Anyone who has seen the 2015 Denver Broncos knew they were witnessing something special on defense. Long before the Broncos ended their relentless march during the postseason, the defense was in the habit of snatching victory almost single-handedly from the jaws of defeat as the team hobbled without Peyton Manning for seven weeks.
Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips used a relatively simple scheme that featured an advance gap penetration and rear man coverage to stifle opponents. Phillips’ supernatural instinctual intuition to call the perfect pressure pack in key situations was on display throughout the year.
But most of all, Phillips only let his boys play. GM John Elway, over the course of the previous two seasons, had drifted away from an offensive approach first to building the roster to prioritize defense when Manning began losing his battle with Father Time.
Elway stored the personnel lockers well so that when Phillips took over the defense, all the revered coach had to do was point the players in the right direction and free them. This prompted the Broncos to take home their third Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50.
Just to get to the big dance, Phillips’ defense had to beat future Hall of Fame quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady. Both were beaten, and the last hurdle was newly appointed league MVP Cam Newton, who had set fire to all newcomers in the NFC playoffs. We all know how that turned out in the Super Bowl.
There’s a reason for this nostalgic look at the 2015 team. Pro Football Focus, the leading advanced analytics site on the internet, recently released its top 4 best defenses of the last decade, based on one of its metrics called WAR. This is where the 2015 Broncos ranked.
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If you’re looking for an explanation of the WAR metric, this article details it quite well. But the truth is, the WAR metric doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t know.
If there was one defense that potentially rivaled the 2015 Broncos for the past decade, it was the 2013 Seattle Seahawks. The No Fly Zone eventually emerged as the top unit, but the Boom Legion was a sight to behold at the time. . Just ask Manning (Super Bowl XLVIII).
It’s encouraging to see that the WAR-based No. 2 defense was the 2018 Chicago Bears, which was coordinated by, you guessed it, Vic Fangio. Fangio’s defense took a while to catch up on Year 1 in Denver, but there is good reason to believe, according to tradition, that Year 2 will see the unit take a quantum leap forward.
Looking back on that 2015 team and the names in that starting lineup, it’s hard to believe that Elway was able to round them all up under a salary cap. The GM did it, even if it was only for a year. Although, the 2016 defense was pretty strong and could have been Super Bowl caliber if Manning hadn’t retired in the offseason.
Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Derek Wolfe, Sylvester Williams, Malik Jackson, Danny Trevathan, Brandon Marshall, Aqib Talib, Chris Harris, Jr., Bradley Roby, TJ Ward and Darian Stewart. These were the names that formed this unit of all time. Miller is the only one left in Denver, though Todd Davis remains despite not starting in Super Bowl 50.
But let’s not forget players like David Bruton and Kayvon Webster, especially the former, who also made a big impact for the Broncos that year. Being the canine days of the NFL summer, now is the time to kick back and turn on the Super Bowl 50 blu ray (if you bought it) or the game on YouTube, and take a trip down memory lane.
It’s been a dark few days in Denver since Elway took the podium with pride after the game and passionately proclaimed, “This is for Pat!” But things finally seem to be heading in the right direction following in the footsteps of three good faith draft classes and the emergence of a budding quarterback oozing franchise tools.
The future is bright. But it will be quite difficult to outshine those 2015 Broncos. But what a team. On the other hand, the same could be said for the consecutive ’97 and ’98 World Champion Broncos. Each team is unique in its time, I guess. It’s time for Drew Lock and company to create new memories.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
