Great defenses earn grim nicknames: Doomsday, Killer B’s, Purple People Eaters.
Good defenses get nothing.
By that definition – and by Trevor Pryce’s own growling appraisal – Denver’s “D” is good, not great. Not yet anyway. Just ask the four-time Pro Bowl player if it’s time to slap the Broncos’ defense with a pet name.
“No!” Pryce shouted at the question. “No, don’t start that!”
Surprising humility considering the Broncos’ alpha-dog dominance since midway through the San Diego game in Week 2.
During the season’s first six quarters, the Broncos’ defense allowed 213 yards rushing while posting zero sacks. In the past six quarters: 91 yards rushing, six sacks.
“We can be better,” safety John Lynch said. “At the end of the (Kansas City) game, you don’t like to give up that touchdown. Those are our standards now. You need to be tough on yourself.”
Sit with the defensive line, stroll by the linebackers’ lockers or chat up defensive backs, you’ll hear that same shrinking sentiment: “We’re not where we need to be. … We’re not forcing enough turnovers. … We’re not satisfied.” There’s no budging that self-critical buzz.
But the calm in their voices and the glint in their eyes hint at the turnaround, at the new defensive course that began amid a shower of home-field, halftime boos 10 days ago.
It wasn’t a coach’s speech or a chalkboard adjustment that caused the defense to click, several players said. It merely took a game and a half of the regular season for the Broncos’ blur of new faces to blend. Monday night’s Denver defense contained seven new starters compared with the playoff lineup that confronted Indianapolis last season.
“A football player is a football player. And no matter what scheme you put them in, if they can play the game, they’re going to make plays. We brought guys in who know how to play,” middle linebacker Al Wilson said. “They’re just finding their niche, finding out what we like to do in this scheme, and they’re feeding off it.”
Three of those players – former Browns Michael Myers, Gerard Warren and Courtney Brown – have meshed with Pryce to build a front four that, so far, has rooted the entire defense, teammates said.
“You stop the run, you give yourself a tremendous chance,” said Lynch, a former Buccaneers star. “That was our formula in Tampa. It’s the same formula here.”
And as the line has jelled, the players behind it have begun to trust one another, free of worries that a missed assignment will always cost the team dearly. Someone will be there to plug the holes when mistakes are made, they believe.
“The guys we got from Cleveland just had to get adjusted. … If we have confidence in them, they have confidence in us. That’s how you become a dominating defense,” safety Nick Ferguson said. “Look at Chicago back in the day, that’s how they were. Everybody had confidence in the next person.”
After beating the Chiefs on Monday, Lynch and cornerback Darrent Williams pulled on their dress shirts in a corner of the locker room. Sixty minutes earlier, Lynch had strolled over to Williams during a timeout to spend a few helmet-to-helmet moments mentoring the rookie on listening harder for last- second defensive calls.
“This is a defense where if you get burned on a play, guys don’t get down on you or get mad,” Williams said. “They’re like, ‘Don’t worry about it. Come on, we’ve got the next play.’
“A young guy like me, that keeps my confidence up. I know I’ve got guys who believe in me no matter what.”
Staff writer Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com.
