The Broncos are feeling pretty good about a run defense that still ranks 28th in the NFL.
That's because as bad as they are now, they were a whole lot worse six games ago.
In its first seven games, Denver was allowing 154.6 yards rushing per game and a 5.4-yard average per carry. In the past five games, the Broncos have allowed 129.8 yards rushing per game and a 4.2-yard average per carry. Overall, they're allowing 144.3 yards rushing per game and 4.9 yards per carry.
The bottom came Oct. 20 when the Patriots ran for 257 yards in a 41-7 rout of the visiting Broncos.
The ensuing week, coach Mike Shanahan went away from his no-contact practice routine.
"You worry about getting guys hurt, and we'd already had a lot of people hurt," Shanahan said recently. "But I decided that didn't matter if we couldn't stop the run. We had to get better."
The Broncos also scrapped their 3-4 defensive looks to make sure they always had four bigger bodies on the line of scrimmage.
"We've had some [practices] where guys were just bringing it," rookie cornerback Josh Bell said. "I'm not sure I'd been around some practices like that."
