get guys on the field, so it’s definitely great.

"

The Broncos don’t blitz that often because of the pressure they can create with guys like Miller and defensive end DeMarcus Ware. When facing some of the AFC’s best quarterbacks, Miller will need to be at the top of his game to help the Broncos advance.

Chris Harris and Aqib Talib

Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

Denver’s defense features two of the best corners in the game today. Former college teammates Aqib Talib and Chris Harris have now joined forces in the pros.

Harris was picked up by the team as an undrafted free agent in 2011. Talib was one of the biggest free agents to change teams earlier this offseason, and the Broncos were happy to lure him away from the New England Patriots.

Talib has a great combination of size and speed, which allows him to blanket-cover large targets down the field. Harris made his first Pro Bowl this year, and he can excel on the outside or as a slot corner. Both have shutdown corner ability, and they make things difficult for opposing quarterbacks who are trying to move the ball through the air.

Harris feels good about where the defense is at before the team begins their postseason run:

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You play 16 games, and we’re just now getting our gel together and coming into the playoffs, we want to play our best football. We feel like on defense, we’re starting to click. We just need to get our guys, get B-Marsh healthy and get T.J. out there. We’ll be ready.

"

This duo is arguably the best in Broncos history. Having these two will greatly benefit the team when they’re facing the AFC’s best such as Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck.

Summary

This team is coming on strong to end the season. As the second seed in the AFC, they will get at least one playoff game at home.

This is the first time the team has not been the number one seed in the Manning era, but it is the third year in a row it has gotten a bye to begin the postseason.

Anderson understands how important earning a first-round bye was for the team:

"

It’s great; it’s great for all of us. We tried to get [RB] Ronnie [Hillman] some reps today and he was telling us what was going on with him and it was good to have him back. But, that extra week (off) on his foot will feel better, the extra week on my ankle will feel better, the extra week for [LB] Brandon [Marshall’s] foot, that will be better.

"

Anderson continued: “So just the fact that we get a chance to rest, everybody gets to rest up and kind of take their mind away. So when we come back, we just refresh and get ready for this run [in the playoffs].”

The Broncos are arguably under more pressure to win the Super Bowl than any other team in the NFL. Many are expecting the Broncos to win their first playoff game to set up a rematch with the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. To get there, the Broncos will need to come out of their bye week firing on all cylinders.

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.