Joe Collier, creator of Broncos “Orange Crush” defense, passes away

The brains behind the famed “Orange Crush” defense, longtime Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Joe Collier, has passed away.

Collier, who became the Broncos’ defensive coordinator in 1972 after a three-year stint as the team’s defensive backs coach under head coaches Lou Saban and Jerry Smith, guided the Broncos defense for 17 seasons under three head coaches: John Ralston, Red Miller and Dan Reeves. He was the constant that linked the franchise with its frustrating early days to its Super Bowl success with the “Orange Crush” and finally to the John Elway-powered teams of the 1980s.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of legendary former defensive coordinator Joe Collier, the architect of the Orange Crush defense who helped us to three Super Bowl appearances.

A statement from the Broncos: pic.twitter.com/ILd9IvmPzD

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) May 7, 2024

Collier’s passing comes just three months before one of his prized pupils, linebacker Randy Gradishar, enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Gradishar’s enshrinement was announced by the Hall of Fame in February in Las Vegas three days before Super Bowl LVII.

During his 17 seasons as Broncos defensive coordinator, the team ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense and total defense eight times, including the 1987 season — his penultimate campaign as defensive coordinator — when the team was in the top five in both categories.

Collier’s involvement with the team didn’t end after his final season as coordinator in 1988. After a two-season (1991-92) stint as New England’s defensive coordinator, he served for two decades on the Broncos’ Ring of Fame selection committee.

COLLIER’S INFLUENCE WIDESPREAD

During his decades in football, Collier influenced many coaches, including longtime New England coach Bill Belichick, who worked under Collier in 1978 with the Broncos and had what he called a “great learning experience.”

“I learned to see the game through the eyes of Joe Collier and … Joe, how he had me break it down for him, I could see how he looked at it as a defensive coach. That was valuable,” Belichick said in 2020 when he took part in a conference call with Denver media in advance of a Broncos-Patriots game.

“Not everybody looks at it quite the same way, but Joe was very skilled at analyzing offenses and what they did and when they did it,” Belichick said. “He was good at anticipating very well. He did an excellent job of setting that up. I broke down the games for him, but the way he had me do it was a little different than the way I had done it in Baltimore. It gave me a lot of insight there.”

One of the areas in which Collier flourished was situational defense, Belichick said then.

“That certainly stayed with me — red-area defenses and goal-line defenses. They had some of the best goal line — for me, [they had] as good of goal-line defenses as we’ve seen in the National Football League — them and the Vikings were certainly two of the best. And the way that Joe played goal line, that’s definitely something there that I learned a lot about there, as well. That was a great year, a great experience.”

HOW JOE COLLIER CREATED THE “ORANGE CRUSH”

In this excerpt from Tales from the Denver Broncos Sideline, the background of his role in creating the “Orange Crush” is explained.

“We had a good defense throughout the mid ‘70s,” Joe Collier said in 2002. “We were a bit undersized, but we had the best speed in the league. We were able to run all over the place.

The pieces were falling into place. By the end of 1974, defensive end Barney Chavous was a full-time starter. In 1975, lockdown cornerback Louis Wright burst into the lineup, starting 11 games. But the final piece of the puzzle was converting to a 3-4 defense on a full-time basis, which happened early in the 1976 season.

It was a change dictated by necessity after Lyle Alzado suffered a season-ending knee injury in a Week 1 loss to Cincinnati. It played to the defense’s changing strengths, allowing both Joe Rizzo and Bob Swenson to join Tom Jackson and Randy Gradishar in the starting lineup. But the biggest individual beneficiary was Rubin Carter, an unheralded defensive tackle as a rookie who emerged as a terror when pushed to nose tackle in the 3-4 alignment.

Few players have ever been more ideally suited to a position than Carter to playing on the nose. Lining up opposite the opponent’s center, he was able to collapse a blocking scheme from inside and occupy multiple blockers, freeing the linebackers to make plays inside and outside. Collier did what great coaches do: He designed a strategy to maximize his players’ strengths and minimize their weaknesses, and the defense made a quantum leap.

In the weeks that followed the change, Denver shut out two opponents and allowed just two foes to break 20 points. This was an era of overpowering defenses league-wide, but only the Steelers allowed fewer points in 1976 than the Broncos, who conceded just 14.7 points per game. It was the stingiest defense of any to that point in Broncos history.

The Orange Crush was born.

Collier is survived by numerous family and friends, including three children.