10 telling stats at the halfway point for the Denver Broncos

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Hard to believe, but we’ve reached the halfway point for your Denver Broncos.

And that means there’s no better time to take stock of what’s transpired beyond the Orange & Blue’s 6-2 record. So here are 10 of the more significant stats and notable numbers halfway through the Broncos’ season:

Only the Patriots (seven) have compiled more wins than the Broncos so far and only the Patriots (7-1) and Cowboys (6-1) own better winning percentages. But don’t get too giddy as only one of Denver’s six wins has come against a winning team, the Texans who are 5-3 playing in what’s considered to be the league’s worst division.

The Broncos’ slate gets much tougher in the second half of the season, as five of their remaining eight games will be played on the road and six of the eight are against teams currently .500 or better, including five contests against the 6-2 Raiders (twice), 5-2 Chiefs (twice) and Patriots.

How good has Denver’s pass defense been? Damn good by most any measure. The Broncos have allowed the fewest aerial yards per game (183.9), the lowest completion percentage (53.5) and the fewest yards per pass attempt (5.7). It all helps add up to the lowest defensive passer rating (65.74) in the league. The Vikings (68.1) and Cardinals (69.1) are the only other teams have defensive passer ratings lower than 75.

Of course, it all starts with the pass rush, and the Broncos are currently tied with the Bills for the team sack lead with 26. Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller has picked up right where he left off, ranking second in the league with 8.5 sacks. In fact, the Broncos boast in their weekly game releases that among players who have played 50 or more games since 1982 (the season sacks became an official NFL stat), only 2011 draft classmate J.J. Watt has averaged more sacks per game (.92) than Miller’s .86 average (68.5 in 80 games). Teammate DeMarcus Ware, by the way, ranks seventh at .80.

Those sacks and that pass defense have helped result in 16 takeaways – tied with the Chiefs and Vikings for the league lead. The Broncos have turned those 16 interceptions and fumble recoveries into 80 points – easily a league-leading total – which also accounts for an NFL-best 41.2 percent of Denver’s overall points (194). Opponents, by the way, have turned 11 Broncos turnovers into 32 points, and Denver’s plus-48 turnover-point differential is – you guessed it – the best in the league.

So you know all about Miller, Ware, the No-Fly Zone and the Denver D, but how about the Orange & Blue quarterbacks? Glad you asked. Through eight games, Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch have completed 61.9 percent of their attempts for 1,880 yards, 10 TDs and five interceptions for an 86.9 rating. Through eight games last season, Peyton Manning owned a completion percentage of 62.3 with 2,059 yards, nine TDs and 13 picks for a 75.6 rating. Of those numbers, this year’s plus-five TD-to-interception differential is the biggest difference.

Even though it may not seem to be the case, it has been less about the pass this season for the Broncos’ offense. Denver has run the ball on 215 of its 506 offensive plays for a 42.5 percentage, which is the eighth-highest in the league. During the 2015 regular season, rushing attempts only accounted for 38.9 percent of the Broncos’ offensive plays.

The Orange & Blue offense hasn’t exactly been a model of efficiency, though, as more than a quarter of the team’s offensive drives (25 of 97) have been three-and-outs. That 25.8 percentage rate ranks only above the Dolphins (27.1 percent), 49ers (27.8) and the Rams (28.8) – three teams who are a combined 7-14.

Dropped passes don’t help that cause, and for a second straight season, Broncos wideout Demaryius Thomas ranks among the league leaders in that ignominious category. Thomas is currently tied for sixth in the league with four drops on 64 targets for a 6.3-percent drop rate. That 6.3 percentage also ranks sixth among players with 50 or more targets. Last season, D.T. was “credited” with nine drops (again sixth in the NFL) on 177 targets for a 5.1 drop percentage.

We’ll end, though, on a more positive stat, and it belongs to, of all positions, an offensive lineman. Matt Paradis, who has graded out among the league’s best centers by Pro Football Focus so far, has played all 540 of the Broncos’ offensive snaps this season. That ups his snap streak to an impressive 1,641 as he played all 1,101 of the team’s offensive snaps a year ago in his first season as a starter.