BSN Breakdown: Current Denver Broncos, 1977 squad are eerily similar

This tweet popped up on my late-NFL-Sunday-afternoon timeline a few days ago this past weekend, and the longer I thought about it, the more it made sense:

A dominant defense, a nondescript running game and an aging QB on wobbly legs. It’s just like 1977. #OrangeCrush

— gus ramsey (@GusRamsey) October 11, 2015

Make that almost perfect sense, especially after combing the orange and blue annals for an apt comparison to this current 5-0 Broncos squad.

A 5-0 start, a new head coach, a dominant defense and a below-average offense led by aging quarterback. The similarities are almost eerie, and here’s how the two squads, separated by a full 38 years, stack up:

5-0 starts

Denver has started 5-0 for the seventh time in franchise history, and five of those previous six teams made it to the Super Bowl.

The 1977 squad was the first Broncos’ team to start 5-0 – trumping the Cardinals (7-0), Bills (26-6), Seahawks (24-13), Chiefs (23-7) and Raiders (30-7) – en route, to a 6-0 start and, of course, the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance.

As for which 5-0 start was more impressive, give the decision to the ’77 bunch, which outscored their opponents by a combined 87 points – compared to this season’s 34-point differential against teams with a combined record of only 6-18 – highlighted by the 23-point road win over the defending Super Bowl-champion Raiders, a team the Broncos would eventually beat in the AFC Championship Game.

New head coaches

Both Gary Kubiak and Red Miller were former Broncos’ assistants who took over talented teams which had posted winning records the previous season under coaches with the first name of John (Fox and Ralston) who wound wind up being dismissed.

Miller, who had spent the previous 17 NFL seasons serving as a line coach, including a 1963-65 stint with the Broncos, was a first-time NFL head coach while Kubiak was a season removed from a nine-year stint coaching the Houston Texans. Unlike Miller, Kubiak also had 12 seasons of coordinator experience on his resume, including overseeing the offense of the Broncos back-to-back world champion teams in 1997 and ’98.

Miller was named the AP NFL Coach of the Year, and stands as the only Broncos’ coach to garner the honor.

Dominant defenses

38 years ago, the Joel Collier-coordinated original Orange Crush – Tom Jackson, Randy Gradishar, Lyle Alzado, Louis Wright and Co. – helped paint a region orange, allowing only 10.6 points (third lowest in the 29-team league that season) and 269.6 total yards (ninth) and 4.1 yards per play (seventh) while notching 35 sacks (13^th) and forcing 39 turnovers (tied for ninth).

So far this season, the Wade Phillips-coached Orange Crush II – Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Malik Jackson, Chris Harris Jr. and Co. – are once again dominating games, allowing 15.8 points (currently second among the 32 teams) and 278 yards (first) per contest and 4.3 yards per play (first) while recording 22 sacks (first) and 14 takeaways (first).

And in comparing the league per-team, per-game averages of the two seasons, the 2015 Broncos are actually a little more impressive allowing 7.3 fewer points and 75.1 fewer yards than the current team averages while the ’77 crew surrendered 6.6 fewer points and 16.2 fewer yards than the 1977 team medians, albeit over the course of a full season, naturally.

Below-average offenses led by aging QBs

Quarterbacked by 34-year-old Craig Morton, the ’77 Broncos ranked 10^th in points (19.6) and 17^th in total yards (279) while averaging 4.4 yards per play (18^th) and 145.9 rushing yards per outing (11^th). Morton ranked fourth (82.0 rating) among QBs that season, completing 51.6 percent of his passes (131 of 254) for 1,929 yards, 14 TDs and eight interceptions. He was voted the AP Comeback Player of the Year.

Guided by 39-year-old five-time league-MVP Peyton Manning, the current Broncos rank 14^th in points (22.6) and 30^th in yards (302.6) while averaging 4.9 yards per play (31^st) and 71.6 rushing yards per outing (30^th). Manning currently is ranked 30^th among QBs (77.3 rating), completing 63.5 percent of his passes (120 of 189) for 1,234 yards, six TDs and seven picks.

Note that while Manning’s passer rating is less than five points lower than Morton’s, his ranking is a full 26 places lower — graphically illustrating the gaping offensive/aerial divide  between the two eras.

Otherwise, the most notable difference in the above looks to be the ground games with the ’77 team showing more effectiveness – even discounting the run-heavy era they played in – averaging an-above-league-average (3.8) 3.9 yards per carry to the current contingent’s 3.3 average – well below the 2015 league median of 4.1.