The Colts have already faced a gauntlet of the NFL's top defenses in 2024, like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions and Houston Texans, among others.
The Denver Broncos just might be the toughest test the Colts will take this season.
"They're doing a phenomenal job this year," offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said. "Those guys are playing really, really, really good football. Every statistic you want to find can back that up and shoot, just watch the games. The eye test backs that up."
The eye test shows a Broncos defense, coordinated by their former head coach, Vance Joseph, playing aggressive and cohesive football. And the stats that back up Cooter's assessment are eye-popping:
| Stat | # | NFL rank |
|---|---|---|
| Points/game | 18.0 | T-2nd |
| Yards/play | 4.9 | 2nd |
| Sacks | 47 | 1st |
| Takeaways | 18 | T-8th |
| Yards per rush | 3.8 | 3rd |
| Yards per pass | 6.1 | 4th |
| Pressure rate | 39% | 2nd |
| Contested target rate | 18.5% | 5th |
| Red zone TD rate | 43.2% | 2nd |
| Touchdown drive allowed rate | 15.5% | 2nd |
| EPA/play | -.131 | 1st |
| Success rate | 31.2% | 2nd |
Only two teams have blitzed at a higher rate than the Broncos (42.1 percent) this season, and Joseph has been unpredictable in how he designs those blitzes and when he calls them. The same goes for the coverage schemes Denver plays on the back end – there's plenty of Cover-1 and Cover-3, but also a mix of two-high safety concepts and some Cover-0 sprinkled in as well.
"I think (Joseph) does a really good job," head coach Shane Steichen said. "He's multiple with his coverages – he mixes those things up. His fronts – he gets in a different fronts out of his nickel stuff, which he does a good job there, too. So, they do a good job. They're aggressive, aggressive in nature. And so, they've been playing really good football defensively."
Cornerback Patrick Surtain II may be the biggest name on Denver's defense, but he's hardly their only star player. Defensive end Nik Bonitto is tied with the Browns' Myles Garrett for the second-most sacks in the NFL (11), while fellow defensive end Jonathan Cooper is tied for 14th with eight sacks. Defensive tackles Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers both have top-seven pressure rates among interior linemen; Allen's 56 total pressures are the second-most among defensive tackles behind only the Kansas City Chiefs' Chris Jones.
And Surtain, of course, is established as one of the NFL's top cornerbacks. No cornerback has a higher Pro Football Focus coverage grade (90.8) than Surtain; he's top five among cornerbacks in passer rating allowed (61.6), interception rate (8.3 percent of targets) and explosive play rate allowed (0.9 percent of targets). Naturally, opposing offenses shy away from throwing his way: Surtain has been targeted on just eight percent of his coverage snaps this season (36 targets, 442 coverage snaps), per Pro Football Focus.
"Surtain is a hell of a football player on the outside," Steichen said.
All these players and schemes working together have pushed the Broncos to allow under 20 points in nine of their 13 games; even in allowing 32 points to the Browns in Week 13, Denver shut down Cleveland's run game and generated two pick-sixes that pushed them to a nine-point win.
Against this backdrop, Steichen, Cooter and the Colts' offense have quite an undertaking ahead of them this week – but coming out of the bye, it's one that group is ready to face.
"It's all working together for (Denver) right now," Cooter said. "The defense is very complementary of each other with helping each other out. So rush to coverage, those things are working together. They're playing the heck out of the run game too. It's a good defense. It's quite a challenge this week. It'll be a fun one."
