John Elway and the Denver Broncos bucked the recent trend in NFL hires when they made an older, defensive coach their new head coach earlier this year.
Vic Fangio, who was the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator when he was hired to lead the Broncos, was widely regarded as one of the best in the league.
But in the early weeks of his Denver tenure, Fangio’s magic hadn’t quite rubbed off on his new charges. The Broncos have to be hoping that changes soon.
Von Miller gets Broncos’ first sack
With 2:13 left to play in the first quarter on Sunday, All-Pro Von Miller sacked Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Gardner Minshew.
Von Miller. Still good. #Broncos SACK! pic.twitter.com/tOKQwOg86K
— Joe Rowles (@JoRo_NFL) September 29, 2019
Not only was it the first sack of the season for Miller, who has recorded 10 or more sacks in every season of his career but one (an injury-shortened 2013), it was the first sack of the season for any Broncos player.
Denver came into Week 4 with only three quarterback hits, all attributed to Bradley Chubb.
While the Broncos weren’t faring too poorly in terms of points allowed (67, 17th in the NFL) and yards allowed (942, ninth), they were doing little to pressure opposing passers, which showed in the 67.1 percent completion mark given up and a lack of turnovers.
With Denver struggling to put points on the board – coming into the game, the Broncos were averaging just 15.3 points per, 30th in the league – the defense has to do its part if they’re going to enjoy any kind of turnaround after an 0-3 start.
Early in the second quarter, the Broncos are up 17-3 on the Jaguars.
Update (5:27 p.m.): Chubb got a sack on third-and-5 midway through the second quarter, so maybe things are looking up for the Denver defense.
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