This is a quarterback league, and in most every scenario, credit and blame should be placed on their shoulders, but for the Denver Broncos, they ride and die with the defense.

All anybody can seemingly talk about is the Broncos’ quarterback situation, and it’s a worthwhile discussion, but right now we need to give the defense its due. This unit has been the best in the league all season, and they proved why again on Sunday, holding the NFL’s second-leading passer to 202 yards, zero touchdowns and an interception.

They, especially Von Miller and Malik Jackson, were dominant up front, and the secondary did the rest. Coming into the game, Philip Rivers was leading the league with a 74.3 accuracy percentage while under pressure; against the Broncos, he fell all the way to 53.8 percent, 20th-best this week.

This team is 10-2, they’re tied for first place in the AFC and they hold their destiny in their hands. The only reason any of that is true is because of this defense.

Here’s what the team had to say about the defense’s outstanding performance following the game:

Gary Kubiak on Von Miller:

“Yeah. I thought he was exceptional. He practiced really good this week and I told him the other day. I said, ‘Von, in my opinion when your practice is hot it tends to come over to Sunday.’ It’s hard as a player 16 weeks in a row to be perfect at practice but I think he amped it up a little bit, was really good at practice this week and took it to the field.”

Brock Osweiler on having the defense to back him up:

“Obviously I know the talent and how good our defense is but at the same time it doesn’t give you comfort or make you relax. What it does is it makes you understand the big picture. As a quarterback and as an offense you want to score points every drive and you want to throw the ball 50 times but with the defense that we have maybe that’s not the best formula to win games as the Denver Broncos of 2015.”

Von Miller on the defense’s depth:

“I really think it’s about the guys behind the starters. There’s a lot of talk about Chris (Harris Jr.) and Talib (Aqib) and T.J. (Ward) but David Bruton Jr. is playing out of his mind right now. Bradley Roby is coming out to his own toot, Shaquil Barrett, Shane Ray, and Corey Nelson are all guys that have come in and made the defense what it is. I’m very proud of those guys.”