The Denver Broncos’ defense has been among the best in the NFL this season. They allow the 7th lowest pass rating to quarterbacks, 8th best in passing yards allowed per game, the second best run defense,
third best total defense, 3rd best scoring defense, 2nd best red zone defense, tied for the best third down defense with the Seahawks, and of course lead the entire NFL in sacks with 64 . Even with their recent struggles, they still are one of the better defenses in the NFL.
However, there is one area where they are surprisingly not very good at, and that is turnovers. They have a -5 turnover ratio and have forced just 12 turnovers on the year, which is tied for 4th worst in the NFL with the Chiefs. The only teams with fewer are the Cowboys, Commanders, and Jets, which is a trio of defenses that you do not want to be paired with.
When talking with the media on Monday, Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton mentioned that the turnover margin has to improve. He added that the Rams were the only Super Bowl winner in recent history to have a negative turnover margin, while the other winners had a “crazy number” in the positive direction.
The one area that has to improve is the turnover margin, and that can happen. We did a collective of the last 25 years of Super Bowl winners. It’s something like 114 in the plus. There’s been one Super Bowl winner in the last 25 years… I’m just talking about when the playoffs begin, if that makes sense. When the playoffs begin, the Rams recently were the only minus-two turnover team. The rest added up to some crazy number, and so that’s something we have to improve on.”
The team leader in interceptions is backup edge rusher Dondrea Tillman with 2. Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian, and Jahdae Barron have just 4 combined interceptions on the year. Meanwhile, they have forced 8 fumbles on the year, with McMillian leading the way with 2, but have only recovered 3 of those fumbles.
For as good as this defense has been, that’s an unacceptable amount of turnovers forced. They have had chances to get turnovers, but have dropped a good number of interceptions (Hufanga should have like 5 on the year) and haven’t been able to fall on the ball when it comes out. Forcing turnovers is what made that 2015 defense so great. You knew they would have a key turnover at somepoint to either change the momentum or win the game. That has not been the case with this Broncos team, and it is something that needs to change moving forward if they want to have success in the postseason.
Now, winning the turnover margin doesn’t just fall on the defense. The Broncos’ offense needs to limit mistakes. No costly turnovers, no bad interceptions, and emphasize ball security. There is no next week in the postseason, and one mistake could send your team home and on the couch.
The Broncos have the talent on the defensive side of the ball to force a bunch of turnovers; they just need to start doing it. Hopefully, they can figure it out in the coming weeks and make life a living hell for opposing offenses.
