Phillips lays out potential areas of improvement for 5 Broncos defenders

The Denver Broncos defense was historically great last year, as a unit they dominated games in ways rarely seen before. But, with that being said, each player was not perfect and if you ask them they’d tell you there are areas in which they could have improved.

Last week, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips met with the media and perpetuated that sentiment, explaining how the coaches gave each player a list of things they can improve on, explaining how he and his staff aren’t afraid to tell great players that they still need to work on their game and even explaining what some of his individual players need to work on.

Here’s what Phillips had to say about how some of his guys can get even better:

Von Miller

Consistency

“I thought Von came on really stronger at the end of the year. He had a good year overall, but at the end of the year—he finished the season with 11 sacks in 16 games and then he had five sacks in the playoffs. If he plays on that level, he certainly can [be better than last year]. . . I had [Houston DE] J.J. Watt at the Texans and at the end of his first year in the playoff game, he really came on. You could see all the things he could do. It’s the same thing with Von here. Von has been great before this, but he played at a higher level. He played at an MVP level. Not just defensive MVP, but league MVP, really, the last of the year. I’m sure that will be the challenge for him.”

Bradley R0by

Technique

“Like everybody, they can all get better. Roby has a few technique things that we gave him that he can work on. Like I said, we made a list on each player and gave it to them and talked to them about. We said, ‘Hey, get better. These are the things.’ Now, it may be within a coverage, it may be how they play man-to-man or footwork or whatever it is. Or how to jam a guy better, those kinds of things. We did that with every player and we did it with him.”

Shane Ray

Maximizing his talent

“We know he’s got talent. Being able to utilize it—we gave him the same thing. We gave him things that we felt like he could do to get better. His attitude has been tremendous, and I think that’s a real key for him. When you come in and you’re a first-round pick, and you’ve got [OLB] DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller playing out there in front of you, and you’re not the starter, I think it’s a little tougher mentally. But he’s come through that with shining colors and I think he’s ready to step up his game.”

DeMarcus Ware

Health

“When you look at him, he had a tremendous year, too, and in the playoffs, he was a monster also. We know he can still play if he’s healthy. They’re working on that. They feel good about it, so he’s feeling better now. Hopefully, he’ll be fine. But it’s always a concern with any player that’s had an injury problem before.”

Derek Wolfe

Pass rush consistency

“He had a tremendous year last year, and the same thing with him. In the playoffs, he played tremendously. Sack-wise, I think he had five straight games where he had a sack. He really came on toward the end of the year and was really our dominant inside player. He’s always been a good run player, at least for us this last year he was a tremendous run-player. Toward the end of the year, he was getting after the quarterback really well. I look for him to take up where he left off.”

These are just the five that Phillips was asked about on Thursday, each player on the defense can make improvements in different areas and if even half of them are able to take a step forward, the dividends could be monstrous.