JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — was paying attention in class last week apparently.
It’s a growing joke in the Broncos locker room, but there’s a lot of truth to the core of discussion that the team’s No Fly Zone secondary isn’t satisfied unless they’re making big plays, forcing turnovers and ideally, scoring touchdowns.
The Broncos forced three turnovers here Sunday in an ugly offensive game. The secondary put the clamps on a talented Jaguars talented receiving core and made Jacksonville third year quarterback look like a rookie.
Roby, the Broncos third cornerback behind Aqib Talib and , was the star with a third quarter 51-yard pick-six that gave the Broncos a 17-3 lead and lifted the pressure from an offense that was unable to move the ball.
“Call me Mr. Pick Six. Every time I’m trying to score. Itap a habit Aqib started,” Roby said afterward. “We all want to be Mr. Pick 6 every week. I want some more. Two for two. I gotta get another one.”
That title might not be vacant for Roby to claim. Talib puts on his professor robe during the week to teach the art of the pick-six. There’s no better teacher than Talib, the NFL’s best active pick-six artist with nine. He needs three more to tie Rod Woodson for the all-time NFL record.
Roby has become one of the most observant students in the locker room. On his interception he undercut the receiver on a crossing route and caught a wobby pass thrown by Bortles, whom linebacker pressured into an ugly throw.
“I try to teach him. He’s like my little brother, man. Chris (Harris) might’ve had a pick-six, too, if he would have done what coach said,” Talib said, referring to himself as coach. “We work it on.”
Roby joined Talib and Harris to become the ninth player in Broncos’ history to have multiple pick-sixes in the same season. His first pick-six, against San Diego, earned him AFC defensive player of the week honors.
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“Bradley makes a lot of big plays for this team in situations,” Broncos coach said. “That was the difference in the game.”
This was particularly special for Roby because it came after two of his worst performances of the season, back to back against New Orleans and Kansas City. Against the Chiefs he failed to close quickly enough on a fourth-down pass that allowed Kansas City to get a first down and eventually score to tie the game in regulation.
“I was the reason why we lost last week so it was big for me,” Roby said. “I hate letting my team down.”
Roby didn’t let them down Sunday. And the Broncos defense cleaned up many of the technique mistakes and coverage busts that have been ailing them.
Bortles completed just 45 percent of his passes for 181 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. His passer rating was 37.9, lower than if he had thrown an incompletion on every pass.
The Broncos defense failed to close out games when presented with late leads against New Orleans and Kansas City. They spent an extra practice period on it each day last week.
Sunday, Jacksonville had two drives with less than three minutes and trailing 17-10. On the first drive, the Broncos defense forced a three-and-out thanks to smothering coverage in the secondary. On the next drive, outside linebacker Von Miller bull rushed Jaguars offensive tackle Jermey Parnell back into Bortles to force a fumble which outside linebacker recovers. That turnover led to the game-clinching field goal.
The Broncos secondary relished the opportunity to show just why they call themselves the No Fly Zone. Harris, Talib and Roby were targeted 20 times combined and only allowed six catches for 57 yards, per Pro Football Focus.
“They were exceptional,” Kubiak said. “I was concerned about our physical makeup with how tired we were, but we found a way. We showed a lot of character coming back after last week with the long trip to come out of here with a W.”
