Going into Sunday Night’s gauntlet match against Green Bay, the Denver Broncos had some heads still left to turn. Several NFL analysts said the Broncos hadn’t been “tested” in their previous six wins.

For the past two weeks they had been preparing for an offense lead by perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time (even better than Peyton Manning), Aaron Rodgers, whose career TD:INT ratio is a whopping 4:1. Denver’s offense wasn’t convincing, particularly Peyton’s season performance. Both teams entered Sports Authority Field at Mile High with impressive 6-0 records, and one of them would leave the field with their first “L.” It was a statement game for both teams.

The Packers were a two-point favorite despite coming into the game as the 25 th best passing team in the league and ranked 13 th in the run game. They were going up against Denver’s defense (first in the NFL) with a healthy Eddie Lacey, who had been battling a lingering ankle injury. A new dimension was added to the Packers offense with more output expected from Lacey.
Both offenses had been struggling in the previous weeks, so it was expected to be a battle of defenses: the Broncos recently notorious suffocating pass rush and no-fly zone secondary versus the Packers 42-game sack streak. It was to be a battle of two heavyweights.

Fortunately for Denver, both of Green Bay’s corners were injured by halftime and announced as “inactive” for the second half. With the early exit of Sam Shields and Quinten Rollins and a taped up Clay Mathews, Denver seized the lofty advantage over Green Bay’s crumbling depth at pass defense.

As a result, Manning threw for a season-high 340 yards, despite failing to throw a single touchdown pass. Denver’s success through the air set up a pulverizing run game for Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson. Denver’s offense is designed to open up the run game with a play-action happy playbook. Before the Broncos racked up 160 yards on the ground, they had been sitting at 30 th (of 32 teams) in the league for rushing yards with 510 on the season.

On the other hand, the Denver defense had prospered. They seemed immortal on the field compared to the Packers D.

Rodgers, the youngest quarterback to throw for 30,000 yards in a career, was held to a wimpy 50 yards. No, that is not a typo, five-zero, 50. A lethal combination of an aggressive pass rush that has pressured their opponents on 37 percent (more than one-third) of drop backs with the self-named “no-fly zone” secondary, allowed poor Aaron Rodgers enough time to look at his first option target (who was covered like glue) before he had to elude the swarm of rushers resulting in a busted play for Green Bay.

Rodgers is known for maintaining his composure in tough games, but to say he was overwhelmed by Denver’s defense would be a major understatement. It was a rare sight to see him wear his frustration on his sleeve mid-game.

Everything seemed to be going well for Denver. The Broncos made their statement loud and clear: “We’re coming for you Tom Brady.” With a 29-10 victory, the Broncos proved they have a special group on the defensive side of the ball, but their offense showed promise for the rest of the season.

That was even before the acquisition of tight end Vernon Davis before the trade deadline on Nov. 2. The Packers had a long plane ride back to Wisconsin, and I hope they did some soul-searching. At this point, they have lost their identity and need to regroup quickly, if they are going to win the NFC. The headline this year evidently is about the Broncos defense.

Remember this team folks, they’ll be talked about 20 years from now.