Denver Broncos defense dominating on PFF rankings

It’s only the preseason, but the Denver Broncos defense has dominated their competition two weeks in.

They’ve allowed one touchdowns – late in the win over the Seattle Seahawks Week 1 – and the defense has given up a mere 16 total points. The starters are quick to say they’ve yet to give up a TD and they’ll ride that momentum as far as humanly possible.

Here’s another standout stat for the defense: Overall they’re second-best with a 47.7 rating on Pro Football Focus. That makes Denver the second-best defense through two games of the preseason, with the San Francisco 49ers and their combination of allowing few points while scoring on a pick-six gives them the lead at 49.9. As part of those rankings, Denver also has the No. 1 pass rush in the NFL, with a 20.2 rating. The next closest is the Washington Redskins with a 17.3.

Of course, it seems everyone’s already bought into what Wade Phillips’ defense is all about. That’s because it’s a fun system for players to compete in. Phillips wants to rush the passer, every play, and no matter what their position, players love getting after the quarterback.

Allowing a quarterback sack is one of the most demoralizing plays for an offense to endure in football. It’s a defensive player imposing his physical will on the offense’s most important player, resulting in lost yards and a lost play.

Against Seattle, the Broncos sacked Seahawks quarterbacks a total of seven times, with 13 QB hits and five tackles for a loss. On the first drive of the game, Von Miller made it look way too easy as he blew past starting left tackle Russell Okung to sack Russell Wilson and force a sack. Later in the game, it was Shaquil Barrett doing his best Miller impression for a sack-fumble on backup R.J. Archer.

In Week 2 against Houston, it was five sacks, 11 QB hits and seven tackles for a loss. Backup Tom Savage fumbled once but was able to recover.

That constant pressure will result in lots of sacks and tackles behind the line of scrimmage, but it will also positively impact one of the most important statistics in football, turnovers.

With a defense shaping up to be destructive, this Broncos team is setting up to be much more well-rounded than the teams of the last two seasons, and may be best suited of any Elway-Manning Era team to compete for a Super Bowl.