Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater made the mistake of thinking he could negotiate.
“Take it easy on me,” he said as he walked over to shake Von Miller’s hand before their Week 4 game in Denver.
“Yeah, yeah, we got you, we got you,” the Broncos outside linebacker replied before returning to his partners in crime.
Soon after, the Broncos unleashed a flurry of attacks on Bridgewater, sacking him seven times and getting 11 more hits on him in a 23-20 victory.
The Broncos’ defense, one of the most feared units in the NFL, has altered the image of a team that had in recent years earned a reputation for being soft. A Super Bowl blowout at the hands of Seattle and a lackluster showing in a divisional playoff loss to Indianapolis last January cemented that reputation and led to an overhaul of the Denver coaching staff.
These Broncos, though, are a menacing group, an image perpetuated not only by their 22 sacks but by their string of penalties. They play with an aggression not seen in Denver in years and a tough-guy facade that has only been perpetuated by their penalty log, second-most in the league.
A string of four personal fouls in the first half at Kansas City in Week 2 has taken on a life of its own, painting an image of the 2015 Broncos with similar colors of the 1970s Raiders.
Outlaws? Rebels? Sure, they’ll happily accept the new label.
But don’t be fooled.
The defense, masterminded by the softspoken Wade Phillips, is a multipronged attack that emphasizes suffocating pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Broncos have blitzed on 62 passing situations this season that have led to eight sacks and a 58.06 passer rating, the third-best among defenses.
If the line between smart and foolish aggression is sometimes crossed and results in a fine, it’s the price of business this defense is willing to pay.
And it has — literally.
Denver’s defense leads the NFL in fines, shelling out $63,655 through Week 5 for on-field infractions. Defensive end Malik Jackson leads the way, with $26,044 for a late hit in Week 2 and a horse-collar tackle in Week 5.
But fines don’t always match up to in-game penalties. (Jackson’s horse-collar tackle wasn’t flagged last Sunday. His unsportsmanlike conduct was, but it didn’t land him a fine.) And penalties don’t necessarily equate to playing dirty.
Of the Broncos’ 224 penalty yards on defense, 21 have come from presnap errors (defensive offside or neutral-zone infractions). Five were for having 12 men on the field. And 15 came courtesy of Jackson, who threw the ball at Oakland’s Michael Crabtree — an act Broncos coach Gary Kubiak called “childish.”
“You don’t want to be that guy, but after the play I know what I did,” Jackson said. “I knew he was going to be upset. I wasn’t surprised when he said what he said to me. But, hey, it’s football. I got back on the field and made plays.”
Of the in-action calls that could be deemed malicious this season, many were close enough to prompt an inquiry to NFL headquarters from Broncos coaches or simply a public denial that they warranted a flag. Miller’s roughing penalty last Sunday for hitting Oakland quarterback Derek Carr low on a third-and-7 snap in the fourth quarter was one such play.
“We’ve just got to avoid dumb penalties,” cornerback Chris Harris said. “Like Von’s penalty, that was an aggressive penalty. Malik’s penalty — throwing the ball out — that was a dumb penalty. We’ve got to eliminate those dumb penalties and don’t beat ourselves, don’t give them 20 yards on top of anything else that they get.”
The “dumb” penalties, such as Jackson’s late hit on Jamaal Charles in Week 2, when he piled on long after the Chiefs running back was down, are the ones that could have cost the Broncos in a close game. And they’re the type of penalties Kubiak and Phillips are adamant about eliminating.
The question remains, though: How do you ban the “childish” while still encouraging “aggressive?”
“You just have to play with your mind,” outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett said. “Don’t be out there playing reckless.”
Nicki Jhabvala: njhabvala@denverpost.com or @NickiJhabvala
