Want to win in the National Football League?

Then, you must win the line of scrimmage. It’s as simple as that.

As much as today’s NFL is glitzy and glamorous — wide receivers and quarterbacks stealing the show with their dazzling displays of passing prowess — winners and losers can often be determined by winning or losing the line of scrimmage.

Rewind to the Denver Broncos’ three-game winning streak to start the season and they were on fire in the trenches. Denver ran for 127 yards and one touchdown on the ground per game in in those contests, while they also held opposing teams to a mere 59.3 yards per game rushing.

Since then, the Broncos rushing attack is still decent but has dropped to 91 yards per contest — including the season-low 41 yards on the ground versus Cleveland — and they’ve allowed a whopping 129.3 yards rushing per game.

The Browns in particular really gashed the Broncos repeatedly last Thursday night, with fourth-string running back D’Ernest Johnson running magnificently for 157 yards and a score with a superb 6.3 yards per carry average.

Of course, the Broncos offensive and defensive lines do more than run block and try to plug up running lanes on defense; they also must pass protect and rush the passer.

On offense, Denver’s makeshift offensive line has been a liability in the passing game. Teddy Bridgewater has been sacked 18 times on the season, and while he’s holding the ball too long on average, not all of those are on him. To wit, the Baltimore Ravens were the first to physically dominate the Broncos, and every team has followed suit since.

The Ravens not only hit Bridgewater with a reckless abandon, they knocked him out of the game and Drew Lock was forced to play, with Denver racking up five sacks allowed in that loss. Similarly, Bridgewater himself was sacked a season-high five times alone by the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6, while he was hit a sky-high total of 17 times.

And conversely, the Broncos have historically been one of the best pass rushing teams in the league, but that’s not the case this year. Yes, losing Bradley Chubb has hurt their production in terms of sacks, and having Von Miller back has helped. But, the rest of the defensive front has been lackluster when it comes to getting after the quarterback, tied seventh with 15 sacks on the year.

Here, Ben Baldwin’s four charts break down how each team performs on offense in pass blocking, run blocking, run stopping and pass rushing. And the Broncos are mediocre at best.

In pass blocking, Denver is exactly in the middle of the pack, while they’re worse than average in run blocking. And while the Broncos’ run defense is better than average — around 8th-best — their pass rush is among the 10 worst in the league.

The bad news is, too, that their next opponent is one of the best along the line of scrimmage. Take a look again at those four charts and the Washington Football Team is at the top and to the right of all of them.

The good news, though? Washington — even with all their success at the line of scrimmage, on both sides of the ball — is still a bad team. They’re currently 2-5 on the season and have the worst defense in the league in terms of scoring, allowing 30.0 points per game.

For Denver, the focus must be on slowing Taylor Heinicke both through the air and on the ground. When he can’t find an open receiver, Heinicke will take off and run and he’s the team’s second-leading rusher (222 yards, 1 TD).

And when the Broncos are on offense, they must block Johnathan Allen and Montez Sweat, who have combined for 9.0 sacks on the season.

For Denver, who’s lost four straight games, this is a must-win to right the ship and get to 4-4 on the year. And if they want to win, the Broncos need better play along that battered offensive line, as well as improved play along the LOS by the defense, too.

Denver hosts Washington at 2:25 p.m. MT this Sunday in the Mile High City.