Ship Jerry Jeudy to Siberia, for all I care. But if Sean Payton and his buddy George Paton lay so much as a pinkie on this defense, Broncos Country oughta riot.
“The NFL is a business. That’s how the game goes,” Broncos star cornerback Patrick Surtain II told myself and a circle of scribes Monday at the Ritz-Carlton downtown before a charitable competition for his new Patrick Surtain II Foundation.
“But you’ve got to focus on just being where your feet are, not allowing the external noise to control or affect your mindset. Put one foot in front of the other every day and just sort of focus on the team’s success right now.”
No single Broncos asset could jump-start a rebuild the way PS2 could, all by himself. He’s young, one of the best cornerbacks in the league and still on a rookie contract. Heck, Surtain might be the only player on the roster who guarantees at least one first-round draft pick in return by Halloween’s 2 p.m. trade deadline.
Then again, why treat yourself to that kind of trick? One of the hottest defenses in the NFL right now calls Dove Valley home, and I’d let that baby ride ’til it goes off the rails. Cripes, I’m dangerously close to getting on my knees and begging for Vance Joseph’s forgiveness.
Here’s why. Over the Broncos’ first three (forgettable) games, an 0-3 for the aged, VJ’s defense allowed 5.4 yards per first-down run, which teams tried 46 times, and managed only two takeaways. Fast forward to the last three games: 36 opponent first-down carries for 3.25 yards per rush and seven takeaways.
Oh, and did we mention two of those three tilts were against Patrick Mahomes?
“I think we just honed in on being an assignment defense, being honed in on different techniques,” Surtain explained. “But also allowing a defense to hold (those) opponents to second-and-long, third-and-long, so that way we’ll be able to get off the field much easier. Especially with the (opposition) running game, the passing game, I feel like we honed in on that a lot.”
Stand pat with Pat, coach. Tankathon.com says the Broncos have the easiest strength of schedule remaining in the AFC West (.485), even with toughies at Buffalo and at Detroit left on the dance card.
The Chiefs are in the rear-view mirror. The Vikings will be without Kirk Cousins when they come to Mile High on Nov. 19, and the Browns could be without Deshaun Watson for their visit a week later.
The Texans (Dec. 3), Chargers (Dec. 10, Dec. 31) and Patriots (Dec. 24) are just as flaky as the rest of the AFC. You don’t have to be pounding the Orange & Blue Kool-Aid to see a ton of coin-flip games left that could decide which side of .500 this nickel lands.
“We’ve still got to keep it going,” Surtain said. “This is only the start. This the beginning stage to building toward team success. So we’ve just got to keep on working, getting better. And obviously, the road doesn’t get any easier. It gets tougher, as you know, in the league. So we’ve just got to keep on preparing the right way and keep on building.”
Allowing a 70-burger should kill a defense, if not a season. The only other two times it happened in NFL history — the 1950 Colts and 1966 Giants — took place early for the former and later for the latter. Neither squad was any dang good, and the scarring lingered.
In the 10 games following their 70-point days, Baltimore and New York went a combined 1-9 (the G-Men were 0-3) and allowed 35.7 points per game the rest of the way.
The Broncos, meanwhile, are playing as if their 70 never happened. Denver is 3-2 since the Massacre in Miami and have given up 20.8 points, on average, over those five games since. Two of which featured Kansas City, which sports a Hall-of-Fame slinger in the backfield, a Hall-of-Fame tight end, a Hall-of-Fame coach, and the No. 6 most-efficient scoring offense in the NFL.
That’s more competent-ish than No-Fly Zone stuff, sure. It’s also a massive step up from historically awful.
“Just the attitude, the determination,” Surtain said when I asked him what changed in a month. “And the type of hunger we have.
“Obviously, the first two or three weeks (weren’t) our standard. So we’ve changed that around by preparation and just by the type of defense we want to be, the type of goals we set out for ourselves. So that was the biggest thing for us, was to put that out there on film and put that out there on the field.”
On the field, this defense is taking. Off the field? It’s giving.
PS2 didn’t spend his Monday night sweating Tuesday’s trade deadline. The Broncos corner hosted his foundation’s first Game Plan Pitch Day for Denver middle schools and high schools for the right to have an “inspiration room,” paid for by the PS2 foundation, installed at their school.
“It means a lot to give back to the community, in the right way,” Surtain said. “I just think it means a lot just to go around Denver and the community to sort of give back.
“I mean, with this opportunity I have, with this platform I have, I feel like it’s only right to give back to those in need … getting involved (charitably) with the school systems going around, I feel like it’s a big part of change towards the Denver community.”
Speaking of that community, you happy for VJ?
“Yeah, yeah,” Surtain replied with a grin. “I’m very happy for him. He’s doing well.”
So are they. Why try to fix what ain’t broke in the first place?
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