Broncos Analysis: Defense racks up 9 sacks, bails out offense in London win over Jets. ‘That was a masterclass’

LONDON — Even the smallest head start helps the journey home.

Jonathon Cooper, 10 days into a multi-national roadie and perched on the razor’s edge between a celebratory trans-Atlantic flight home and a silent one, was ready.

More than ready.

Whether you’re just down the block or more than 4,600 miles away, you can’t start making your way back until you take the first step.

Turns out, the Broncos’ outside linebacker has one of the fastest in football.

Denver’s headed back to the Front Range winners of three straight, atop the AFC West at 4-2, and survivors in a 13-11 win over the still-winless New York Jets because of it.

Cooper timed the count perfectly, roared off the ball and past helpless rookie tight end Mason Taylor before anybody else moved on the Jets’ final offensive snap of the day, and buried any chance of catastrophe by sacking Justin Fields with some help from his friends, the fiercest pass-rush in the NFL.

“I just relied on my team, relied on God and went out there and handled business,” Cooper said.

While the 61,155 in attendance at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saw one of the ugliest, sloppiest offensive games played on either side of the ocean this year, they also saw Vance Joseph’s defense dominate in a way few Denver defenses have in a game in franchise history.

The Broncos racked up nine sacks by eight different players.

They allowed 82 total yards.

They defended 29 Justin Fields dropbacks that turned into 7 total forward yards for New York — minus-10 net passing and 17 on three scrambles.

They allowed eight total first downs, two on 15 third-down tries, and did not defend a single snap from the red zone.

“That,” All-Pro right guard Quinn Meinerz said simply, “was a masterclass.”

It was also entirely necessary for the Broncos to sidestep what would have been an inexcusable defeat.

The Broncos spent the week insisting trap games don’t exist in the NFL.

That they’d come out humming against Aaron Glenn’s 0-5 side.

That the travel, the logistics, the buses to practice and all the rest wouldn’t distract them. Couldn’t distract them.

Broncos LG Ben Powers’ injury absence looms large as Matt Peart racks up three penalties in starting debut

Then the game started and two of Denver’s three units looked anything other than locked in.

The offense sputtered.

Special teams faltered.

If it had been for a quarter, the Broncos might have won by 30.

If it weren’t for Joseph’s defense, they’d have lost largely by their own hand.

This team, though, sports a defense that can drag even a jet-lagged afternoon over the finish line.

“It was a defensive team today, and I hope to consider it a defensive team all season,” head coach Sean Payton said. “I think that’s extremely necessary in our league.

“They were something.”

They started in poor position and played from there most of a brilliant, sunny afternoon.

It didn’t matter.

Broncos-Jets report card: Sean Payton’s offensive slump, sloppy special-teams play nearly down Denver

In fact, it provided fuel.

“I’ll be honest with you, it actually feels good to be put in a bad situation,” Jones told The Denver Post after the game. “If they score, we were put in a bad situation. If you stop them…”

He smiled. The point came through clearly. If you stop them, you turn the tide.

Jones and his group did a lot of that Sunday.

A Troy Franklin fumble and a 72-yard Kene Nwangwu kick return set the Jets up in field goal range on their first two possessions.

They totaled 4 yards and settled for two field goals.

“We came prepared,” Jones said.

They destroyed Fields’ afternoon as a group, too.

Cooper had two sacks and inside linebacker Justin Strnad 1.5. Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto was in on two split sacks to increase his season total to eight. Defensive linemen Zach Allen, John Franklin-Myers and Eyioma Uwazurike had one each, as did safety Talanoa Hufanga. Brandon Jones got a half-sack on the final play along with Cooper.

“I think I was part of a nine-sack game in Arizona, but in that one, one guy had four or five,” Allen told The Post. “This one was really special because it was so spread out. When you play as a complete and total defense, it’s a lot of fun, man.

“Everybody has their part in it and their ownership. It can only get better.”

Better than this day will be tough to accomplish.

New York didn’t generate a first down until just before the two-minute warning in the first half.

They didn’t generate an explosive play. Period. The team’s longest gain from scrimmage came in the third quarter when Fields hit Josh Reynolds for 11 yards on second-and-8.

The Broncos went dormant offensively. They even gave up two points when Meinerz was called for holding in the end zone for a safety and a 11-10 New York lead late in the third quarter. The special teams struggled outside of kicker Wil Lutz knocking home field goals from 57 and 27 yards.

They may have lost to almost any other team in the NFL on this particular day. But they did not lose to the Jets.

“As long as we go out there and take care of business, stick to VJ’s plan and make sure we’re taking care and executing and stuff like that, no team should be scoring points on us, honestly,” Cooper said. “We handle it. Stop the run, get after the passer the way we do, and I trust the guys on the back end — they’re balling out.

“We all play together and we’re the best defense in the league.”

So now the Broncos return home 4-2 and will leave Denver only once before Thanksgiving. They’ll play four of their next five at Empower Field, beginning Sunday against the suddenly feisty New York Giants.

For Cooper, that could all wait at least a few hours.

“Oh man, the flight is going to be about what? 9-10 hours?” he said. “I’m going to get some sleep, man.”

Off to historic start

After registering nine sacks in Sunday’s 13-11 win over the New York Jets, the Broncos defense has 30 total through six games. That breaks the previous franchise high-water mark through six games set by … the 2015 Broncos with 26. While that team went on to win the Super Bowl, a Lombardi Trophy is far from guaranteed. This year’s Broncos (4-2) are one of only nine teams in NFL history to reach 30 sacks so quickly. Of the previous eight, only one missed the playoffs, but none won the Super Bowl.

Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com.

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.