How DC Vance Joseph is Keeping Broncos Competitive Each Week

Vance Joseph went from zero to hero over the span of a year. Without him, the Denver Broncos wouldn't be 2-2.

Dec 31, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Empower Field at Mile High. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Just over a year ago, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was in danger of losing his job following a disastrous 70-20 beatdown at the hands of the Miami Dolphins. Through three games last season, the Broncos were 0-3 and searching for answers, having just suffered a historical loss, looking outclassed, outcoached, and out-talented down in South Beach. 

A few weeks later, things changed dramatically as the Broncos defense finally elevated Joseph on a massive five-game winning streak that featured an unprecedented string of takeaways that set the offense up in several advantageous situations. The emergence of safety P.J. Locke, who was inserted into the starting lineup due to a suspension to Kareem Jackson after a home win against the Green Bay Packers, was a nice surprise.

Locke has yet to relinquish the starting job. He has become one of the better players for a unit that has seen one of the most dramatic turnarounds in recent NFL history.

Fast forward a year, where the Broncos are currently sitting at .500 after arguably the best team win in the past three years by slaughtering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and grinding out a win against the New York Jets in rainy New Jersey, and Joseph might be the hottest defensive coordinator in the league. 

This Broncos defense is playing spectacular football to open the season, and Joseph’s aggressive defensive scheme is the key cog in their success. Denver blitzes at a league-leading 46.3%, showing exotic schemes that find ways to get free rushers at the quarterback from the second level.

The aforementioned Locke used this to his advantage against the Jets, notching a critical sack on a Jets' fourth-down attempt late in the game that could have sealed a victory if the offense could have gotten a first down on the following drive.

That blitz percentage has helped the Broncos to the highest team sack rate in the NFL this season, a whopping 10.9%. They are currently second in the league in sacks (16), behind only the Minnesota Vikings (17), and they have the fifth-fastest time to get off of the ball as a unit.

Combine that with the sixth-fastest allowed time to throw (2.60 seconds) from opposing quarterbacks, and the success of the Broncos' defensive line shines even further. They're fast, aggressive, and incredibly successful even when they don’t send extra bodies at the quarterback.

The aggression this team is playing with also has a significant impact on the secondary, which is one of the better units in the league thus far this season. Riley Moss — who was the highest-graded cornerback in the league in Week 3 according to Pro Football Focus — has stepped up in a major way as the cornerback opposite of Pat Surtain II. Still, the pass rush getting home as fast as they have been has taken a ton of pressure off of what was widely considered a questionable secondary coming into the season. 

According to NFL Plus, Denver has the best defensive expected points added (EPA) per play this season at -0.26. Against the pass, that drops to a staggering -0.35. In other words, the Broncos defense is figuratively removing one-third of a point from the scoreboard on a play-by-play basis. 

When it comes to just the raw statistics, Joseph’s unit ranks third against the pass defensively, only allowing 146 yards per game through the air and the second-fewest yards per pass attempt of any team in the league. 

The Jets, who at one point were holding Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix to -7 yards passing on 15 total attempts. That could skew the average a touch. 

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While Denver’s defense does have some struggles against the run, specifically in the second half of the Week 1 game in Seattle. The Broncos have allowed the second-fewest yards per game and fewest yards per play so far this year. It's a remarkable unit playing with a bunch of players that most across the NFL landscape wouldn’t be able to recognize. 

Joseph has found a way to accentuate what his players do best and developed a blitz heavy scheme that puts players in a position to succeed no matter what it says on the nameplate on the back of their jersey. Several pundits and fans across Broncos Country were up in arms about losing linebacker and team captain Alex Singleton for the season due to a torn ACL.

The team promptly signed Zach Cunningham and Kwon Alexander to the practice squad to shore up the depth of the linebacker room, but those moves could be unnecessary due to the performance Justin Strnad had against the Jets. Strnad was incredible, notching a sack on the first play of the game on a six-man pressure look from Joseph’s endless bag of tricks.

But it’s not just Strnad, Moss, and Locke who are having massive amounts of success thus far. 

Zach Allen is playing like an All-Pro defensive lineman this season, wreaking havoc in the backfield at a torrid pace. He has the third-most pressures of any player in the league and three sacks to add to them. 

Jonathon Cooper has the second-most pressures in true pass set situations with the second-highest productivity rate, according to PFF. Cooper has been arguably the best edge defender for the Broncos’s defense for the past couple of seasons due to injury concerns with Baron Browning, and he could be on pace to see a nice pay day coming his way this offseason.

Bottom Line

Joseph has this defense firing on all cylinders through four weeks of the season. If the offense could figure out how to sustain drives and put points on the board, this team could very well be 4-0 to start the season, or at least be 3-1 with the only loss coming to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1. 

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