The Broncos left Denver two weeks ago a team sitting at .500 and still lamenting a pair of last-second road losses.
They returned from an odyssey to London by way of Philadelphia at 4-2, riding a three-game winning streak and tied for the lead in the AFC West.
As Sean Payton’s team prepares for the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon, a pivot point in the regular season arrives.
The group has played four of its first six games away from home. Now four of the next five are at home. The Broncos leave Denver just once between now and Thanksgiving.
“We’ve got to take advantage of it. We definitely have to take advantage of it, and we’re going to do everything we can to take advantage of it,” Denver running back J.K. Dobbins said Thursday.
“… There’s great teams in this division and this conference, so we’ve got to just take it one game at a time, one play at a time and we’ll take care of it.”
With the season’s opening stanza in the books, here’s a look at what’s been learned about the Broncos so far, what questions remain unanswered and what’s ahead.
Two questions answered
Can the defense replicate its 2024 success?
Resoundingly yes. Vance Joseph’s group set a franchise record last year with 63 sacks and is almost halfway to that total through just six games. They’ve racked up 30 sacks — 10 more than any other team — and league-leading marks in pressures and pressure rates, too. They’ve got four games of five-plus sacks. They lead the NFL on third down, fourth down and in the red zone. They’re second in scoring. Tennessee, Cincinnati and the New York Jets all failed to get into the end zone against this group. There will be tougher tests ahead, but this is a defense that should be able to keep the Broncos in just about every game they play the rest of the season.
“We just know the work we’ve put in,” defensive tackle Malcolm Roach said. “We know it’s been years in the making, two years in the making, what this defense could be. We know the work we’ve put in, and we’ve got a better understanding of playing with each other. We’ve got a better understanding for hearing the calls V.J. is calling, why he’s calling them, what he expects from us in the situations of the game. … It’s at an all-time high and you can see the result on the field.”
Will Denver’s overhauled backfield lead to better run-game production?
Yes, but so far perhaps in a slightly different way than anticipated. The Broncos drafted rookie RJ Harvey in the second round of the draft, but the real difference-maker has been Dobbins, the veteran back who signed in the middle of the team’s June minicamp.
The 27-year-old is seventh in the NFL with 442 rushing yards, is averaging 4.9 per carry and checks in tied for second in rushes of 10-plus yards with 14. Harvey got 50 yards on one carry in Week 1 and has 104 on his other 32 runs for the season. Quarterback Bo Nix is a weapon in the run game, too, but 26 of his 33 rushes so far this season have been scrambles, quarterback sneaks or kneel-downs.
Dobbins, though, is delivering in a way the Broncos haven’t had from a running back since rookie-year Javonte Williams in 2021.
J.K. Dobbins (27) of the Denver Broncos stiff arms Jermaine Johnson II (11) of the New York Jets during the first quarter at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)Two questions remaining
Can Bo Nix make a major leap in Year 2?
The jury is still very much out on this one through six games. Nix’s first six games this season are better than the first six games of his rookie season, so there’s that. But in terms of improving off a 34-touchdown rookie year? Most numbers suggest that’s not the case so far this season. Nix is slightly better on some metrics like estimated points added per dropback (0.03 this year compared to 0.00 as a rookie), but Nix’s numbers have trended down in several other stats like completion percentage, yards per attempt, downfield percentage and air yards per attempt. A year ago, Nix got into a good rhythm in the middle of the season. The Broncos would gladly take another such stretch this year. Coaches and teammates rave about Nix’s leadership, his work behind the scenes and his command of the offense. It just hasn’t translated yet into major statistical improvement.
Has Sean Payton figured out what this offense’s identity is?
The Broncos might have been on the way to answering this question after powerful performances back-to-back against Cincinnati and Philadelphia. An undisciplined, unproductive outing against the Jets in London at least momentarily provided reason to hit the pause button. Denver’s much better in the run game so far this year, but the Broncos haven’t found one or two things they can consistently hang their hat on. Their pass rate of 55.8% this year is nearly identical to last year (56.3%), but they haven’t created the same explosion or scoring (25 points per game in 2024, 21.7 so far this year).
Head coach Sean Payton speaks after practice at the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Training Ground in Enfield, England on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)MVP to date
OLB Nik Bonitto
What else can be said about Bonitto’s start to the season? He leads the NFL in sacks (eight) and pressures (34). His pressure rate is a through-the-roof 26.2%. The fourth-year outside linebacker is on pace for 23 sacks and 96 pressures. Those numbers are obviously unlikely, but they speak to the dominant stretch Bonitto has started the season with after signing a $106 million extension heading into Denver’s season opener.
Pleasant surprise
How about defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike?
Roach’s preseason calf injury was a big one on the defensive line, but the Broncos covered his absence well, due in large part to Uwazurike. The 2022 fourth-round draft pick has really come on strong after missing the entire 2023 season because of a gambling suspension and then playing only 63 snaps last year. Uwazurike has played 37% of Denver’s defensive snaps so far, has been stout against the run, and now has logged sacks in back-to-back games. Just another useful piece to the Broncos’ deepest position group.
Disappointing start
Dre Greenlaw is a good candidate, but he hasn’t even really started yet, so let’s go with the rookie class as a whole.
Some of this is because of depth rather than true disappointment, but none of Denver’s rookies is making big waves so far. First-round corner Jahdae Barron is playing really well; he’s just not playing all that much as the Broncos’ dime back. Harvey started with a bang but hasn’t hit a rhythm. Third-round receiver Pat Bryant continues to see more and more playing time but has made a couple of critical penalties, too. Third-round defensive lineman Sai’Vion Jones has been active once and fourth-round outside linebacker Que Robinson made his debut in London. Both have really intriguing futures. The biggest impact so far has been a good start to the season for sixth-round punter Jeremy Crawshaw.
RJ Harvey (12) of the Denver Broncos cuts back as Malachi Moore (27) of the New York Jets lines him up during the second quarter at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)Two key numbers
Minus-3
The Broncos defense has put together perhaps the best overall unit in football and has done it despite forcing just four takeaways so far. That’s part of Denver entering Week 7 tied for 28th in the NFL in turnover margin at minus-3. If Joseph’s group starts taking the ball away in addition to everything else it’s doing, look out.
448
Penalty yards through six games, an average of 74.6 yards per game. The Broncos are tied for the fourth-most penalized team in football, and they’re on pace for 1,269 penalty yards. In the past 15 years, no Denver team has had more than 1,063 (2015).
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Protect home field
The Broncos have somewhat quietly built the NFL’s longest active home winning streak. It currently stands at seven games and dates back to a Week 6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in 2024. Denver’s got a home-heavy portion of the schedule upcoming, which includes a mini-bye after a Thursday night game and also the club’s actual bye week.
Between now and the end of November, Payton’s team plays the Giants, Dallas, Las Vegas and Kansas City at Empower Field. Win those games and you’re really in business heading into the season’s stretch run.
Generate more explosive plays in the passing game
Among qualified passers, Nix’s deep-throw percentage of 8.7% is currently No. 19 in the NFL. Last year, he finished No. 14 at 11.1%. The second-year quarterback didn’t throw a ball farther than 20 yards down the field against the Jets and hasn’t completed one of that distance since Week 4 against Cincinnati. For the season, Nix is 5 of 18 on throws of 20-plus air yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions.
The Broncos don’t need to put on an aerial display every week in order to be successful offensively, but they’re going to have to produce more big plays in the passing game to get where they want to go.
Courtland Sutton (14) of the Denver Broncos cannot haul in a deep pass from Bo Nix (10) with the game on the line during the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Chargers’ 23-20 win at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.
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