Denver Broncos at the bye: Rankings, statistics, and more
The Denver Broncos are on their bye week this week. Through eight games of the 2022 season, where do the team and its players rank in various categories? At 3-5, Denver is on pace for just about the same exact record (7-10) as last year. Like any Broncos team post-Manning, the defense remains the strongest part of the roster.
The bye week is used for players to heal up, spend time with their families, and recharge before the back half of the season. Hopefully while doing this, the offense is getting themselves recalibrated in hopes that they can put a winning product on the field.
The sky isn’t totally falling in Broncos Country. Let’s take a look at various statistics and rankings for the Broncos.
Rankings and statistics at the bye week for the Broncos
The most encouraging ranking is the team being 2nd in the NFL, allowing just 16.5 points per game. Denver is ahead of everyone but Buffalo, who allows 14 points per game. Bills’ defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier could be a candidate for the likely Broncos’ head coaching vacancy in 2023.
Denver ranks 9th in the NFL in tackles per game, with 62.4. Not really a major statistic by any means, but it’s one that Denver does well, apparently. They rank 4th in the entire NFL with 24.0 sacks, a clean average of three per game.
So, they are on pace for 51 sacks this season. This is a drastic improvement over last year, where their pass rush simply could not get home, at all. Recently departed Bradley Chubb and Dre’Mont Jones are tied for the lead on the Broncos with 5.5 sacks.
This puts Jones on pace for about 12 sacks in 2022. Alex Singleton leads the team with 62 total tackles, and he’s only started four games. Randy Gregory leads the team with two forced fumbles, and Dre’Mont Jones has eight tackles for loss, which is tops on the Broncos.
Melvin Gordon leads the Broncos with 263 rushing yards. The Broncos’ rushing game is going to need to improve in the second half of the season. Perhaps new addition Chase Edmonds could help with that.
Greg Dulcich leads all rookie tight ends with 182 receiving yards, which also ranks third on the team. The top two receiving threats in terms of yards for the Broncos are Courtland Sutton at 467 yards, and Jerry Jeudy at 449 yards.
Sutton is on pace for 992 yards, while Jeudy is on pace for 954 yards. Seeing Jeudy specifically hit 1,000 receiving yards would be awesome for the third-year player. Russell Wilson is tied for 25th in the NFL with just six passing touchdowns.
He does rank 16th in the NFL in passing yards, though. Obviously, Wilson’s performance this season has been the biggest story. Perhaps he and Nathaniel Hackett figure something out, but I am personally not banking on it.