How $110M and Elway scouting genius built monstrous Broncos
The Broncos came to New York for the Super Bowl two years ago with a high-octane offense piloted by Peyton Manning. They rode that unit, which featured receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, all the way to MetLife Stadium and Super Bowl XLVIII … where they got destroyed by the Seahawks.
Seattle had the No. 1 defense in football that year, and on an unseasonably warm day in East Rutherford, the Seahawks smoked the Broncos and their top-ranked offense, 43-8, with a defense that was relentless and so fast, it made the Broncos look as if they were playing underwater.
Perhaps it was that day Broncos top executive John Elway, the old quarterback, figured out he needed to build a team that relied on defense rather than offense.
Mission accomplished.
The Broncos will return to the Super Bowl against the Panthers in two weeks with a ferocious defense that was on display Sunday in the AFC Championship game against the Patriots. After finishing No. 1 in the NFL in total defense, pass defense and sacks this season, the Broncos defense showed it was for real against Tom Brady. Denver sacked Brady four times, 2.5 from Von Miller, and hit him 23 times, the most any quarterback has been hit in the NFL this season.
“We were able to put pressure on him, even when we dropped eight into coverage,” Elway said. “I thought we really got him out of sync at times. It was just the way you need to play a guy like Brady, a team like that, that’s done so much. You have to get them off schedule.”
Denver’s defense is a credit to Elway, who has been building it since he joined the front office in 2011. He has done it in multiple ways — drafting, finding players passed over by other teams and spending big in free agency. While he has missed on some of his offensive choices, he has been close to perfect on defense.
Some of the pieces were in place in February 2014, when they took on the Seahawks, but they were either injured that day or developing. But Elway must have seen something that day against the Seahawks on both sides of the ball. His defense was no match for Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, but Seattle’s defense showed the blueprint for dominating. With hard hits and crazy speed, Seattle shut down Manning and Co., scoring a defensive touchdown and a safety.
Miller watched that game from the sideline after tearing his ACL two months earlier. The No. 2-overall pick by Elway in 2011, Miller showed how disruptive he can be Sunday, when he made Brady look worse than that courtroom sketch artist did.
Chris Harris Jr. also watched that game with a torn ACL he suffered a few weeks earlier. The cornerback showed Elway could find hidden talent. He was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Kansas in July 2011 and has become a key piece in the Broncos defense after studying under Champ Bailey in his early years.
Elway found some other gems beyond the first round of the 2012 draft with defensive ends Derek Wolfe (second round) and Malik Jackson (fifth round) and linebacker Danny Trevathan (sixth round). Trevathan was taken with a pick acquired by Elway from the Jets in the Tim Tebow trade.
After the trouncing by the Seahawks, Elway got really aggressive. He committed $110 million in 24 hours in March 2014 for cornerback Aqib Talib, safety T.J. Ward and defensive end DeMarcus Ware. Those three have looked like wise investments as Ware complements Miller on the other side of the pass rush, Talib can lock down a receiver and Ward delivers vicious hits.
The last piece of the puzzle was defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who was hired this year on Gary Kubiak’s staff. The veteran coach has transformed a good defense into a dominating one, switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4. Phillips has turned the Broncos’ pass rush loose. Just ask Brady, who looked shell-shocked Sunday.
Two years ago, the Broncos relied on their quarterback. Now, they rely on terrorizing the other team’s.
