ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – While preseason favorites Kansas City and Baltimore stumble, the Denver Broncos are tied with fellow…
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) – While preseason favorites Kansas City and Baltimore are limping along, the Denver Broncos are tied with fellow starters New England and Indianapolis for the best record in the NFL at 7-2.
The Broncos are one ahead of the Chargers and two ahead of the Chiefs in their quest to end Kansas City’s nine-year reign at the top of the AFC West. But they didn’t pick up many style points by winning six games in a row for the first time in a decade.
Darren Rizzi’s special teams units are error-prone and cost the Broncos a win in Indianapolis in Week 2, and their offense is often out of sync, at least until the fourth quarter.
Their defense is top-notch in almost every category except a lack of takeaways and star Pat Surtain II (pectoral muscle strain) will miss key divisional matchups this week and beyond.
The aesthetic certainly doesn’t bother Bo Nix.
“A really good problem is when you get these ugly wins,” Denver’s second-year quarterback said after the game. Broncos earned an 18-15 victory Sunday in Houston, despite a negative-2 turnover margin and special teams miscues that cost them nine points.
“Obviously we need to improve in a lot of different areas,” Nix said, “but the ugly wins are important.”
The Broncos outscored Houston 11-0 in the fourth quarter and improved to 4-0 in games where they trailed after three quarters. They also gathered to celebrate the Eagles, Jets And Giants during their streak.
If the Broncos learned anything from their 33-point fourth-quarter outburst against the Giants in Week 7, it’s that they’ll never come back from it.
“I don’t think there was anyone in the locker room that felt like we were losing this game,” coach Sean Payton said Sunday. “Now we all felt like we had to do certain things better. … You can’t wish for confidence, right? It came from what? Demonstrated skill.”
What works
Denver’s defense has compiled a lead of 40 sacks, putting the Broncos on pace for 75, which would shatter the franchise record of 63 sacks they collected last season. That would also eclipse the NFL record for most sacks in a season of 72 set by the Chicago Bears in 1984.
What needs help
The Broncos’ sputtering offense won’t cut it against the league’s better teams and the second half of the schedule includes two games against the Chiefs and games against the Chargers, Packers and Jaguars, all at home, where Denver is 4-0.
Stock up
Even without Surtain, Denver limited the Texans to five field goals and forced six straight punts in the second half to give the Broncos a chance to come back and win it for the second time in three weeks with a game-ending field goal.
Stock down
Payton has given a vote of confidence to Rizzi, whose units have consistently underperformed all season.
The list of Week 8 miscues included a blocked field goal after Wil Lutz’s perfect October earned him the NFL’s Special Teams Player of the Month award, and a muffed punt involving Marvin Mims Jr. was sidelined with a concussion, which he suffered on a play he was not allowed to make a week earlier in a blowout win over Dallas.
Payton’s special teams were great in his first two seasons in Denver, but he fired Ben Kotwica in January along with assistant Chris Banjo, who was hired by the Jets. Despite an excellent reputation, Rizzi’s units are marred by errors every week.
What bothered Payton most on Sunday were the late substitutions. And when Payton said after the game, “We’re either going to clean that up or we’re going to find someone else to do it,” he was referring to personnel changes on special teams, not coaching changes.
“I’m referring to players who are not on the field and need to be,” Payton clarified Monday. “Coaching is excellent. We will clean that up. My point is, if there are ten players on the field and there should be eleven, then I will take that player who is supposed to be there and find someone else to do his job.”
Injuries
The Broncos are hopeful Mims will return from a concussion this week. TE Nate Adkins is still recovering from a knee injury, so expect that 41-year-old Marcedes Lewis to get more playing time as a point-of-contact blocker.
Key stat
The Broncos have outscored their opponents 96-36 in the fourth quarter so far, and over their six-game winning streak that difference is 86-20.
Next steps
The Broncos still have a short week to prepare for the Las Vegas Raiders (2-6), who are coming off a 30-29 loss to Jacksonville.
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