If there is one thing the Denver Broncos have done well over the last two seasons, it’s play defense.

Defense is something that the city of Denver has come to expect from the Broncos. But with a new head coach in Vance Joseph, and a new defensive coordinator in former defensive backs coach Joe Woods, people may be wondering what these new cooks in the kitchen will mean for the 2017 Broncos defense.

According to All-Pro cornerback Chris Harris, the recipe isn’t much different than the recipe of years past.

“We’re still going to bring the heat,” Harris Jr. said following Tuesday’s OTA practice. “We’re still going to play man [coverage]. We have little wrinkles that we can try to confuse the quarterbacks with to make them think. But, at the end of the day, we have our bread and butter.”

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to stick to their formula. According to Pro Football Reference, the Broncos ranked fourth overall in team defense in both 2015 and 2016. In NFL total yardage stats, they ranked first and fourth over those two seasons. If the Broncos are serious about keeping up the standard that they’ve set in place, the work begins now.

“On both sides of the ball, what you want to do in the spring is have your install where it’s large enough to carry you through the fall,” head coach Vance Joseph said following Tuesday’s OTA practice. “You don’t want to be in the fall, in week four or five, adding more offense or defense. You want to put it all in now and kind of stretch their brains, so in the fall when you add different concepts, it won’t be their first time hearing it. That’s the way I’ve grown up in coaching. Make them learn it in the spring, even though it looks bad sometimes. It’s a lot to learn. But in the fall, it makes it a lot easier. You can survive the fall with your spring install if it’s done correctly.”

Both the offense and defense are in different situations heading into the 2017 season than they have been over the last few seasons. Both are working to gain a solid understanding of the new systems before training camp begins, and they’re making sure to compete while doing it, even if the defense does have a bit of an advantage over the offense.

“I think we’re progressing,” Harris said. “Of course it’s going to be hard for them though. I say it’s a little bit unfair because they’re putting a new system in the red zone and we run pretty much the same. We kind of have a jump on them right there.”

Despite the obvious challenges, the consistency of the offseason has been beneficial to the Broncos’ progress according to Joseph.

“There have not been a lot of surprises,” Joseph said. “It’s been normal OTAs, normal offseason, normal football practice, which is good.”