Broncos Film Room: What to expect from a Vance Joseph-inspired defense

Vance Joseph will be the Denver Broncos 16th head coach in franchise history marking a new era in Broncos football. However, in the excitement of the announcement, it’s clear that many are wondering what Joseph will bring to the table as a head coach outside of the constant “leader of men” statements.

Joseph’s NFL coaching tree has strong roots and is influenced from two of the league’s best defensive minds, Mike Nolan and Wade Phillips, two coaches who have had infinite success in the NFL—not to mention some extremely successful stints in Denver. Nolan and Phillips both run a 3-4 defense, Joseph’s preferred scheme as well. Which should allow for a smooth transition for the Broncos ‘D’.

Denver’s newest head coach has also shown some great adaptability in his last two stops as he was the defensive back’s coach with the Cincinnati Bengals in a 4-3 scheme, having great success, he then coordinated the Miami Dolphins defense this year in a 4-3 scheme that better suited his personnel.

Though only having been a coordinator for a year, Joseph’s coaching success isn’t simply measured in his reputation as a great leader and human being but as a high-level teacher especially in the art of creating turnovers.

This was most evident in Cincinnati, where his secondary led the league in interceptions with 41 in his two seasons as coach while allowing only 36 touchdowns. He also helped the Dolphins make important strides defensively in 2016, as they improved from the 21st pass defense in the NFL to the 15th in his first season and also jumped to the ninth-best team in the league for interceptions created with 16—two more than Denver. The Dolphins were the NFL’s fourth-best team on third down holding opponents to a 36.2 percent conversion rate, while also improving from 25th in defensive hurries to the best in the NFL in 2016 all while dealing with a litany of injuries that greatly limited the defense later in the year.

Joseph’s hire has been met with mixed reviews from fans due to some of the unknowns he brings to the table, having only been a coordinator for one season. Many have gushed about his great leadership qualities and strong vision of what it takes to win, but many are wondering what the team will look like on the field.

The narrative that Joseph’s just a player’s coach and delegator might not totally be accurate as he’s already earned a reputation as a lethal play caller and schemer, something Peyton Manning and the Broncos will remember from a four-interception game in 2014 against Cincinnati.

“Going against him over the last few years, he was probably the one guy that would drive me nuts,” said Adam Gase to the Broncos team website. “I know he gave us tons of fits when we played him when we were in Houston. And then two years ago when he was in Cincinnati and we were in Denver, it was a tough matchup. I think his DBs picked us off four times.”

So don’t be fooled by that narrative, Joseph has been groomed for a long time and is ready for this moment, which is why we went back to watch two of the Dolphins most impressive early-season games—before the injuries piled up. We checked out Week 6, in which they held the Pittsburgh Steelers to 15 points, harassing and banging up Ben Roethlisberger in the process, and Week 1, against the Seattle Seahawks, who they held to 12 points. We also went back to watch that famous 2014 four-interception game against the Broncos.

After watching the tape, here’s the three biggest questions about Vance Joseph, the defensive mind, answered.

Will he be aggressive?

In studying the tape its clear that Joseph’s a creative play caller who likes to take the action to teams much like his mentors Phillips and Nolan.

When facing the Steelers Week 6, Joseph started the game off in nickel, something he did against Seattle as well, with five defensive backs and two linebackers. His defense featured one-high safety with the other safety coming downhill as an extra defender against the Steelers run attack in a cover-3 look. As soon as the Dolphins defensive play caller had a chance on 3rd-and-long, he featured an exotic blitz with three down linemen and three linebackers, two of which were stacked up in the same A-gap. An aggressive look that confused Pittsburgh as pressure quickly got through.

Throughout the game, Joseph showed creative looks up front that confused the Steelers, either stacking the line with six or more defenders or overloading a certain gap to overwhelm or confuse a single blocker and force the offensive line to adjust. These are the kinds of plays that should get Broncos fans excited about what Joseph can do with this talented defense in creating an aggressive swarming unit.

In Denver, Vance will have the NFL’s best slot cornerback in Chris Harris Jr., a big advantage when playing any sort of nickel defense—in addition to having a “backup” cornerback like Bradley Roby who can play at a high level on the outside. More encouraging for Broncos fans who are worried about going back to the vanilla defenses from the John Fox and Jack DelRio era, Joseph loves to mix up formations and set up opposing quarterbacks.

A series that really stood out was again against Pittsburgh at the end of the first quarter with the opposition right on the edge of field goal range:

• On the first play, Miami blitzed from the slot position with the nickel corner playing man defense on a receiver in motion and then blitzing off of left tackle after having followed the receiver across the formation pre-snap, quickly creating pressure and surprising the Steelers.
• On second down, Joseph blitzed again from the slot position, this time in a cover-2 deep look which Big Ben struggled with as he quickly was pressured and appeared confused by the blitz pre-snap.
• On third-down, Joseph again brought added pressure in a three down linemen look, bringing the linebackers this time with two deep safeties. One of the two blitzers was actually an end (Andre Branch) who was on his feet to blitz from the middle this time with another linebacker also up on the line. You could tell by this point the Steelers didn’t know what to expect as far as who was blitzing and who was bluffing. Miami quickly got a sack and forced a punt.

The way in which Joseph used Branch was very interesting, as he moved him around and made him a danger from all different spots in special sub packages. Something that was particularly useful in attacking the A-gap a weakness this year for the Broncos who struggled to create interior pressure once Derek Wolfe wasn’t 100 percent. Shane Ray, Shaq Barrett, and Von Miller could all be used in similar ways to Branch making them huge hazards for opposing offenses.

So yes, Joseph isn’t just aggressive, he’s creative, and he does things that drive opposing offenses crazy and could be a real dynamo with the Broncos personnel.

Why do his secondaries produce so many turnovers?

This isn’t an easy question to answer but it starts with what we just told you about Joseph’s aggressive play style. He also likes to play lots of tight man coverage, often pressing up on the line allowing receivers little cushion and forcing offenses to earn every completion—Miami was 13th in the NFL allowing 62.3-percent of pass completions. Vance most often will play in a nickel defense in a cover-3 look with one single high safety and a strong safety up on the line, often blitzing the safety or slot corner if not bluffing to do so.

Joseph likes to play aggressive man coverage over the middle on crossing routes which can be a blessing and a curse as sometimes receivers will get loose with little help over the top. But his defenses were really good when coverage was tight underneath, an encouraging sing for the Broncos and their talented personnel.

The former coordinator doesn’t just mix it up with his blitz looks as he’ll do the same with his coverages. He threw everything at the Steelers Week 6, starting off in nickel then playing base, alternating cover-2 to cover-3 and even throwing in some cover-1 looks. Once the Dolphins took a healthy lead and Big Ben was banged up, Joseph played more zone coverage and cover-4, cover-5 looks which lead to an interception and their could have easily been a couple more that were dropped.

Denver’s new head coach really forces offenses to be on their toes and be prepared for anything. He also doesn’t let his foot off the gas or let up with the variety of coverages and blitzes he’ll throw your way as he kept the pressure on late in both games we studied.

Another interesting wrinkle to Joseph’s defense—this is especially true of the tape from the Dolphins early part of the season, before the injuries started building up—is that even though he often used nickel formations he made up for it by having a strong safety in the box and often up on the line almost like a strong side linebacker. The Dolphins No. 24, Isa Abdul-Quddus, was crucial in this spot playing fast and downhill while also being able to play some high-safety in cover-2—he ended the season on IR, another big injury to the Miami ‘D’. T.J. Ward certainly would fit the bill to be used this way and Will Parks has the skills to play up on the line in a similar position while having flashed some servicable ability in coverage. Given the importance of such a position, the Broncos might want to add some talent in the offseason if they’re not convinced of Ward’s longevity.

Despite the aggressiveness of his scheme, Vance is far from reckless, he’ll bring pressure and play man coverage leaving little cushion but in the two plus games we’ve studied he never showed a cover-0 look. More than any other factor in his ability to create turnovers is having a a high safety at all times. A crucial spot on his ‘D’ and a role that led Reggie Nelson to have the most interceptions in the NFL (12) in the two years that Joseph coached with the Bengals. In Denver, Darian Stewart should thrive in a similar role and youngster Justin Simmons shows a lot of promise as a free safety as well.

What’s up with the run defense?

Okay, so it isn’t all roses with Joseph as his run defense has been a bit of a question mark, the Dolphins were dead last in yards allowed per carry at 4.8 last season. Not what Broncos fans want to hear considering that was the main defensive issue for the team this past season.

As a secondary coach, it’s clear that the former Buff has a greater reputation in defending the passing game but his aggressive scheme does put a lot of responsibility on players properly reading and diagnosing the run. That was a big issue in Miami where the scheme certainly led to some big plays due to the aggressive nature and so many players playing close to the line pre-snap, but most of the problems came down to personnel. Miami had far too many missed tackles on the second and third level and the linebackers really stood out with their poor play.

In such an aggressive defense, with lots of five defensive back looks and lots of man responsibilities, the Dolphins had several issues on misdirection plays, something that was extremely evident on reverses. High-IQ players who are disciplined will be paramount as well as speed in the linebacking group. Luckily Denver already has several high-level starters who fit that bill.

For Joseph’s scheme to work in Denver, he will still need to add depth and talent up front, where they missed Malik Jackson in 2016, and add some more speed to the interior linebacking unit, another area that needs strengthening.

Joseph will need the right personnel to play an aggressive and varied defense that could give opposing offenses even more problems than they did this past season.

After watching the tape, Joseph might not be renowned for his Xs and Os like other candidates such as Kyle Shanahan, but he’s far from just a leader of men. This is a bright defensive mind who’s regularly given opposing attacks fits in the passing game and his union with the Broncos talented unit could prove to be tons of fun for fans of the blue and orange.