The happiest Broncos locker room in weeks had a thick layer of frustration mixed in

DENVER — Von Miller danced, the ‘No Fly Zone’ chirped and smiles were abundant in the Denver Broncos locker room for the first time since Oct. 1.

They laughed, they goofed around, they celebrated and they planned to celebrate some more, but underneath it all there was a sense of frustration.

Where has that been?

“We had a lead, we could actually rush the passer,” linebacker Shane Ray said with a bit of sass. “Now people see what we can do when we can rush the passer, and we have coverage and rush working together. They couldn’t do anything; they couldn’t move the ball. That’s the Bronco team that everybody is used to seeing.”

It was that and more. The Broncos put down a historic performance, holding the Jets to zero points, a mere 100 yards of offense and only 41—yes 41—yards in the air.

“Show me another defense that did that,” Aqib Talib said in a mic-drop moment as he headed toward the exit of the locker room.

There isn’t one. Even in a couple feet of snow, both the Colts (64) and the Bills (92) topped that embarrassingly low number.

That’s the thing, sure it was the Jets, but not a single other team has held their opponent under 50 yards passing this season. Not many other teams are capable of defensive dominance like that.

“We knew that all along,” Talib stated.

Yet the Broncos had gone eight straight games without being able to assert that dominance. Be it an inept offense, a mistake-prone special teams unit or something else, the Broncos have seen their “formula” go by the wayside in more than half a season’s worth of games.

“You look at all eight or nine or however many losses we have, you can pinpoint something that was terrible,” Talib explained. “One of the units was terrible. We all played together today. We put it together as a team. We know how good we can be.”

“It’s frustrating but we know this, you know what I’m saying?” added Shane Ray. “We know this is what we can do.”

What you saw Sunday is what this team could have been. Unfortunately for the Orange & Blue faithful, it’s far too little, far too late.