A "baller" in the middle has changed the complexion of the Broncos defense

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It’s hard to put into words exactly what’s happened with the Denver Broncos run defense. Perhaps the best way to describe it is to turn to Canadian rapper Drake’s hit song, in which he simply repeats: “Started from the bottom, now we’re here.”

While Denver’s run defense wasn’t at the very bottom of the league last year, it was close, giving up the fifth-most rushing yards per game (130.3) as teams rushed over 30 times per game against them.

Now, just two games into the season, the unit is, well, one of the best in the land, giving up significantly less than half of the rushing yards per game than they gave up last year—only 52.

Amazing, remarkable and incredible are a few adjectives used to describe the transformation from one of the leagues worst run defenses to seemingly one of the best. But a word that shouldn’t be used is fluky.

Nothing was fluky about the Broncos shutting down the best running back in the NFL last week, as they held the 2016 leading rusher Ezekiel Elliott to eight total yards on nine carries.

Flukes happen by chance. Denver’s improved run defense started immediately after the 2016 season ended and it was John Elway’s biggest emphasis in the offseason on the defensive side of the ball.

The biggest acquisition in pursuit of this drastic change came big, too: 325-pound nose tackle Domata Peko.

Starting his 12th season in the league at 32 years old, there were questions about whether Peko had anything left in the tank. As an above-average run stopper in the league for nearly a decade, Peko had arguably his worst two seasons the past two years.

Through two games with the Broncos, it appears the former fourth-round pick has found the fountain of youth. But Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph says it hasn’t been an act of magic.

“He’s done a good job because he is a true nose guard. He is a big man that can take up a lot of space inside,” Joseph said as he praised Peko, highlighting how size in Denver’s scheme does, in fact, matter. “He’s a pretty good athlete. This is Domata’s first time playing in a 3-4 defense where he’s attacking the nose guard. I was with him in Cincinnati, and we were more of a read defensive line. His size in Cincinnati didn’t really make a difference. But, here it does because we’re more of an attacking style defensive line.”

Peko’s size alone was a major upgrade for the defensive line as a whole. Last year’s hog in the middle, Sylvester Williams, weighed an official 313 pounds—significantly less than the Broncos’ new anchor. But its his ability to use his size that’s helped takes Denver’s run defense to one of the best in the league to start the season.

For a position that often goes under the radar in terms of recognition, the Broncos next opponent hasn’t overlooked Peko’s play in the middle of the defensive line. The man Peko will be trying to stop on the ground in Week 3, running back LeSean McCoy, pointed to big ol’ No. 94 and said, “He’s a baller for sure.”

“I’ve played him several times over the years. He’s a hardworking, spit-guy. He takes up loud blocks,” ‘Shady’ McCoy said not throwing any shade at his next opponent. “He takes up a lot of space. He gets his backers free. They were already a good defense, and he helped them out even more.”

Stats aren’t a fair way to judge an interior defensive lineman in a 3-4 defensive scheme like the Broncos run. Their job is to take on as many blockers as possible to allow the linebackers and safeties to make the plays on the ball carrier. Much like a quarterback and receiver build chemistry, so does a defensive lineman and his second-level players.

Elway and Joseph preached throughout the entire offseason about developing a nasty and tough attitude along the trenches. When not on the football field, Peko’s eternal smile lights up every room he’s in. However, on the football field, his common phrase to the media “much love guys”—while throwing up the hang loose hand sign—is nowhere to be found.

“To stop the run, it’s an attitude. You have to go out there and draw a line in the sand and say, I’m not going to move back it. Nobody is going to push me around,” the established veteran said. “That’s the attitude that we have here. We have some big guys here. [Derek Wolfe] Big Wolfe, [Adam] Gotsis, Shelby [Harris]. We have my cousin [Kyle] Peko. You don’t want to be moved around. We have a lot of pride in our group. We take pride in the run.”

Against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Domata will start his 115th consecutive game in the NFL, the longest active streak for a defensive tackle in the league.

Through the first two games of the season, Peko’s two-year, $7.5 million contract he inked back in March seems to be worth every penny. As long as Denver continues to stay “here,” as Drake would say, against the run, the big man in the middle of the Broncos’ defensive line will continue to make Elway look like a smart man.