Brendan Pignataro and Mark Morales-Smith will be debating a different topic each Sunday. This week will feature a debate on who has the best defense in the NFL: The Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks?
The best word to describe the Denver Broncos defense in 2015 would be historic. The best word to describe my colleague Mark would be persistent. Despite losing every week, Mark is persistent enough to debate with me again, this time arguing that the Seattle Seahawks will have a better defense than the historic Broncos.
Related Story: Seattle Seahawks Will Be NFL's Top Defense in 2016
First and foremost, I won’t argue that last year’s Broncos defense was the best of all time. However, it is indeed one of the all-time greats. In They were the number one defense in the regular season allowing 283.1 yards. More impressively, they only gave up an average of 199.6 passing yard per game. This is an incredible stat in the passing era the NFL.
Then came the playoffs. The Broncos defense led them to beat the Steelers, Patriots and Panthers. Those teams were all in the top four in scoring in the league. Stiffling the likes of Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady (who have six Super Bowl titles among themselves) and current league MVP Cam Newton will be talked about for ages.
Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips summed it up best to Jeff Legwold of ESPN:
“Any team that holds Pittsburgh to 16 (points), New England to 18 and Carolina to 10..all big-time offenses – I think we’ve got to be up there somewhere. Tremendous performance all through the playoffs. We almost led the league in every category, so we’ve got to say this is a special, all-time defense…Winning the Super Bowl makes them the best overall as players. I’ve been lucky to be around a lot of great defenses and a lot of great games, but this one topped it off.”
Looking towards the 2016 season, the one argument everyone will try to make against them retaining the top spot is the loss of defensive end Malik Jackson and linebacker Danny Trevathan. Both are solid players and were very productive for the Broncos during their tenures. Yet, neither has ever been named to a Pro Bowl.
The Broncos will be fine without them. They signed Jared Crick as a replacement for Jackson, who started the last two seasons for the Texans. Crick isn’t close to Jackson in terms of skills, but like his time in Houston, he will be surrounded by incredible talent. The Broncos did select a defensive tackle in round two this year in Adam Gotsis, but he is more of a two down run-stuffer. Replacing Trevathan will be a little tougher. The best option right now is Todd Davis who started two games for Denver in 2015.
Despite those two losses, the Broncos will return the other nine starters. They will also bring back cornerback Bradley Roby who is on the field a majority of the time as well. Wade Phillips is one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL, and in his second season with this group they may even play better. That is a scary thought for the rest of the league.
The Broncos as a whole may be an older team, but the average age on the defense last year was only 27 years old. This group is an excellent mix of veterans, players in their prime, and youngsters.
Now for the two of major reasons why the Broncos will be the best defense again. First is Super Bowl MVP Von Miller, who is just entering his prime. We all saw what he accomplished against the MVP Newton on the big stage. The only season he didn’t record more than 10 sacks in a season was when he missed seven games in 2013. Miller is a beast, and has become a complete player. He is one of the top three or four defensive players in this league.
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The second would be the Broncos ridiculously good secondary. Despite his size, Chris Harris is one of the most dominant cornerbacks in the league. Aqib Talib is a tremendous playmaker and very efficient in coverage as well. Also, Roby is a very good number-three corner, and would start on most teams. These corners get most of the recognition, but safeties T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart are excellent as well. Ward was named to NFL Network’s Top 100 Player list this year and Stewart has had a very productive career with 263 tackles and 31 pass deflections since joining the league in 2010.
In contrast to previous weeks, I won’t bash Mark’s choice of the Seattle Seahawks for this debate. They have a quality depth and a few superstars. Just like the Broncos, the Seahawks lost a couple of solid starters in Brandon Mebane and Bruce Irvin. However, these losses may hurt more. Mebane was an extremely efficient run-stuffer, and Irvin provided great speed and edge rushing ability. Brining back Brandon Browner who has been awful in coverage recently was a head scratcher as well.
When it counted most, the Seahawks were lit up by the Panthers in the playoffs for 31 points, while the Broncos held them to a measly 10 points. Seattle was the number two overall defense in 2015 behind Denver, and did not have a good enough off-season to overtake the top ranking.
Another week, another debate easily won…
More nfl spin zone: Sunday Debate: Oakland Raiders Wont Make the Playoffs in 2016
Please check out Mark’s opposing article, and feel free to join in on the debate in the comments!