Denver Broncos: Will Pass Rush Be a Force This Season?

I don't like to overanalyze preseason games. Preseason games are merely games for starters and coaches to get back into the thick of things and to determine who deserves the last roster spots available.

But I do have to mention the Broncos' effort against the Buffalo Bills—most importantly, the pass rush.

The effort and the actual effect that the pass rush had vs. the Buffalo Bills was something to admire.

In the first quarter alone, there were five plays on Fitzpatrick that could be considered quarterback pressures. Von Miller got Denver's lone sack of the first quarter on a blitz in which he went unblocked.

The pressure on Fitzpatrick didn't stop there. Denver's D-line and linebackers and their blitz packages constantly got pressure on Fitzpatrick and disrupted Buffalo's game plan and their offensive flow.

Buffalo mustered a field goal on their first drive. Those were the only points that they would score in the first half with their first-team offense on four attempted drives.

As a result of Denver's hectic pass rush, Fitzpatrick and the Buffalo Bills offense utilized a lot of quick step drops in order to get rid of the ball as soon as possible.

Fitzpatrick and the flow of Buffalo's offense were so out of sync that in four drives of work he never completed a pass longer than 11 yards.

In his last three drives on the field, he didn't complete a single pass longer than eight yards.

Ryan Fitzpatrick's final stats after one half of work: 6-of-16 for 44 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT and maybe the most important stat of the night: 2.8 average yards per pass attempt.'

For those that don't follow the yards per pass attempt stat that closely, the league average is about six or seven yards per pass attempt—2.8 is not even half of the league average. It's just pitiful.

The Buffalo Bills aren't a good team and they don't have an All-Pro offensive line.

But although the Broncos only mustered one sack that shows up in the team stats in the first half versus the Bills' first team offense, the stats don't show the entire story. Far from it.

Dumervil got a lick on Fitzpatrick, Miller had a sack and another one on Fitzpatrick that was negated due to him being offsides. Bunkley got a QB pressure, as did DJ Williams.

The blitz packages were so successful, that Denver was literally making Buffalo change their offensive game plan to utilize more short passing plays.

Again, this is only one preseason game, and less than a month from now I may be writing an article about Denver's non-existent pass rush in the season opener versus the Oakland Raiders.

But this was a nice step in the right direction. After a year in which Denver racked up only 23 sacks, which ranked them as the worst in the league, it was "progress" for Denver's new-look defense, featuring the likes of Bunkley, Miller and the returning Dumervil, to completely shut down an offense's attack.

For a team that had it's worst season in decades, everything is "progress." Even if that means establishing a pass rush and accumulating a win against a team that went 4-12 last year in a preseason game. Baby steps are needed before you make that jump to being a good team.

Only time will tell if this new look pass rush is for real. A good place to start is September 12 in Denver, versus the Oakland Raiders.