What Defensive Adjustments Should the Broncos Make After Loss to the Colts?

The Denver Broncos suffered their first loss of the season against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9. The team made mistakes on both sides of the ball, but it was the defense that seemed to play out of character.

The defense struggled to stuff running back Frank Gore as he played like a battering ram, rushing 28 times for 83 yards and one rushing touchdown. Gore’s tough running helped to wear down the Broncos defense, and it certainly helped the Colts dominate the time of possession. The Colts had the ball for almost 39 minutes, while the Broncos only had the ball for about 21 minutes.

The Broncos couldn’t get the Colts off the field in good time, and Indianapolis was able to run 77 plays against Denver on Sunday. Quarterback Andrew Luck did a good job of finding the weak spots on the Broncos defense. He finished the game with 252 yards passing and two touchdowns. Even though he was under a ton of pressure, Luck was sacked only once by the team that led the NFL in sacks coming into the game.

This was an obvious low point for the Broncos' 2015 season.

Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak had a message for the team on Monday.

“I told them why we got beat. We got beat because we didn't play well. You go through statistically, in just about every category—special teams we did some good stuff, made a big play that got our football team going.”

Kubiak explained, “Offensively, we played very poor in the first half. We played really well in the second half, except for the turnover at the end. Defensively, I thought we had ourselves in position to play well.”

Kubiak admitted, “The facts don't lie. We didn't play well as a team, and yet we still had a chance to win the football game with five or six minutes left. That's the disappointing thing.”

What defensive adjustments should the Broncos make after the loss to the Colts? Let’s take a look.

Shaquil Barrett to Start

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The Broncos lost linebacker DeMarcus Ware to a back injury in the game against the Colts. This is the second time this season that Ware has been bothered by a sore back. He originally hurt his back in Week 5 against the Oakland Raiders and missed the Week 6 game against the Cleveland Browns because of it.

The team will once again turn to Shaquil Barrett as the starter while Ware is out. Barrett started the game against the Browns, and he finished that game with nine tackles, 1.5 sacks, once forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

Kubiak didn’t have much of an update about Ware on Monday.

“He's being evaluated. We'll see. They don't think he did any further damage, but did he have a setback or whatever? That's what we're trying to evaluate right now. It will be a day-to-day process.”

The team is going to miss Ware on the field, but obviously Barrett is capable of being a productive starter. With rookie linebacker Shane Ray still at least a couple of weeks away from returning from his knee injury, Barrett will have a lot of pressure to make plays. Without Ware and Ray, we could see Lerentee McCray get on the field as a part-time pass-rusher more for the Broncos.

Blitz Scrambling QBs Less

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The Broncos sent waves upon waves of pass-rushers after Andrew Luck in Week 9. In fact, Luck was under more pressure in Week 9 than he had been in any other game this season. The problem for the Broncos was that the pressure wasn’t negatively impacting Luck’s play. In fact, Luck had his best game of the season under what seemed like constant duress.

Weeks	Passer Rating	Air Yds/Att	Blitz/Dropback	Pressure %	Time Before Pass
1-8	71.6	9.81	34.6%	30.4	2.68 seconds
9	98.4	7.00	64.3%	54.8	2.57 seconds

Kubiak talked about Luck making plays with his feet.

“And he made some plays with his feet, too. I think three of the conversions were him moving with his feet. They kept themselves very manageable in what they were doing and no bigger conversions than the end of the game—I think, what, three of them just on the last drive.” Kubiak reflected, “That's been a strength of ours as a football team, and that's something that we did not do well yesterday.”

The next time the Broncos are up against a quarterback who can keep plays alive with his feet, they might be better off blitzing less. They sent everything at Luck on Sunday, but he was able to stand strong, take some big hits and deliver passes against the Broncos.

Quarterbacks who can scramble and keep plays alive with their feet seem to give the Broncos trouble historically. The team will need to be more cautious when considering sending extra pressure against such a quarterback in the future.

Emphasize Getting Fewer Penalties

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The Broncos are the most penalized defense in the NFL. Against the Colts, penalties near the end of the game cost the Broncos a chance at a late comeback.

Cornerback Aqib Talib was penalized first for poking Colts tight end Dwayne Allen in the eye. After that, he was penalized for excessive clapping as he berated an official on the field.

“Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap. Flag. That’s all it was.” Talib stressed.

Kubiak is rightfully concerned about the current rate of penalties the defense gets.

“I'm very concerned. Statistically, we have the No. 1 defense in football, but we're also the most penalized. We've got a great thing going on. We've got something that needs to get corrected.”

Kubiak continued, “We have to find a way in the second half of the season to turn that around. That starts with me, [Defensive Coordinator] Wade [Phillips] and the coaches and players' responsibility.” Kubiak admitted, “You’re going to have some penalties at times, but you can't have selfish penalties that hurt the football team. That has been addressed. We will go to work on getting that taken care of.”

The Broncos simply can’t continue to make these kinds of mistakes at critical times. As they work to advance toward the postseason, the Broncos have tough games coming up against teams like the New England Patriots and the Cincinnati Bengals. Those are teams the Broncos will need to play as close to mistake-free football as they possibly can if they want to win.

Both of those teams (and perhaps the Colts, too) could possibly be in the way of the Broncos' Super Bowl dreams once the postseason gets here. The Broncos will have some changes at linebacker while Ware is out. They’ll need to be smarter about blitzing quarterbacks who can extend the play. The team will also need to work hard to get penalized less often.

These are just a few of the adjustments the team has to—and should—make going forward.

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.