Led by Von Miller, who has an NFL-high 31 quarterback hurries, the Broncos have made game-saving plays in crunch time in all six wins. Subtracting the 34 points opponents have scored off turnovers, including three pick-6s, Denver's defense is allowing just 11 points a game.
The defense even has depth. Last week, practice squad graduate Shaquil Barrett filled in for DeMarcus Ware (back) and was selected as the team's defensive player of the game with nine tackles, two QB hits,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, a pass breakup and a sack-strip-recovery in addition to his tackle for loss and shared sack in overtime that pushed the Browns out of field-goal range following Manning's third interception.
"We have faith in Peyton," Harris said. "We know it's not just him. We know we need to get the run game going, get everybody going. We know that once they start clicking, it's going to be over."
Manning used to be the one whose play led to all the laughter in the locker room. He averaged 44 touchdown throws in his first three seasons in Denver, including a record 55 two years ago.
The offense has lots of work to do, and things started to improve last week at Cleveland when the Broncos topped 150 yards rushing, albeit against the league's worst run defense.
Now under Wade Phillips, who's turned loose waves of pass rushers in an aggressive 3-4 scheme, the Broncos have piled up 26 sacks by 11 different players to go with 18 takeaways.
Denver's defense faces a gauntlet of challengers in November in Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck,Wholesale Cheap Jerseys, Alex Smith,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic, Jay Cutler and Tom Brady, so a more efficient offense will take some pressure off them to come up big all the time.
"It's fun to watch stuff like that," coach Gary Kubiak said.
There's no discordance in the locker room, though.
More often than not, the Broncos needed every one of his precise TD passes because their defense was deficient, riddled by injuries or just too conservative.
Brandon McManus has bailed them out by making 16 of 17 field goals.
Never in his NFL career has Peyton Manning been so reliant on his defense or his kicker to bail him out.
"This is a team game," he said, "and however you win ballgames, the whole team's going to be happy."
When they were running the ball well last weekend, they got the look they wanted on defense and Manning hit Emmanuel Sanders in stride for a 75-yard touchdown that ended their 25-drive streak without reaching the end zone.
Now it's the other way around.
Doesn't Polumbus know it.
Should the Broncos' offensive struggles continue,Jerseys NFL China, this defense is confident it can carry the load all season, much like the 2000 Ravens or 1985 Bears.
He leads the league with 10 interceptions, as many as he threw in all of 2013, when he opened the season with seven touchdown tosses against Baltimore — as many as he's thrown through six weeks this season.
Especially the offense,Wholesale NHL Jerseys, where the line has been beset by injuries, the tight ends are non-factors, the running backs keep getting stuffed, the receivers keep dropping passes and Manning is looking his age.
Manning & Co. will have to do better than the 1.5 TDs they're averaging per game. Even Tim Tebow's scoring-challenged teams averaged two TDs a game,NFL Jerseys Wholesale, which got him a one-way ticket to New York.
DENVER (AP) — During an ugly drought in which Denver's wheezing offense went 25 drives without crossing the goal line, the unbeaten Broncos' only touchdowns came via pick-6s from Pro Bowl cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr.
No other NFL team has as big a disparity as the Broncos do in terms of their second-ranked defense and 29th-ranked offense.
What they need to do is get healthy up front, and their five-day furlough should help.
At 39 and learning a new system on the fly without his old reliable safety valves in Wes Welker, Julius Thomas and Jacob Tamme, Manning has too often put the ball in the wrong hands.
"We're trying to win ballgames," tackle Tyler Polumbus said. "It doesn't matter where we get the points."
For most of his first three seasons in Denver, it was Manning and his receivers who were having all the fun and the Broncos defenders were mostly along for the record-breaking ride.
"If we don't produce those numbers, don't play how we've been playing, who knows? We could easily be 0-6," safety David Bruton J
