3 days Ago
Zach Allen is not prone to hyperbole. The Denver Broncos’ defensive end is measured and steady, rarely offering any bluster when he speaks about the game. That made it noticeable in multiple interviews during the offseason that Allen wasn’t shying away from predicting big things for Denver’s revamped defensive front.
It took only a few days of OTA practices, Allen said, for him to realize the group could put something special together. Advertisement The pieces — new additions like John Franklin-Myers, Malcolm Roach and Dondrea Tillman and holdovers like Allen, D.J.
Jones and outside linebackers Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto — seemed to fit around each other immediately. By the time they hit the field at the start of the season, it felt like they had all been playing together for years. The production piled up quickly.
GO DEEPER Broncos are out of chances to squander after heartbreaking loss to Bengals “I never remember it being this fast getting home on just basic one-on-one pass rushes and stuff like that,” Allen said in November. “It’s awesome to see from a team defensive perspective. There are times where you have a beautiful move and then you just see one of those other guys swipe (the sack).
You’re like, ‘How the hell did you beat me?’ The competition is awesome.” A multitude of factors help explain why the Broncos exceeded external expectations this season. They enter Week 18 with a chance — even after brutal back-to-back losses — to get into the playoffs with a win over a Kansas City Chiefs team that could rest its starters with the AFC’s No.
1 seed already clinched or by virtue of losses by the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins. It’s a place few outside their building thought the Broncos would be during the first weekend of January. There is no bigger reason the Broncos are in this win-and-in scenario than the incredible leap made by their defensive front.
And if you’re looking for reasons to believe Denver can finish the job against the Chiefs, the unit tops that list, too. The Broncos, after a seven-sack performance in a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Bengals on Saturday, have seen a franchise-record six different players reach five sacks this season: Bonitto (11 1/2), Cooper (9 1/2), Allen (8 1/2), Franklin-Myers (six), Tillman (five) and rookie outside linebacker Jonah Elliss (five). The only team in the NFL that has ever had more players reach the five-takedown mark in the same season was the 1986 Chicago Bears.
That’s decent company. Advertisement Allen had 3 1/2 sacks of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on Saturday. He had two full sacks and was credited with a half-sack three times.
He also had two sacks negated by penalties. That’s seven different times he was involved in bringing Burrow to the ground. He had 1 1/2 sacks on Cincinnati’s first drive of overtime alone, forcing a punt.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said after the game that Denver’s short-yardage defense was a headache all night. The Broncos came up with two short-yardage run stops on Cincinnati’s opening drive, the second of which came on fourth down. They ended a 17-play Bengals drive when Cooper sacked Burrow on fourth down from Denver’s 2-yard line.
Broncos stop the Bengals on 4th and Goal! Cincy comes up empty after a 17-play drive. 📺: #DENvsCIN on NFL Network 📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.
com/PkUyM9IV4m — NFL (@NFL) December 28, 2024 “I don’t know how many times they threw it, but that usually helps your chances,” said Allen, who hadn’t yet seen the stat sheet showing 58 dropbacks for Burrow. “We’re a top (pass-)rushing group in the league for a reason. That’s our type of game, but we’ve got to be a little more timely with it.
(Burrow) got out a couple times when he shouldn’t have. That’s on us and we’ll get that right.” That accountable standard has been the bedrock of the group’s success.
Allen told the The Athletic this is “the most fun I’ve ever had pass rushing,” in large part because the room constantly buzzes with high-level conversations about the craft of getting to the quarterback. “And it’s totally selfless,” he said. “I’ll come to the sideline and John will want to pass rush, and I’ll say, ‘Let’s do that (rush) again and I’ll do this to free you up so you can keep killing it.
’ He’ll say, ‘No, no, no, it’s your turn! It’s your turn!’ To have so many guys like that who say, ‘No, it’s your turn, let’s get you one,’ is a really cool thing to have.'” GO DEEPER NFL Week 17 takeaways: Are Vikings on the Lions', Eagles' level? Should Cowboys keep McCarthy? Broncos general manager George Paton said during his offseason news conference 11 months ago that building a sturdier front was a top priority. The Broncos gave up a league-high 5 yards per carry in 2023.
Their pressure rate (34.1 percent) ranked 20th and they were 21st in sacks with 42. The Broncos signed Roach, a run-stuffing specialist who previously played for Broncos coach Sean Payton in New Orleans, to solidify the interior.
Franklin-Myers was acquired in a draft-weekend trade with the New York Jets and his presence has helped Allen avoid the swath of double-teams that teams could more easily throw his way last season. Bonitto and Cooper have had career-best seasons. Tillman was a gem of a find who had spent his spring playing in the United Football League.
Advertisement The Broncos were optimistic their intentional additions on the front would lead to a big jump for the group, but did they envision this much of a leap? The Broncos are first in sacks (58) and second in pressure rate (39.6 percent). The constant harassment of quarterbacks has the Broncos on the doorstep of the playoffs.
And it will need to be a defining trait of the regular-season finale against the Chiefs. “We know who we are,” Allen said in a somber visiting locker room in Cincinnati on Saturday night. “We’ve proven this year that we’ll bounce back, and we’ll have to do it next week.
” (Photo of Zach Allen sacking Joe Burrow: AAron Ontiveroz / Getty Images).
