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The Denver Broncos tied a franchise record with 14 regular season wins (tied with the 1998 team that won the Super Bowl). The defense set a new franchise record for sacks with 68. They also had the best sack percentage since 1971. Sack rates were much higher back then because there were so many fewer passes thrown.
The 71 Bronco defense had 43.5 sacks in 14 games. Opponents had 356 total passing attempts against them that season or 25 per game. So those 43.5 sacks resulted in a sack percentage of 11.0%. The 2025 Broncos got to double digits with their 68 sacks this season (10.3%). Opponents threw 593 passes against the Broncos this season or 35 passes per game. One of the crazy things is that the sacks were so well distributed this season. Yes, Nik Bonitto had 14.0, but he was the only Bronco defender in double figures. Seventeen different Bronco defenders had at least a half a sack and ten different Bronco defenders had at least three sacks. Last season 16 defenders had at least one half a sack, but only seven had three or more sacks, partly because both Jonathan Cooper and Bonitto had double digit sacks. The 2023 defense had no defenders reach double digits in sacks only 13 defender had at least a half sack. Three of the Bronco defenders who had a sack in 2023 are out of the league right now – Randy Gregory, Josey Jewell, and Jonathan Harris. I thought Elijah Garcia was out of the league, but he played some this year with the Falcons.
The Bronco defense finished the season third in scoring defense, but first in YPP allowed. Twelve of the top scoring defenses in the league made the playoffs.
Only the Steelers (17th) and Bears (23rd) were in the bottom half of the league in scoring defense, but the Bears were one of the worst D’s in the league in YPP allowed with only the Commanders, Cowboys and Bengals allowing more yards per play.
The Bronco defense finished tied for second in YPC allowed at 3.87 (tied with the Colts). Only the Seahawks were better at stopping the run allowing 3.74 YPC. The Bills had one the worst run defenses in the league and this bodes well for the struggling Bronco run game if we face them in the playoffs. The Bills were 30th allowing 5.14 YPC.
| Rank | Team | Carries | Yards | TDs | YPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle Seahawks | 418 | 1563 | 9 | 3.74 |
| 2 | Indianapolis Colts | 448 | 1732 | 16 | 3.87 |
| 3 | Denver Broncos | 400 | 1548 | 11 | 3.87 |
| 4 | Las Vegas Raiders | 511 | 1986 | 22 | 3.89 |
| 5 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 369 | 1455 | 13 | 3.94 |
| 6 | New Orleans Saints | 517 | 2050 | 12 | 3.97 |
| 7 | Houston Texans | 400 | 1593 | 13 | 3.98 |
| 8 | Minnesota Vikings | 529 | 2110 | 13 | 3.99 |
| 9 | Kansas City Chiefs | 448 | 1797 | 14 | 4.01 |
| 10 | Cleveland Browns | 475 | 1979 | 14 | 4.17 |
| 11 | Baltimore Ravens | 434 | 1813 | 18 | 4.18 |
| 12 | Green Bay Packers | 476 | 2001 | 15 | 4.20 |
| 13 | New England Patriots | 411 | 1729 | 11 | 4.21 |
| 14 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 396 | 1684 | 16 | 4.25 |
| 15 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 451 | 1922 | 10 | 4.26 |
| 16 | Philadelphia Eagles | 494 | 2115 | 20 | 4.28 |
| 17 | Tennessee Titans | 453 | 1948 | 21 | 4.30 |
| 18 | Los Angeles Chargers | 416 | 1791 | 16 | 4.31 |
| 19 | Los Angeles Rams | 436 | 1884 | 8 | 4.32 |
| 20 | San Francisco 49ers | 424 | 1833 | 13 | 4.32 |
| 21 | Detroit Lions | 446 | 1947 | 16 | 4.37 |
| 22 | Carolina Panthers | 479 | 2096 | 20 | 4.38 |
| 23 | New York Jets | 539 | 2371 | 20 | 4.40 |
| 24 | Arizona Cardinals | 489 | 2158 | 19 | 4.41 |
| 25 | Atlanta Falcons | 466 | 2146 | 12 | 4.61 |
| 26 | Dallas Cowboys | 452 | 2133 | 24 | 4.72 |
| 27 | Washington Commanders | 504 | 2411 | 18 | 4.78 |
| 28 | Miami Dolphins | 469 | 2251 | 18 | 4.80 |
| 29 | Chicago Bears | 457 | 2287 | 15 | 5.00 |
| 30 | Buffalo Bills | 450 | 2315 | 24 | 5.14 |
| 31 | Cincinnati Bengals | 479 | 2500 | 18 | 5.22 |
| 32 | New York Giants | 465 | 2470 | 21 | 5.31 |
The Bills are the only AFC playoff team that struggled to stop the run. The Jags and Texans were also in the top 10 with the Seahawks and Broncos.
The Bronco defense finished the season at 6th in passer rating allowed (78.7). The Chargers finished first at 75.0; the margin between the top pass defenses was very small.
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The average passer rating in the NFL this season was 91.4.
The Bronco defense slipped to second in 3rd down percentage allowed at 33.8%. The Seahawk defense was first at 32.1%. The two number one seeds relied heavily on their defenses to get them their #1 seeds. The Texans finished first in scoring percentage allowed (percent of drives that resulted in points for the opponent) at 27.6%. The Bronco defense finished 7th at 34.6%.
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The Bronco defense finished first in RZTD% at 42.6%. The playoff team with the worst RZTD% is the Patriots at 67.5%, but this is a little misleading since they allowed the fewest red zone drives at 40.
The Patriots played the weakest schedule of any of the playoff teams. They only faced three playoff teams during the regular season and went 2-2 in those game (win over the Panthers, lost to the Steelers and went 1-1 against the Bills). The Broncos played six games against playoff teams and went 4-2 in those games with the two losses coming against the Jags and the Chargers. In the Jags loss it was the defense that faltered. In the Chargers loss it was the offense that faltered. The four wins over playoff teams were against the Chargers (admittedly when they were sitting some starters), Packers, Eagles and Texans. So I would say that the Broncos have at least three impressive wins at least while the Pats have one. I don’t count their early season win against the Panthers (or any win against the Panthers) as impressive. The Panthers are only the second team in NFL history (IIRC) to make the playoffs with a losing record.
In context the Broncos also beat a hot Giants team, a hot Cowboys team and a Chiefs team that was still playing with Kermit the QB.
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