Running down the significant stats and notable numbers following the Denver Broncos’ 20-10 win over the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Sunday.
With three takeaways and a touchdown, the Broncos’ defense gets the credit for this win, and so that’s where we’ll start here. With that three-turnover advantage, the Orange & Blue extended their NFL-best active streak to 29 straight wins when they win the turnover battle in a contest. The New York Jets own the next longest current streak with 21 consecutive victories.
Cornerback Bradley Roby’s 51-yard pick-six in the third quarter easily was the play of the game for Denver, and it gave the Broncos’ four defensive TDs on the season, matching the division-rival Chiefs and Chargers for the league lead.
As for Roby, it was the fifth regular-season interception of the third-year cornerback’s career. He also has three fumble recoveries, giving him eight takeaways in 28 career regular-season games. He has returned three of those eight takeaways for TDs.
Meanwhile, fellow CB Chris Harris Jr. was thrown at nine times Sunday—according to the analytic folks at Pro Football Focus—but he only allowed three receptions for 25 yards while coming up with one pass defensed and an interception which he returned 36 yards the other way. That added up to a minuscule 2.8 passer rating for QB Blake Bortles when targeting Harris.
Of course, the above numbers should’ve surprised exactly no one as the Jaguars entered the game with an NFL-worst minus-15 turnover differential. Bortles, a regular turnover machine, shoulders the majority of the blame with a league-most 19 giveaways (15 interceptions, four fumbles), including all three Sunday. Since entering the league as a first-round pick in 2014, Bortles easily leads the league with 61 turnovers (50 picks, 11 lost fumbles) in 42 games.
Bortles got no help from starting tight end Julius Thomas, as the former Broncos Pro Bowler sat out with an ailing back – his third missed game this season. Bumps, bruises and missed games, though, are nothing new for Thomas who has missed 33 of a possible 92 regular-season contests since entering the league in 2011.
The Broncos’ offense, meanwhile, didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in rookie Paxton Lynch’s second NFL start – and first pro win. Third downs were particularly troubling as the Orange & Blue converted only 1-of-13 attempts, giving the Broncos a 5-of-29 conversion rate (17.2 percent) in the two games Lynch has started.
However, aside from a 24-yard burst by backup RB Kapri Bibbs, Lynch didn’t get much help from his ground game as rookie starter Devontae Booker rushed 18 times for 35 yards and a TD. For those without a calculator app – or even a calculator – handy, that’s 1.94 yards per carry for Booker, marking the fifth straight game he has averaged fewer than 3.3 yards per carry.
Overall, Denver finished with 206 total yards of offense, marking the second time in the last 24 seasons the Broncos have won a game while compiling fewer than 210 yards of offense. You might remember the other such contest in that span: Super Bowl 50, in which the Broncos beat the Panthers 24-10 while totaling 194 yards of offense.
It all resulted in 11 punts for rookie Riley Dixon. That marked the most punts in a game by an NFL team since the start of last season, and, according to the Broncos’ Andrew Mason, it also was the first 11-punt game for Denver since Nov. 30, 1992 (a 16-13 overtime loss to the host Seahawks).
