Broncos special teams have become precisely that

It comes as no surprise that Sean Payton’s first Broncos team got special teams right.

He hired longtime guru Mike Westhoff, who is on the Mount Rushmore of special-teams coaches. Denver’s coordinator, Ben Kotwica, is accomplished in that role his own right, and Chris Banjo, a longtime special-teams commando for the New Orleans Saints, is well on his way to working his way up the coaching ladder after immediately joining the Broncos’ staff following his playing career.

Payton and his staff put a special emphasis on the phase. The special-teams periods in training camp were longer than those of previous years. They covered more specific situations. The unit has a higher level of preparation.

Now, the relative good health of the roster has helped, too. Former coordinators Tom McMahon and Dwayne Stukes fought a losing battle when it came to the tsunami of injuries that trickled down and affected the consistency of those units.

But sometimes they asked too much, such as when McMahon called for a directional kickoff in Los Angeles two seasons ago on a day the roster was decimated by COVID-19-related absences, leaving a passel of practice-squad players to cover kickoffs. The Chargers’ touchdown return that day was lamentably predictable.

That isn’t the case this year.

And the Broncos have a unit that is truly special. So we’ll lead the Week 14 grades there.

SPECIAL TEAMS

OVERALL GRADE: A

On a non-descript day in placekicking and returns, this was all about Riley Dixon and the punt unit. His hang times consistently were in the mid-4s, and with the aid of the Broncos’ coverage team, he dropped five of his seven punts inside the Los Angeles 20-yard line. When the Broncos needed pooch punts, he delivered. When they needed blasts, he delivered, too.

DEFENSE

OVERALL GRADE: A

In what was the defense’s most dominant performance since the Kansas City game, the Broncos owned fourth downs and delivered the explosive play — via Baron Browning’s pressure and Joanthon Cooper’s interception — to prevent Los Angeles from building a reservoir of hope during the first quarter. Vance Joseph continues to mix his alignments and confuse opponents — and with Detroit’s Jared Goff struggling under pressure so far this season, the Broncos have an excellent chance to continue their form.

PASSING DEFENSE: A-plus

This was a dominant performance on all three levels, with sacks coming from defensive linemen, linebackers and slot cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian. Six different Broncos got to Justin Herbert and Easton Stick. Keenan Allen rarely got open; in fact, coverage busts were scarce.

The only gaping lapse came early in the fourth quarter, when Stick hit rookie Quentin Johnston on consecutive explosive plays to set up Austin Ekeler’s touchdown run for the only points of Los Angeles’ day.

RUSHING DEFENSE: B-plus

This still remains a relative soft spot, and that’s why some potential postseason matchups — particularly Baltimore and Miami — are less favorable than others. But on Sunday, mistakes were few; the Broncos had no missed tackles against the run. Still, Ekeler averaged 5.1 yards per carry — despite having no runs longer than 9 yards.

OFFENSE

OVERALL GRADE: B-minus

Until the final, game-clinching drive on which the Broncos bled 7 minutes and 26 seconds from the clock and converted 4 third downs, this was shaping up as a mediocre day for Denver’s offense, which in its first 11 drives accumulated more than 21 yards just twice.

PASSING OFFENSE: B

For the second time in three weeks, Denver’s pass-protection scheme neutralized one of the NFL’s most dominant edge rushers. Just as the Broncos did against Myles Garrett in Week 12, they neutralized Khalil Mack, who generated five pressures … but did not hit Russell Wilson once.

This was the perfect example of the passing game that works best for Wilson, relying on the quarterback’s natural beyond-structure abilities to keep plays alive. This works better with Courtland Sutton than with Jerry Jeudy; remember, Jeudy flourished in the 2021 training camp and that campaign’s regular-season opener with Teddy Bridgewater, who emphasizes throwing to a specific spot with timing and arc and relies more on anticipatory throws. But Jeudy suffered a high-ankle sprain in the third quarter of that Broncos win over the New York Giants. That remains a fork-in-the-road moment for Jeudy’s career.

The game-sealing touchdown scored by Adam Trautman was a product of film study and good play design.

RUSHING OFFENSE: B-minus

Again, the Broncos had steadiness, although Javonte Williams showed signs of a spark with a 20-yard run that was his longest since Week 7. The Broncos averaged 3.93 yards per attempt before Wilson’s game-ending kneel downs.