The Broncos had lost eight straight games prior to their 23-0 victory over the Jets. The season has been a disaster, but it seemed that win meant the world to the embattled Broncos. Week in and week out, the Broncos felt as if — and coach Vance Joseph said — they practiced well through the week, but it never translated over to game time. They were getting outplayed each week, and it was clearly starting to affect the team emotionally. Scuffles became more frequent during practice, and talking to the media about how they can improve each week was beginning to become frustrating.
A win against the Jets was exactly what this team needed. The entire Broncos’ organization, including coaches and players, know what this team can do and the talent that they can put on display every week.
The defensive line is suffering from injuries and the backups that filled in played up to par. Von Miller knows the line is hurting, but believes in his teammates. “Just because those guys come off the bench doesn’t mean they can’t rush,” Miller said. “There’s no surprise from the productivity of the defensive line.”
The Broncos didn’t turn the ball over once against New York on Sunday. This is an improvement from the rest of their 2017 season. The Broncos have been negative in turnover ratio in eight out of the first 13 games of the season, making loss after loss all but inevitable.
Trevor Siemian felt good about protecting the ball and realizes turnovers will happen, but the clean game on Sunday was the biggest key to their victory. “This is the NFL,” Siemian said afterward. “You’re going to have bad breaks every once in a while, and you’re going have good breaks every now and then. You just want to feel good about making good decisions and trusting what you see.”
Protecting the ball gives any team a chance to win at the end of the game in the NFL, and when both sides of the ball are clicking, the Broncos show flashes of what they’re capable of. “To win the way we did here at home,” Miller said. “It feels great to get the emotions back up. This is a wonderful feeling to push through the season.”
While it’s far too late for the season to end up the way they had hoped, but at least they seem to be sticking together as a team again. “Yeah, it feels good,” Emmanuel Sanders said. “I just wish it were Week 5. At the end of the day, I’m going to take the win, and definitely enjoy this one.”
The Broncos have a chance to build upon Sunday’s win in Indianapolis on Thursday, where they’ll face a struggling Colts team on Thursday Night Football.