DENVER (AP) \u2014 There are really only two things pretty about the Denver Broncos this year: their defense and their record.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re on pace for an NFL-record 76 sacks and are so deep on defense that they\u2019ve withstood the absences of Pat Surtain II and Dre Greenlaw for long stretches and they sit atop the AFC at 9-2 heading into their Week 12 bye.<\/p>\n
Their offense sputters on a weekly basis and they lost their best offensive producer in running back J.K. Dobbins to a season-ending foot injury. Their special teams feature All-Pro returner Marvin Mims Jr. and kicker Wil Lutz, but Darren Rizzi\u2019s units are a weekly adventure and cost them a win at Indianapolis in September.<\/p>\n
They lead the league in punts (57) and penalties (93).<\/p>\n
Quarterback Bo Nix has scuffled aplenty in Year 2, yet he\u2019s led five fourth-quarter comebacks this season and eight of them in his career, which is the most by any player in his first two years in league history.<\/p>\n
The Broncos\u2019 22-19 thriller over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs last weekend marked their seventh comeback of the season, their seventh win in a one-score game, their eighth consecutive victory overall and their NFL-best 11th straight triumph at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being able to find ways to win, each and every way. Whether it\u2019s a blowout, a close game, come from behind, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d outside linebacker Nik Bonitto said. \u201dWe got a resilient team, so just finding ways to win, it\u2019s really special for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Usually, it\u2019s the quarterback who\u2019s the great wart remover on championship contenders, but the Broncos have used their dominant defensive formula before when Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware and the \u201cNo Fly Zone\u201d defense carried Peyton Manning across the finish line in Super Bowl 50 a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Can they recapture a similar success? <\/p>\n
That will be determined over a stretch run that includes trips to Washington, Las Vegas and Kansas City on Christmas Night and home games against the Packers, Jaguars and Chargers \u2014 who are the last team to beat the Broncos this season (23-20 in Week 3) and the last team to beat them in Denver (23-16 on Oct. 13, 2025).<\/p>\n
Their path may be rocky and their wins ugly, but 9-2 is nothing to scoff at.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible, honestly,\u201d tight end Evan Engram said. \u201dIt\u2019s super hard to win in this league. Just the way that we\u2019re finishing games, the way that we\u2019re fighting, the adversity that we\u2019re facing and the adversity that we overcome in games. It\u2019s just an incredible feeling coming in here after games, whether it\u2019s here, on the road, just our celebration is the way we just kind of just enjoy the moment. It\u2019s a special team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broncos have a couple of signature wins that stand out.<\/p>\n
They rallied to beat the reigning Super Bowl champions 21-17 by outscoring the Eagles 18-0 in the fourth quarter in Philadelphia, and they topped that comeback in a 33-32 win over the Giants in Denver by snapping a streak in which NFL teams had won 1,602 consecutive games when leading by 18 points in the final six minutes of a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe prepare tons for those situations and we\u2019re just waiting for it, on all phases,\u201d right guard Quinn Meinerz said. \u201dUntil the clock hits zero, the game\u2019s not over with and we believe in everyone that we are in the huddle with and it\u2019s really cool to be in those huddles and in these moments where everyone is just locked in and ready to go and it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broncos are counting on the returns of Surtain, the league\u2019s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and leading tackler Alex Singleton returning after the bye to bolster an already stout defense. Surtain has missed three games with a strained pectoral and Singleton underwent surgery to remove a testicular tumor earlier this month and missed the Kansas City game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we just have grit,\u201d safety Talanoa Hufanga said. \u201cWe just know how to handle adversity. I think that\u2019s one thing that is a testament to this team, regardless of the situations we are in. I think we are just built for whatever. Whatever comes our way.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n
Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER (AP) \u2014 There are really only two things pretty about the Denver Broncos this year: their defense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-296036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}