The 2013 Denver Broncos may have authored one of the worst Super Bowl performances in the 60-year history of the game.
But the offensively dynamic Broncos still were named as one of the best NFL teams of the 2000s, according to ESPN’s list which was unveiled by writer Bill Barnwell on Tuesday.
The 2013 Broncos lost to the Seattle Seahawks 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium. Still, Denver finished 15-4, put up 606 points and won the AFC with relative ease, keyed by Peyton Manning’s record-setting 55-touchdown season.
Why Are the 2013 Broncos One Of The Top-25 NFL Teams of the 2000s?
The 2013 Broncos were ranked No. 15 on the top-25 list, though Barnwell noted the team’s two strikes that kept it from earning a higher grade.
“One is a defense that gave up 399 points and finished 22nd in scoring, which might be disqualifying if we’re comparing them to so many great, well-rounded teams from previous seasons,” Barnwell wrote. “The other is that they were shredded by the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.”
Barnwell noted the fact Denver’s defense faced the second-most drive that season and they ranked 18th in points-allowed per drive, which means the numbers were a bit deceiving. He also referenced that offense, which was in the 99th percentile, due to Manning’s season, which he called “what might be the greatest quarterback season we’ve ever seen.”
“This offense … ranks as the second best of the past 25 years behind the 2001 Rams,” Barnwell wrote. “The Broncos had four different receivers catch at least 10 touchdowns, which is ridiculous given that only one other team in history (the 2004 Indianapolis Colts) had as many as three receivers make it to double-digit scores.
“The Broncos topped 35 points 10 times during the regular season, a figure also unmatched in league history. Their three regular-season losses all came in one-score games. In the postseason, they gained some revenge for two of those three defeats, as they went up big on the Chargers and Patriots before some garbage-time scores.”
What Teams Were Ahead Of the 2013 Broncos On The Top-25?
The team that beat the Broncos, the Legion of Boom Seahawks, earned the No. 2 honors on the list and compared Seattle to this year’s Philadelphia Eagles, who were fourth on the list.
“The Seahawks delivered a performance every bit as dominant as the one we saw from the Eagles earlier this year, manhandling a Broncos team that came into the game off a 606-point regular season,” Barnwell wrote. “The Broncos snapped the ball into the end zone for a safety on the opening snap and didn’t get much better from there, as they didn’t have any answers for Seattle’s physicality. Denver’s lone scoring drive came while trailing 36-0 in the third quarter.”
Unsurprisingly, there were four Patriots teams (2007, No. 1; 2004, No. 3; 2003, No. 7 and 2016, No. 11) in the top-25, and the 2015 Carolina Panthers, whom the Broncos rolled 24-10 in Super Bowl 50, were ranked No. 19.
“I’ll understand if Broncos fans are mad when they see that the team they beat in the Super Bowl made it onto the top 25 while their champs did not,” Barnwell wrote. “With a clearly limited Peyton Manning waiting in the Super Bowl, the Panthers were five-point favorites. They laid an egg, looked overawed by the moment and never got their run game going, which is why they’re not higher in the top 25.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Disappointing Broncos Team Named Among the Best in the Last 25 Years appeared first on Heavy Sports.