Across too many media streams there seems to be a lazy narrative that respected analysts are pulling out for this Super Bowl. “We saw this Broncos team in a Super Bowl two years ago,the offense is nowhere near as good, and we saw how that went.” While it is true, Peyton Manning is nowhere near the player he once was and Julius Thomas is now in Jacksonville,it seems to be forgetting one big thing. The fact that this defense is now in a class with that Seattle defense that dominated Super Bowl 48.
To start, Von Miller didn’t participate in the Super Bowl two years ago. Miller, who was the most valuable player in beating the Patriots in the AFC championship with 2.5 sacks missed the last 7 regular season games of 2013 and the entire playoff run with a torn ACL. While he is most people’s pick for the best Broncos defender, some may point to Demarcus Ware rushing across from him being just as good if not better at times. Ware just so happened to be on Dallas at the time of the last Super Bowl. For a former defensive MVP now at age 33 and finally getting to his first Super Bowl he is getting very little talk for someone who will have such a big say in the game.
Chris Harris, Aqib Talib and TJ Ward play closer to the Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor legion of boom when you consider that they were the secondary of the top pass defense in the league. None of them played in Super Bowl 48. Harris tore his ACL in that playoff run, Talib lost to Denver two weeks earlier on the Patriots and Ward was getting ready to escape Cleveland. That is seven combined Pro Bowls people are looking over and it is without mention of second year Bradley Roby playing great in the nickel, and free safety Darian Stewart having a fine year.
Let’s look at their defensive line. Derek Wolfe, Malik Jackson, Antonio Smith and Sylvester Williams have had excellent years taking the blockers to give Miller and Ware easier paths to the quarterback as well as combining for 15.5 sacks this season. Smith was in Houston leading a strong defense beside JJ Watt two years ago, Williams was a backup and a rookie two years ago and Wolfe missed the last Super Bowl due to injury, giving Malik Jackson his first shot to prove himself as a second year player and a 5th round pick. The team even upgraded their defensive coordinator in the meantime bringing in Wade Phillips who has put the pieces all together in a scheme that is extremely hard to prepare for.
The Broncos as a team have a completely new dynamic, a new head coach, defensive coordinator and nine new starters on the league’s best defense. This defense had 52 sacks, 27 takeaways, and 4 touchdowns in the regular season. The 2013 Seahawks had 43 sacks, 39 takeaways for 1 touch down. In terms of defensive efficiency the Broncos rated 25.8% better than average, the 2013 Seahawks defense rated 25.9% better according to football outsiders. The Broncos playoff run included wins against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and New England Patriots, two teams that rank third and sixth in yards per game, and third and fourth in points per game. The Broncos held those two potent offenses to 34 combined points, with 3 turnovers and 7.5 sacks in two games. Cam Newton is the talk of the week, but if you remember it was Manning and his unstoppable MVP season that couldn’t be contained just two years ago. If you are looking to compare this Super Bowl to the one of two years ago isn’t a more appropriate narrative that the “defense wins championships” mantra still exists, and that the while the league MVP put up records all year his offense fell short to a disrespected defense? Funny how narratives can be shaped like that.
