Before the season, the conversation around the Denver Broncos was all about making the leap to become contenders after snapping a 9-year playoff drought in 2024.
Much of that buzz went away after a rocky start to the season, including consecutive, last-second losses to the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers that dropped them to 1-2.
Now, sitting at 6-2 after 5 consecutive wins following a 44-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8, the Broncos have become impossible to ignore.
From Bleacher Report: “Denver is starting to look like a legitimate AFC contender … While any offensive performance against Dallas should be taken with a grain of salt, the Broncos are starting to figure out who their playmakers on offense are. That, combined with a top-five defense, is enough to think that Denver will be a factor in the AFC the rest of the way.”
Defense Could Set NFL Single Season Sack Record
The Broncos have a chance to break the NFL’s team single season sacks record set by the Chicago Bears in 1984 with 72.0 sacks.
The Broncos have 36.0 sacks through 8 games, which would put them on track for 76.5 sacks on a 17-game schedule — one more game than the Bears had to set the record in playing on the 16-game schedule in 1984.
To that end, the real team that should be considered the record holder might be the 1967 Oakland Raiders, who had 67.0 sacks in just 14 regular season games.
Seven players on the Broncos currently have at least 2 sacks, led by outside linebacker and 2024 NFL Defensive Player of the Year finalist Nik Bonitto with 8.0 sacks.
Offense Coming to Life With Young Talent
While the defense being great was kind of a given because they led the NFL with 63.0 sacks in 2024 and returned cornerback and NFL Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II, the real wild card in 2025 has been the team’s offense, which has struggled with consistency.
All of that has seemed to change over the last 2 weeks.
In Week 7, the Broncos engineered one of the greatest regular season comebacks in NFL history in a 33-32 win over the New York Giants. The Broncos trailed 19-0 headed into the third quarter and 28-6 with 6 minutes left.
In their 33-point fourth quarter, quarterback Bo Nix became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for 2 touchdowns and throw for 2 touchdowns in a single quarter.
“NFL teams had won an incredible 1,602 straight games when leading by 18+ points in the final six minutes,” The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov wrote on his official X account. “The Giants led 26-8 with six minutes left … and the Broncos came back to win 33-32.”
Probably the most important part of the Broncos offense that wasn’t there last year but exists this year is a rushing attack. One year after having no reliable running backs, the Broncos now find themselves with 2 in veteran free agent J.K. Dobbins and rookie second round pick RJ Harvey.
Against the Cowboys, Dobbins rushed for 111 yards on 14 carries while Harvey had 46 yards and 2 touchdowns on 7 carries. Through 8 games, Dobbins leads the Broncos with 634 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns.
In 2024, current Dallas Cowboys leading rusher Javonte Williams led the Broncos with 513 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns in 17 games.
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