On Sunday, the Denver Broncos will travel to upstate New York to face the 1-1 Buffalo Bills in the Broncos’ first road game of the season.

Coming off of a dominant performance against the Dallas Cowboys, the Broncos’ offense has come on strong in the early stage of the 2017 season to propel the team to a 2-0 start. The Broncos’ offense has made headlines with stellar play from quarterback Trevor Siemian and a consistent running attack lead by running back C.J. Anderson.

While the outstanding performance of the offense has been refreshing compared to last year’s offensive woes, the Broncos have also improved on the defensive side of the ball, particularly on run defense. Last season, the Broncos ranked near the bottom of the NFL with a 27th overall ranking in yards allowed per game. This season? They rank third against the run, allowing only 52 yards per game.

The stat is even more impressive, considering the Broncos have faced two of the NFL’s best running backs in the Los Angeles Chargers’ Melvin Gordon and the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliot.

This Sunday, the Broncos will face another NFL star in Pro Bowl running back LeSean McCoy, who has drawn high praise from Broncos’ defensive coordinator Joe Woods. When asked about McCoy’s ability as a player, Woods likened McCoy’s ability to that of Hall-of-Famer Barry Sanders:

“Shady [McCoy] is probably one of the more electrifying backs, going back to Barry Sanders. He is a daylight runner, meaning he may start off to the A-gap [on] one side, and end up on the sideline on the other side. The biggest thing against a guy like LeSean McCoy is pursuit. Guys have to stay in their gaps, and we have to pursue the ball. We have to have two and three guys — even more than that — at the point of attack to stop him. He’s a special player. Very similar to [Cowboys RB] Ezekiel [Elliot]. We’re going to have our hands full with him.”

While McCoy has been the focal point of the Bills’ offense since joining the team in 2015, Woods understands that the Bills will expect the Broncos to focus on stopping the run and is preparing his unit to adapt quickly to any change in Buffalo’s gameplan:

“They know what we do, we know what they do. The biggest thing throughout the game is making adjustments to their change-ups. They’re going to have to make adjustments to different things we’re going to do against them. And we know them. It should be something that we should be able to see easily. We’ve talked to the guys about that. We just have to do it on game day.”

Woods explained how he wants his charges to handle things when an offense zigs instead of zags:

“You just have to play football. You can’t guarantee exactly what they’re going to do. They’re going to have change-ups. As long as we play with clean eyes, proper technique, our eyes in the right place based on their zone-scheme — then we’re going to put ourselves in the position to make plays.”

So far, Woods has proven himself to be an effective defensive coordinator in his first season in the role. His defense will once again be put to the test in Buffalo this week. If Woods’ defense can continue their high level of play, the Broncos could begin the season 3-0 for the third year in a row.