Mark Kiszla: Give Vance Joseph his flowers for reshaping a Broncos defense that keeps playoff hope alive

TAMPA, Fla. – Say a little prayer for the health and welfare of your favorite NFL quarterback. Lord knows, playing the Broncos can hurt.

In a 26-7 thrashing of Tampa Bay, the Broncos forged a hammer-on-anvil identity and found a way to make some clanging good noise in this football season with each of their seven sacks of Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.

In a city that made the Orange Crush famous, it’s again Denver with a capital D.

With scoring in the NFL at an 18-year low, and folks crying about everything from the retirement of gold-jacket-worthy quarterbacks Tom Brady and Drew Brees to the increased deployment of two deep safeties in pass coverage, all Broncos defensive end John Franklin-Myers can do is laugh.

“Guess it’s time for the league to make some more rules to help score points,” Franklin-Myers joked Sunday.

It’s funny because it’s true.

At a time the 300-yard passing game feels like an endangered species and scoring has slipped under 21 points per game, Franklin-Myers is enjoying the league-wide revenge of the defense, but he knows television ratings are built on touchdowns.

“We all know the NFL wants it to be an offensive league,” Franklin-Myers said. “And you’ve got to respect that, because fans like touchdowns, and without fans, there’s no us.”

After winning for the first time in three outings of the young season, it’s way too early to view these Broncos as a serious threat to Chiefs Kingdom and the reign of quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the AFC West.

But if Denver is going to have any shot at hanging in playoff contention, it’s the defense of often-maligned coordinator Vance Joseph that will keep the Broncos competitive and in the hunt.

“We got our (butts) kicked. Physicality-wise, execution-wise, all over the board,” said Mayfield, after orange-clad invaders made him walk the plank of the pirate ship moored in the north end of Raymond James Stadium.

Aargh! On 40 drop backs, Mayfield operated under near-constant siege and could produce a meager 132 net passing yards. Consider his timbers officially shivered, mate.

Yes, it’s only three games, too early to declare a trend, much less a comparison to Randy Gradishar and the Orange Crush.

Give Joseph his flowers. A defense that V.J. has reshaped around the physicality of Zach Allen and Franklin-Myers up front, backed by the ball-hawking of cornerbacks Ja’Quan McMillian in the secondary, has surrendered an average of 15.5 points per game, down almost nine points from a year ago.

“We’re just scratching the surface,” Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper said. “We can be dominant.”

With the Broncos on the brink of falling to 0-3 and irrelevancy before September ended, they came out swinging against the Bucs from the coin flip before kickoff.

Denver called heads, and when heads it was, Sean Payton eschewed the all-too-common practice of deferring to the second half and took the football to open a game in which the veteran Broncos coach finally took the kid gloves off rookie quarterback Bo Nix.

From Denver’s first offensive snap, when Nix let a pass rip 22 yards to Courtland Sutton for a play that set the tone for an opening drive that resulted in a quick 7-0 lead, the visitors brought the heat that made the Bucs wilt in the Florida sun.

“You only get this moment one time,” said Nix, taking well-deserved satisfaction in his first victory as a pro. “It’s not easy winning games in this league.”

He threw for 216 yards and ran for 47 more, including a bold, fourth-down plunge near midfield on the final play of the first quarter.

His arm is NFL solid, but what makes Nix dangerous as a young pro quarterback? The dude has wheels and isn’t afraid to use them.

Maybe Lamar Jackson has nothing to worry about in Nix as a dual threat, but Vanilla Vick can add some up-tempo thump to a Denver running attack.

Up next, after a few days of croquet and carriage rides at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, the Broncos make the trek to New York to take on the Jets, giving Denver the chance to put a hurting on 40-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

“I wasn’t born with a quit button,” said Franklin-Myers. “Physicality is preached throughout the league, but most teams don’t actually live it.”

He relishes the chance to cause Rodgers a little pain before the league figures out new ways to make life easier for quarterbacks.

“No more cover 2?” Franklin-Myers said.

“Yep,” I replied, “Playing two-deep safeties will be penalized five yards for illegal formation before you know it.”

“For real,” said Franklin-Myers, laughing as he walked to the team bus with the Broncos finally on a roll.