The Denver Broncos are creating turnovers at a historic rate. But don’t call them lucky.

DENVER, Colo. — Early in the fourth quarter of the Denver Broncos’ 29-12 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Broncos nickel back Ja’Quan McMillian knew what was coming. He recognized the formation from earlier in the game and thought the Browns might be running the same play. He was right.

An inside receiver was running a sail route, straight downfield for 10 yards and then breaking at an angle toward the sideline. McMillian drifted toward the boundary while gaining depth downfield and jumped.

“I felt them throw the ball,” McMillian said. “It just went right over my head. I didn’t have enough power to get up and catch the ball.”

McMillian was inches away from the interception, which would have been his sixth pick, forced fumble or fumble recovery of the season.

But that was just about the only opportunity the Broncos missed out on.

The Broncos produced three takeaways on Sunday afternoon. They’ve produced 15 takeaways in the past four games, their most in a four-game stretch since 1989, and the most by any team in more than two years.

“I think the defense has been ballhawks every game so far,” quarterback Russell Wilson said after the game. “They keep taking the ball away—giving us a short field.”

Those takeaways have propelled the Broncos through a five-game winning streak, the longest in the NFL. After a 1-5 start, the Broncos are 6-5 and only outside of the playoff picture because of a tiebreaker.

But, as left tackle Garett Bolles said after the game, “I don’t think you can put the cherry on top of the pie just because you won five games.”

While the Broncos can’t put the cherry on the pie, they have found a way to win a lot of football games: Turn the other team over and don’t turn the ball over yourself.

“It’s huge,” head coach Sean Payton said of the turnovers. “If you’re looking at the league in general, with anywhere from 11 to 14 possessions per game—you take it away, you get one, they get one less. You take two away, you get two more and they get two less—just do the math. It was at that 1-5 mark that we were not really good with that. Since that mark, we’ve been really good with that. We have to keep paying attention to it, but it’s significant.”

Turnovers aren’t luck. The Broncos emphasize forcing them in a variety of ways throughout the week, from punchout drills during practice to film study.

Safety PJ Locke credits his strip sack to practice.

“I just had a blitz [on the] back side,” Locke said after the game. “I kind of showed a man-[coverage] demeanor on the tight end, and the quarterback was not even looking at me. I knew I was going to probably come free. We practice hooking the elbow to get the ball out. That is what I did. The practice came to fruition.”

But sometimes turnovers are more about want-to than anything else.

Remember two weeks ago when the Broncos beat the Bills on Monday Night Football and Alex Singleton jumped on a loose ball before wide receiver Stefon Diggs did? Here’s what Singleton said after the game.

“You have to be willing to sacrifice your body, and I can guarantee I’m willing to throw my body in any pile before he ever does.”

You shouldn’t be surprised that Singleton jumped on top of the fumble that Locke forced against the Browns.

Earlier in the game, another fumble may have looked like a gift. 

The Browns ran some sort of reverse but messed up the second exchange. The missed pitch hit the ground and rolled. DJ Jones jumped on top of it.

But even that gift required a good play from Jones. He’d penetrated eight yards deep into the backfield.

“Too much pressure in the back,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game when asked about the cause of the fumble. “Obviously, the exchange didn’t go how you want it to go.”

That pressure came from Jones. And since he’d beaten his man and fought his way into the backfield, nobody was around to contest his recovery. Jones might call it an unlucky play for the Broncos because he didn’t score.

“If you run it back, you’ll probably see it in my eyes,” Jones said. “I saw the end zone before I saw the ball.”

Over the past month, the Broncos have created a culture of creating turnovers.

“Everybody wants to get involved. Everybody wants a turnover. It’s a breath of fresh air to see the ball on the ground all the time,” Jones said. “And then we get it.”

The Broncos lead the league in takeaways off of fumbles and rank in the top 10 in interceptions. They’re top-five in turnover differential. While expecting their four-game streak of creating at least three turnovers to extend through the end of the season is probably a bad idea, there’s no reason to believe the Broncos will slow down significantly.

If the turnovers they’ve created don’t convince you, maybe the plays they missed on Sunday will.

Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson fumbled in the second quarter. That could have been a turnover, but his running back jumped on the ball.

D.J. Jones could have scored on his fumble recovery.

Ja’Quan McMillian could have had an interception. He knew the play. He knew where the ball was going. He was just a step too shallow.

It’s easy to see how any of the three turnovers might not have happened. But it’s just as easy to find three more that could have.

Being in the right place at the right time isn’t always luck.