Clayton: Fangio’s defense needs to continue recent trends against Bengals

The Broncos defense has been playing well. The numbers show that fact.

The Broncos have the second-lowest points allowed in football. They are giving up only 17.5 points per game. In yards allowed, they rank seventh. They are giving up 327.8 yards per game and 5.4 yards per play. Pretty good.

It helps having the most-talented secondary in the league. They are getting pass rush from defensive end Dre’Mont Jones. Fangio says Jones weighs 275 pounds and he’s not used to having a defensive lineman that light. That’s why he can’t compare him to any lineman he’s had on his defenses through the year.

Clearly he’s pleased with the defense and the way it’s playing.

“We’ve done a good job of keeping the scores down for the most part,” Fangio said. “There is still a lot of improvement we can make, particularly in defending the run. We’ve never had a great stretch there this year, especially after we lost the linebackers. That’s an area we need to shore up and get better at.”

Against the run, the Broncos rank 10th, giving up 101.6 yards per game. But opponents are averaging 4.4 yards per carry against them. Teams are running 23.9 plays against them on the ground.

The Broncos will need a good show of the defense in this week’s game against Cincinnati. They’ll need the trends to continue.

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