It has been over a decade since points on the Broncos poured in like they have in recent weeks.
In the past three games, the Broncos allowed at least 30 points each time. The last time they endured three consecutive 30-burgers at their expense was in the final three weeks of the 2008 season, when the Broncos squandered a 3-game lead in the AFC West to finish 8-8, lose their grip on the division crown to the then-San Diego Chargers and, ultimately, cost Mike Shanahan his job as head coach.
Against the Chiefs in Week 7, 29 of the 43 points were scored against the defense, which held Kansas City below 300 total yards. But the Chargers racked up 30 points seven days later. And the Buccaneers and Jets hit 28 points against the Broncos in Weeks 3 and 4, respectively.
Giving up 28 or more points used to be rare for the Broncos. Over a 41-game stretch from November 2017 until Week 2 of this year, the Broncos allowed just four foes to hit the 28-point mark. Now it’s happened five times in six games.
You can give the Broncos a pass for Sunday against the Falcons. Success against a pass-oriented offense like Atlanta’s attack is predicated on a rush-and-cover combination. With a defensive line comprised entirely of backups and both of their top two cornerbacks sidelined, Denver could do neither.
But the other games since Week 3 show that the issues go deeper.
“There’s a lot of things,” inside linebacker Josey Jewell said Tuesday.
“The biggest thing — to put it all into one — is consistency and being able to play the whole game. We’ve had good games in the first half, and we’ve had some terrible games in the first half, and vice versa.”
In the past three weeks, the Broncos have allowed 19.3 points per first half; in that span, only the Arizona Cardinals are worse. But their second-half form isn’t much better; with 16.3 points allowed after halftime, the Broncos are fourth from the bottom in that span.
To Jewell, the remedy starts with the little things.
“Just cleaning up the small details and doing your job is always the thing that seems to get anybody,” he said.
“At this level, everybody is talented, and everybody is good at what they do. Sometimes people try to do too much, or sometimes people try to do somebody else’s job before their own.”
In the fourth quarter last Sunday, the defense found its footing. It forced three consecutive three-and-outs, including two after failed on-side kickoffs. Its ability to get Atlanta off the field in rapid fashion made a potential comeback possible; on those three series, the Falcons held the football for a collective three minutes and 26 seconds.
“I think it’s just consistency and being able to do what we did in the second half of the Falcons game and do it in the first half and play a full 60 minutes of that,” Jewell said.
More of that, and the Broncos will be back to their accustomed defensive level. But if their work looks more like its early-game form in recent weeks, then Denver will continue on a pace that has the team positioned to allow more points than in any season since 2010.
