ENGLEWOOD — The ghosts of Miami no longer haunt Vance Joseph.
Recall Week 3 of the 2023 NFL season? The Broncos gave up 70 points in a potentially scarring loss to the Dolphins. From the outside, Joseph’s standing as defensive coordinator appeared on thin ice. From the inside, staffers like offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi were far more confident.
“I love Vance. He’s one of my all-time favorites. He’s another guy who doesn’t get caught up in the short term,” Lombardi said Thursday after practice at Broncos Park. “After the Miami game last year, there was no panic in Vance. He knows what he’s doing. He’s been around. Certainly, whenever we’re not having success, we look at things and try to make adjustments. But he’s just a steady, fundamentally sound coach.
“I never had any questions that this is where he was going to get the defense.”
The Broncos (2-2) ride a two-game winning streak into their Week 5 matchup on Sunday against the Raiders at Empower Field. Much of the credit belongs to a defense that ranks inside the NFL’s top five in multiple categories.
—Total sacks: 16 (second)
—Red zone defense: 28.6% (tied-second)
—Total defense: 256.5 yards (tied-second)
—Scoring defense: 13.8 points (third)
—Pass defense: 146 yards (fourth)
—Third down defense: 28.3% (fourth)
“We have a defense full of just young guys who are mostly self-made,” Joseph said on Thursday. “We’ve got one first-round pick, and that’s Patrick (Surtain). He’s a really good player. Everyone else is pretty self-made guys who are just grinders. That’s helped our process. … It’s a group of self-aware, young, hungry guys who are still trying to reach for more. So, I don’t have a problem of motivating guys or keeping guys humble.”
Denver overcame the Miami debacle with a strong finish to the 2023 season. It’s long forgotten in 2024 with Joseph now orchestrating one of the league’s top defenses.
How did he turn the page?
“You just move on from the bad quickly,” Joseph said. “You learn that.”
Joseph pulled the curtain back.
The importance of having a short memory is passed on to the team each week, no matter the result.
“My goal on Mondays for our players is to reset those guys. Just get them back to a mental baseline. Even if it’s good. You have to get back to that baseline to correct,” Joseph said. “To have the self-awareness to see your problems. … There’s a lot of mistakes Sunday (against the Jets) that no one saw. But we see them. We really coach the mistakes more than we coach the great plays, so to speak.
“Every week we’re chasing perfection. I have never coached or played a perfect football game.”
Results speak for themselves over the past two weeks. The Broncos have given up just one touchdown over their last eight quarters of play. Players bought into the system.
“(Joseph) does a good job of mixing up calls and disguising things,” inside linebacker Justin Strnad said. “He’s been calling great games this year. It’s awesome to play for him.”
Safety Brandon Jones added: “He knows what to dial up (and) when to dial it up. We all just have that juice and energy. And just really want to play extremely well for him.”
Joseph understands the ebbs-and-flows of NFL success better than most. His brief stint as Broncos head coach (2017-18) lasted all of 32 games before getting fired. His stock is back on the rise, with lessons learned to avoid future disaster.
“The teams who lose — who can’t get back to an emotional baseline — can’t correct. They can’t win a game next week,” Joseph said. “That loss is going to cost them two or three losses if you don’t get back to baseline. So, it’s the same when you win. Once you win, man, you look at the tape and you really coach the wrong.
“That way you can fix it.”
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