Denver Broncos Stagnating Defense Needs Impact from Star Defenders

The Denver Broncos may have gotten back on track as a team with a win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 12, but they needed 39 points to do it. Denver’s defense has allowed a whopping 29.5 points per game over the last month—not even a full point under what their high-powered offense has averaged on the season.

The defense looked very good early this season, but they have stagnated of late. That shouldn’t happen with so many star defenders on the team, but it has and it’s up to them to make up for it.   

Quarterback Peyton Manning’s offense is good enough to overcome defensive lapses most of the time but big games late in the season magnify weaknesses just like postseason games. The Broncos play a very good Kansas City Chiefs defense on the road this week, so the offense might not be able to bail out the defense if they struggle.

Pass-rushers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, cornerback Aqib Talib and strong safety T.J. Ward need to start making more big plays throughout the game. They might be affecting the game in various ways, but they aren’t changing the defensive outcomes.

Miller and Ware have combined for just one sack per game over the last month. From Week 1-8, the duo averaged 2.6 sacks per game. Both are getting pressure, affecting plays and probably grading out well, but they just aren’t making the big play.

Pass-Rusher	First 7 Games	Last 4 Games
Von Miller	10	1
DeMarcus Ware	8	2
Rest of Team	10	2
Total	28	5

They aren’t making the drive-crushing plays that turn 2nd-and-6 into 3rd-and-16. They aren’t taking advantage of clearly inferior offensive linemen to put a hurt on opposing offenses. Part of the defensive front’s inability to get sacks is also due to the performance of the secondary.

When the Broncos needed the defense to make a play last week, it was cornerback Chris Harris Jr., defensive tackle Terrance Knighton and linebacker Brandon Marshall making those plays. Harris is very close to becoming a bona-fide NFL star in his own right, but he hasn’t quite crossed that threshold nationally.

Either way, the Broncos are putting themselves in bad situations defensively as a team. They’ve been able to weasel out of those situations at times, but more often than not, the opposing offense is having its way with them.

“I don’t think we played up to our standards (against Miami),” said defensive lineman Malik Jackson Monday via DenverBroncos.com. “I think we’ve just got to keep working and just try to get there. We’ve got five games left so we’ve just got to keep working.”

They’ll have to battle through injuries as well. Talib is currently day-to-day, but he’s another star player who needs to pick up his play. Talib doesn’t have an interception or a defended pass in the last four games and he’s not seeing significantly fewer targets.

Stat	First 7 Games	Last 4 Games
INT	2	0
PD	6	0
TAR	50	23
REC	31	13
YARDS	340	146
TD	2	1

Talib has been consistent, but he’s not making many impact plays. His forced fumble last week was a positive sign, but the Broncos need a lot more from him down the stretch.

The same can be said for Ward, who intercepted a tipped pass last week but hasn’t made many impact plays since coming over from the Cleveland Browns. Ward has been a major liability in coverage—an area he was supposed to help the Broncos in 2014.

Opposing offenses have targeted Ward once every 8.1 snaps in coverage, and he has allowed a reception once every 11.5 snaps—both are third worst among qualifying safeties. Ward also owns a share of the league lead at safety with five touchdowns allowed and only four safeties have given up more passing yardage.

Until Ward starts making plays in the secondary, offenses are going to continue to attack him. Ward hasn’t necessarily been an elite run defending safety to compensate for his coverage issues, either, so that hurts the defense even more because he’s never coming off the field.

Nor can Ward come off the field because the Broncos have put more pressure on him with linebacker Danny Trevathan injured. Marshall has done a great job in the interim, but now he’s out and must pass the NFL’s concussion protocol before returning to play.

Part of the problem is that defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio is unable or unwilling to put his star players in position to thrive. The prime example may be that Miller and Ware rarely line up on the same side to force defenses to devise a protection to stop them.

Del Rio usually leaves Talib on an island, so he can’t play aggressively. The Broncos are also asking Ward to do too much right now and Del Rio needs to find creative ways to keep him out of coverage.

At least during the recent stretch of games, Del Rio doesn’t seem to anticipate what an offense is going to do, or he can’t get through to his players what he wants them to do against certain schemes. Last week against the Dolphins, Knighton was candid when he said that the defense was confused in the first half.

"They were doing some things that were confusing us and we came in at halftime and said 'Let's get back to the basics. Let's do what we do and force them to beat us that way,'" Knighton said via Ben Swanson of DenverBroncos.com. "We did a good job of at least giving our offense a chance to make a lot of plays. It's tough to play in this league and like I said, a win is a win and we'll take it."

The Broncos will certainly take the wins, but they have to be concerned about the defense heading into a key division game against the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s a talented group that can have success without gimmicks, but that doesn’t mean they should be so vanilla all the time.

If the defensive stars can’t rise to the occasion in a regular-season game against a division rival while fighting for the top seed in the division, there’s little hope that they will be able to do so in the playoffs. The Broncos have the talent to be a No. 1 defense, but it’s time they start playing like one again.

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics via ProFootballFocus (subscription required) and Pro-Football-Reference.com.