What Does the Denver Broncos Defense Have Planned for Tom Brady and Patriots?

The Denver Broncos defense is the best in the league. The old saying goes “defense wins championships," and the Broncos have a defense that is more than capable of leading this team to the promised land.

Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak appreciates having the top-ranked defense in the league, and he knows how much it has helped his team throughout the season.

“Obviously, we’ve been very consistent defensively throughout the course of the year. There are all kinds of ways to win in this league. You just have to stay focused on what your team does best and what gives you the best chance each and every week.”

Standing in Denver's way is the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Leading them is future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady. His play is going to make a huge difference on Sunday. If Brady has a strong performance, the Broncos will have a tough time winning. If they can force Brady to struggle, the Broncos have a better chance at advancing to Super Bowl 50.

What does the defense have planned for Brady and the Patriots? Let’s take a look.

Double-Teaming TE Rob Gronkowski

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Historically, the Broncos have been weak on defense against opposing tight ends. Facing a superstar tight end like Rob Gronkowski, things could get difficult for Denver on Sunday.

He’s too big to be covered by most safeties and too fast to be covered by most linebackers. That means the Broncos should commit two defenders to him in the conference championship.

In Week 12 against the Broncos, Gronkowski played 56 snaps, was targeted 10 times and caught six passes for 88 yards and one touchdown. He left the game early with an injury, otherwise, Gronkowski could have had an even bigger day.

Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips knows that Gronkowski can be an obstacle.

“That’s a problem for everybody, obviously. You’d like to double-cover everybody they have. You can’t do it all the time.”

Phillips explained: “They split him out a lot. That gives you the problems because of the size when he’s split out. When he gets out wider, it’s a little bit harder. He’s a bigger guy, but when you have smaller people on it, it’s tough because he’s so strong.”

The last time out, the Broncos ended up playing safety David Bruton on Gronkowski when he was split outside. Bruton did a good job, but since he’s on injured reserve, the Broncos have to come up with a different plan.

Plenty of Blitzes

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The Patriots offensive line has struggled to adequately protect Brady this season. A hallmark of the Phillips defense is blitzing early and often. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to decipher that the Broncos should blitz Brady as much as possible on Sunday.

Linebacker Von Miller knows that going up against Brady will be a difficult test.

“The challenge with Brady is he’s one of the best quarterbacks playing in the National Football League. Sometimes he doesn’t even need an offensive line. We will have to get a pass rush every down because you never know what opportunity is going to present itself for you to go and make a big play.”

The Broncos defense sends extra defenders after opposing quarterbacks on 41.7 percent of dropbacks—well above the league average of 29.7 percent. They send blitzers almost more than any other defense in the NFL, and they successfully pressure quarterbacks on 34.7 percent of dropbacks—best in the league.

The last time these teams played, the Broncos defense forced Brady to hold the ball longer than he normally does. That bit of extra time allowed the Broncos to put Brady under duress on 28.9 percent of his dropbacks.

Man Coverage and Jam at the Line of Scrimmage

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Brady gets rid of the ball faster than any 16-game starting quarterback in the NFL. His average time before pass is 2.26 seconds. These quick decisions with the ball mean it’s difficult to get to Brady before he releases a pass.

Miller is well-aware of the miniscule time it takes Brady to get rid of the ball.

“You said two seconds? Sometimes I only need like one (laughter). It’s quick. We have to be tight in the secondary. That little window that we get, we—me, [OLB] DeMarcus [Ware], [DE Derek] Wolfe and [DE] Malik [Jackson]—have to get there. [OLB] Shaq [Barrett], everybody, we just have to get there.”

Miller continued, “This is one of those games where you can’t make excuses. We have to get our hands up, bat some balls down and we just have to get there, plain and simple.”

The last time the Broncos played the Patriots, New England was without wide receiver Julian Edelman. The Patriots were 9-0 with Edelman on the field. When he was lost to a foot injury, the Patriots went 3-4.

Phillips has a lot of respect for slot receivers like Edelman.

“Edelman is hard to cover. He’s got such quickness and short-area quickness, and they’re on the same page all the time and the quarterback can get the ball to you, no matter which guy is playing there.”

The Broncos need to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage to disrupt the timing of the offense. If Brady has to hold the ball for even a half-second longer, the pass-rushers should be able to put him under duress.

Single-High Safety

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To get more players close to the line of scrimmage, the Broncos should play a lot of single-high safety against the Patriots offense. Instead of keeping two safeties deep, the Broncos should move up strong safety T.J. Ward.

Ward said the defense is focused on winning against the Patriots and advancing to the Super Bowl.

“We’re starving. We need that ‘ship. That’s the only thing. It’s not even just about the defense. It’s about this whole team and where we’ve come from to where we want to be.” Ward concluded, “I hate breaking it down offensively and defensively, but as a whole, we’re starving.”

As one of the most intimidating players in the league, Ward will patrol the field looking to make a big hit. The Patriots may not run the ball much against the Broncos, and even if they try, they might not be successful.

Ward may sometimes be asked to stay with Gronkowski over the middle of the field. He’s not the greatest in that role, but the Broncos should use bracket coverage often against New England's tight end.

Having that extra safety near the line of scrimmage will help to clutter things short and over the middle.

Play to the Echo of the Whistle

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The NFL world should not have been surprised when Broncos defenders called out Brady for being a bit of a whiner. Paul Klee, from the Colorado Springs Gazette, reported the Broncos were preparing for the crybaby Patriots in the championship game.

Phillips disagrees with the players' assessments:

“As far as Brady is concerned, I don’t think he’s a crybaby, I don’t think he’s a whiner. I think he’s a great competitor.”

Before the AFC Championship Game, it’s a bit dangerous to offer the Patriots any bulletin board material. But the Broncos may be giving the officials a heads-up before the game about Brady looking for calls after big hits.

Phillips is not upset about what his players said.

“No, I’m just saying what I believe. A lot of our players have fun with things. If you notice the rest of the story, they all said great things about Tom Brady because he deserves great things.”

The Broncos will be aggressive on Sunday. They will most certainly play to the echo of the whistle. But they need to be careful that officials don’t start siding with Brady.

All quotes and injury/practice observations obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information provided via the Broncos media department unless otherwise noted. Advanced stats via ESPN's employees-only database.

Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac. Transaction history provided by Pro Sports Transactions.