Historic defensive ratings...

[boogiewithstu2007]

Not disagreeing with you at all. Roma had just said that nobody before the Super Bowl was talking about the Broncos among the historic defenses and was just pointing to plenty of articles throughout the season that say otherwise. I am not one that considers them the best defense in league history. I do think that 3-4 game run when yes they had some injuries and gave up a few more points hurt that legacy being fact. But I still do think they will be mentioned when talking about historic defenses say 20 years down the road.

I think so ... like I was saying I believe there top 10 ... They deserve some praise...

 

[Clayton]

Justin Houston wasn't healthy, but neither was Phillip Gaines on defense; Ron Parker has pretty basic limitations as a nickel corner against a more talented WR who can lineup in the slot like Edelman. The Broncos have Chris Harris for comparison.

For the Chiefs to do as well as they did on defense despite injuries to a lot of key personnel is really pretty impressive. Just ran out of gas against Brady. Maybe if this, this, this and that went just right, there's a different discussion. That's not what happened though. Denver's D could takeover a game against the NE's of the world- there's a difference.

Chiefs, Cardinals, Steelers and Seahawks were all hit pretty hard by injuries. Its generally how it works with every playoff sport which is why I think rings are slightly overrated when judging players and teams.

I do think the Chiefs had chances to beat the Patriots and they didn't make plays. Brady should've been picked off at least once. Maybe more than once. Chiefs had a bad late hit on the QB that was just dumb. Alex Smith had 2? overthrows in the endzone.

Thats the difference between a W and an L injuries or not.

 

[Ricky Roma]

Also, we need to consider what the Panthers did to the seahawks and cardinals defenses.

Those were games that got out of hand, with the Panthers on a roll getting turnovers and such....and that roll began with a ton of confidence built up by playing the likes of Jacksonville, Tennessee and the Toronto Argonauts. Denver seemed to be the first team that didn't cough it up 4 times in the first half.

 

[Ricky Roma]

I understand wanting to see it more. Bronco fans though have been hearing this all year. Before the Packers game analyst kept saying "well this defense looks incredible but not like they have played any good QB's yet." After the Packers game it was "Well they haven't played Tom Brady yet." After Brady it was "Well they can't get it done in the playoffs." So of course makes sense for it to be "Well glad they did it one year but need to see it over the long haul." Guess we will just have to wait and see this next season. I will say players have said in the past that when installing a new system it takes at least a year before everybody feels comfortable in the system. So this will be year 2...Could they actually be better?

I doubt they will be better, but unless guys leave through FA, or there are injuries, I suspect Denver will be a top 5 defense.