It’s unfair and unwise to compare this year’s defense to that which powered the Broncos to their most recent world championship. But it was hard to avoid seeing the parallels between the Broncos’ 20-12 Week 1 win and a similar win to open the 2015 season.
But there was another aspect of Week 1 that hearkened back to the salad days of Broncos history, as the first of this week’s Three Numbers shows:
22
Games in Broncos history in which the team posted at least six sacks while holding an opponent to a completion percentage below 50 percent.
This includes the pre-1982 years before sacks were counted as an official stat, as calculated by Pro Football Reference. In those days, such games weren’t entirely uncommon, in part because completion percentages were lower; it happened 11 times before 1982.
But since then, it’s only happened 11 times — and not once in the last eight seasons until Sunday. The last time it took place for the Broncos? Super Bowl 50, when Cam Newton completed 43.9 percent of his passes while absorbing seven sacks from Von Miller and Co. in Denver’s 24-10 win.
One reckons that won’t do anything to squelch the comparisons between this year’s defense and the one the Broncos rode to their last world championship.
44
Percentage of pass-rush snaps won by Nik Bonitto, according to ESPN Analytics. This was the highest percentage among NFL edge rushers in Week 1, as he won eight of his 18 pass-rush opportunities.
Jonathon Cooper won three of his 13 pass-rush reps; his percentage of 23 percent ranked 10th among edge rushers. The Broncos were the only team with two edges in the NFL’s top 10.
120
Games that had passed — including postseason — since the Broncos gave up as few passing yards as they did on Sunday.
Thanks to 50 yards in losses on sacks, Tennessee mustered just 62 passing yards, the fewest allowed by Denver’s defense since December 10, 2017, when Josh McCown, Bryce Petty and the New York Jets lumbered to just 41 passing yards.
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