DENVER — All that was waiting for the Broncos' defense after a difficult Week 1 showing was one of the league's hottest offenses.
The Jaguars entered Sunday's game on a nine-game regular-season winning streak, and they featured a quarterback in Trevor Lawrence who posted an NFL-best 150.6 passer rating in Week 1. Lawrence had thrown 19 touchdowns, rushed for four more and thrown just one interception over his last seven regular-season starts, matching numbers posted by MVPs in Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton.
But as the outside world worried, the Broncos' defense went to work.
"When the sky was falling, I was like, 'Look, this is correctable,'" defensive lineman Zach Allen said.
A week after missing a slew of tackles, Denver's defense showed marked improvement — and stymied one of the league's hottest offenses en route to a 20-13 win.
"They played outstanding," quarterback Bo Nix said of Denver's defense. "They played great. When everybody wanted to throw them to the wolves this week, they just responded against the team that sort of showed us our weaknesses last year — and we responded really well against a really good offense. They have explosive playmakers, they have a great system, they have a great quarterback and our defense played lights out."
Denver's defense allowed just one touchdown drive, and the unit held Jacksonville to only three points in the second half. The Jaguars had scored at least 30 points in five of their last six regular-season games, and they hadn't been limited to 13 points or fewer since scoring seven points in a Week 7 loss to the Rams in London last year.
"That's a really good offense," Head Coach Sean Payton said. "When you looked at last year's game, I thought they were outstanding. They were going to make their plays, but it was a much different game than a year ago. We had our hands on a few others, but we got off the field on third down. That was good."
Those lone three second-half points came at a critical juncture, with the Broncos already trailing by a touchdown. With Jacksonville holding a first-and-goal from the 3-yard line, the Broncos stood tall in the shadow of their own end zone. Inside linebacker Alex Singleton's third-down pass breakup helped hold the Jaguars to three points to keep the lead at 10, and Jacksonville would not score again. The Jaguars' final three possessions ended in an interception, a missed field goal and a punt.
"You could see it in our eyes at halftime," said cornerback Riley Moss, who notched the interception. "It was, 'One drive at a time. We're fine. One play at time. Something bad's going to happen. That's OK. On to the next.' That was our mentality throughout the entire day, and that's why we saw success today."
Moss' interception also came on third down, and Denver held Lawrence and Co. to 2-of-6 on third down in the second half. Cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian had a near interception on another third-down pass breakup that preceded the missed field goal, and cornerback Pat Surtain II blanketed Brian Thomas Jr. on a third-and-11 that was Jacksonville's final offensive snap.
"We came through clutch on third down, and I think that's where it counts," Surtain said.
Surtain said the Broncos showed resilience throughout the week and that the team "never hit the panic button" after the Week 1 loss. In their response, Denver held Lawrence to a 54.5 passer rating in the second half and made key plays in key moments.
"We've been in the dark, and we've found light," Moss said. "That's just because we've got a bunch of gritty guys. It's fun when everybody's on the same page."
Added Surtain: "The main focal point was being better this week — being one step better, you know what I mean? Having that short-term memory. Erase that week and just focus on this week ahead. We knew it was going to be a challenge. They've got a great offense over there, so we knew we had to step it up and deliver. And that's what we did."
In slowing one of the league's top-scoring offenses from Week 1, the Broncos also returned to the standard at which they know they're capable of playing.
"Just tackling the right way," outside linebacker Nik Bonitto said. "Everybody running to the ball. Everybody communicating and making sure we're doing everybody's job. That was definitely the standard, for sure."
