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For three seasons, the Broncos’ defense reconciled its identity crisis with winning. Denver boasted entertainment value, a must-watch every time Peyton Manning took a shotgun snap and aim at the record book.

The Broncos coasted into the playoffs and exited on the fumes of anger. The disappointment, most notably a Super Bowl ear-boxing by the Seattle Seahawks, stung. The embarrassment of last season’s final game — a home loss to the Indianapolis Colts — inspired change.

The Broncos enter the final quarter of this season on the defensive. The rope-a-dope is over. Denver now squares off and delights in punching opponents in the face.

“We are the best,” strong safety T.J. Ward said. “I said it in August because I believed it. If we didn’t believe it, it wouldn’t be a reality now.”

With everything within grasp — another AFC West crown, homefield advantage throughout the playoffs — the Broncos’ defense ranks near the top in every meaningful category. In 24 years as a coordinator, Wade Phillips has guided 11 top-10 defenses in yards allowed and eight in points allowed. He has never had a unit finish first in both categories.

That could change this season. The Broncos rank second in points yielded per game at 17.5. No team allows fewer yards than Denver’s 284.7.

Last season, the Broncos stopped the run better than any time in franchise history. Yet, a missing ingredient sabotaged the defense. The Broncos couldn’t turn opponents over with any regularity. Denver recovered seven fumbles, compared with a league-best 12 this season. They sit two takeaways shy of last season’s 25 and, with four games remaining, have already matched the 41 sacks.

What makes this swarming 3-4 defense unique goes beyond statistics. The players believe they can win on their own. They want the outcome in their hands, defined by stops not talk.

“You can’t be great, you can’t be good, if you don’t produce turnovers,” said defensive end DeMarcus Ware, who returns Sunday after a four-game injury absence. “The mentality is different. And the comfort level in this scheme. Sometimes you think, ‘I can’t do this or that.’ This year, there’s nothing we don’t think we can’t do.”

Each week, Phillips introduces statistical benchmarks for the game. The message? If you win these battles, the team triumphs. That’s all that matters to Phillips. He calls statistics indicators of consistency.

“They are important,” Phillips said. “But can you play well enough when it matters most?”

This season’s defense allows third-down conversions at a 33 percent clip, fourth-best overall. Denver has five games with at least three takeways and is 5-0 when delivering a defensive touchdown.

“I have never been on a defense that not only can score, but thinks it’s going to score. It’s crazy,” linebacker Brandon Marshall said. “Every possession, we believe we can create a turnover. It’s totally different than last year. You can see that in how we play.”

Trust was lacking last season in crucial times. With new faces sprinkled throughout, it took months for the defense to coalesce. Yet, in the biggest game — against the Colts — production and fire vanished. Only safety Darian Stewart joined the starting lineup this season. The nip and tuck feels like a face-lift. Cornerback Aqib Talib explained.

“We hold each other accountable. It sounds simple, but it is unusual in the pros,” Talib said. “If I am sleeping in a meeting for a second, I expect Chris (Harris) to tell me to wake the (bleep) up. A lot of teams don’t do that. We hold each other accountable in meetings, practice, to know everything. No excuses.”

The ownership started organically, making it authentic. It started in minicamps, bled over into training camp. Players learned not only their role, but also the role of their teammates.

“When we see something out of order, it’s really easy to fix it,” said outside linebacker Von Miller.

Phillips’ arrival fit perfectly for a defense that wanted to shed its robotic nature, wanted to attack and ask questions later.

Ring of Fame linebacker Tom Jackson, a charter member of the Orange Crush 1977 defense, sees it with every breathtaking play.

“They have a couple of natural ingredients — great speed, athleticism — and they have great want-to,” Jackson said recently. “It’s a mind-set, where you believe that you need to win the game. If you have it as a constant mind-set, which I believe that they do, the attitude on the field takes care of itself. And anyone watching them can see the effort and swarming the football. For years I’ve watched, and the defense has kind of been the supporting cast for an offense that put up, with Peyton, 30-plus points a game. And so you begin to think that you’re going to get that all the time and you’re just not thinking in terms of winning the game. You’re the supporting cast. I think that this defense now thinks it’s in the starring role and that it’s their responsibility.”

Phillips devises schemes that empower players. The Broncos are built, in many ways, back to front. Talib and Harris excel in man coverage. Harris has not allowed a touchdown since 2013. Talib is a shutdown corner. And Stewart has changed the safety dynamic, pairing with Ward, who could return next week from an ankle injury, giving the Broncos two thumpers.

Denver ranks first in passing yards allowed per game (195.6) and hasn’t permitted a 300-yard game.

The Broncos spent the week before the San Diego game focusing on red-zone defense to lock down tight end Antonio Gates, and the Chargers never ran a single play inside the Broncos’ 20-yard line.

“We have been in that conversation as the league’s best for a while,” defensive end Antonio Smith said. “We fell off a couple of weeks and messed up our numbers. For a minute, our numbers were so far past anybody that we had to have a couple of bad games for teams to even catch up. Winning is always the No. 1 goal. But when we are on the field, we are thinking about one thing: dominating.”

The truth, revealing itself for weeks, became clear when Brock Osweiler took over at Chicago. If the Broncos don’t turn the ball over and win the field-position game, they are difficult to beat. Opponents own 14 drives of 10-plus plays against the Broncos and have scored only two touchdowns on those possessions.

There will never be another Orange Crush. This season’s defense can go down among the franchise’s elite — “We have to ball in the playoffs to be remembered,” Harris says — and carve out its own historical niche.

“We tried to do it last year, to be the best in the league. We didn’t accomplish it, obviously,” Ware said. “It’s there for us. We want it. It’s time to go get it.”

Troy E. Renck: trenck@denverpost.com or @troyrenck

Defense never rests

Once equipped with a “Star Wars” offense, Denver now has a team-defining defense:

Top-five rankings

*Through 12 games