The Broncos are OMG without their D, DOA without VJ. You could build a 10-foot hoagie from the amount of bacon Vance Joseph has saved from Sean Payton’s hindquarters since August.
Denver leads the NFL in punts (53). The Broncos have kicked it away on fourth down four more times than the Browns (49), who went from Joe Flacco to Dillon Gabriel at QB, and 11 more times than the Titans (42), who fired their coach after six games.
Meanwhile, Denver (8-2) rolls into Sunday’s absurdly huge showdown with the Chiefs (5-4) ranked third in the NFL in fewest points allowed (17.2) and fewest yards given up (270.7).
It’s one of the most lopsided 8-2 profiles in modern NFL history — a kaiju corgi with a big body and tiny little legs, stepping on buses and chewing on power cables in the most adorably destructive way possible.
“Shootouts, low-scoring games, as long as we win,” Joseph, the Broncos’ defensive coordinator and mastermind of the Mile High Mashers, told me after practice earlier this month. “You have to improve every single week, fix your issues and move forward. That’s what we’re doing.”
Speaking of issues, the Giants are now looking for a head coach. Brian Daboll became the second NFL boss this season to lose his gig not long after losing to the Broncos. The Titans, who looked Hackett-esque in a Week 1 defeat at Empower Field, have been on the hunt for Brian Callahan’s replacement since mid-October.
As the hottest coordinator in the NFL, Joseph, 53, has already landed on most pundits’ short lists. As well he should.
“It is flattering (to be mentioned),” Joseph said. “I think as a coach, you always like when your work’s being recognized. Obviously, that’s why we do it. I think the highest honor in this league is being mentioned in those conversations, so that’s flattering, also. But this is my, what, 18th, 19th season in the league?
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“I think winning comes with that, and winning is foremost for me. And I’m so happy that this program is turning, and it’s turning for the Broncos fan base and for Coach Payton and all the guys who are here.
“And I’ve watched it when I was a head coach here not be as good. Now watching how it’s growing and now being a contender, that’s fun for me.”
Know what else is fun? The layers to VJ’s career comeback narrative. The way each chapter climbs a little higher, a little prouder, than the last.
When Joseph was tapped as Payton’s defensive coordinator, the talk shows cackled, and the scribes cringed. This guy? Here? After going 11-21 as the head man at Dove Valley in 2017-18? After being one of the symbols of the Broncos’ slow, painful slide into irrelevance after Peyton Manning’s retirement?
When VJ’s unit surrendered a 70-burger at Miami in Week 3 of the 2023 season, the knives and poison pens came out again. Only Payton stood by his man.
In the 41 regular-season games since, the Broncos are 26-15, a .634 win percentage that would average out to 11 victories over a 17-game slate. VJ’s defense during that 41-game stretch is giving up just 18.9 points per contest.
“For me, my first experience wasn’t a great one, but I want it again,” Joseph said of being an NFL head coach. “I’m not stressed about it … I don’t want to talk about it a lot, but if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But I do want the opportunity again.”
Mea culpa, VJ. I was wrong, dude. Hand in the air. It’s downright scary to think of where this team would be without you.
Especially this week. Some of Joseph’s best work in orange and blue has come against the Chiefs. Since 2023, in the three games in which Patrick Mahomes has played against a VJ-led Broncos defense, the Kansas City offense has managed just two touchdowns and averaged only 14.7 points.
“We’re executing for him because we know how much he’s worked and how much he’s put in,” Broncos slot cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian told me recently. “And it’s kind of like returning the favor for him.”
VJ’s guys keep receipts. McMillian was an undersized (5-foot-10), undrafted cornerback out of East Carolina with a motor that revved below the radar. Yet Joseph had an eye on the kid even before returning to Denver.
“He always talks about leverage and just doing your job, and I’ve just been listening,” said McMillian, who has piled up 13 tackles for loss and five sacks since 2023. “And it got me to where I’m at right now.
“I took a (scouting) visit to Arizona when (Joseph) was with the Cardinals. I knew him a little then. But he just told me I was the guy when he first got here. And it means so much to me that I’ve got a coach like that, that likes me, that loves me.”
And they love him right back.
To a man.
“I mean, the guy, he’s special,” said linebacker Alex Singleton, who racked up nine tackles while playing days after receiving a testicular cancer diagnosis last week. “Not every guy on our defense is a first-rounder. We have a lot of well-paid guys now, but a lot of guys that earned that pay. And I think VJ was a big part of that for a lot of them. He bought into us, and so we bought into him. That’s why we play that way.”
“And if some team snaps him as a head coach soon?” I asked.
Singleton grinned.
“That’s up to him,” the linebacker replied. “Wherever he is, you know, I’m a free agent, so …”
Ah, yes. The price of success in the NFL — mass poaching. Nothing lasts forever. That’s why, in a sink-or-swim league, you have to enjoy a foamy wave while you’re riding the crest.
“It’s fun for me to watch the players and the coaches enjoy this and keep moving forward with this,” Joseph said. “But I think it comes with winning.”
You can’t see this team winning seven in a row without him. You can’t spell “rejuvenate” without the V and the J. Or “overjoyed,” now that you mention it.
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