In this weeks installment we will get to see what a dominant D looks like and does in 3rd and long situations. To recap - coming into week 4, the Broncos D had allowed our opponents to convert on 12 of 23 3rd and long situations (52%). The D has been improving gradually in these situation since the horrible performance against the Steelers (7/9). Make the jump with me and we will see how the team fared against Jokeland...

The Faiders, who had beaten the Broncos three straight years in Denver, were held without a conversion on 3rd and long. Here are the situations and the outcomes - we held them to 0 for 6

The Broncos D was never in a 3rd and long situation of less than 10 yards. That in and of itself is impressive, but for a team that couldn't get off the field in similar situations against the Steelers, it is great progress. Overall the Broncos held the Faiders to 1 of 12 on 3rd down. That one conversion was on a 3rd and 1 where they gained 4 yards on a dump off to McFadden. The remaining 5 distances for the Broncos to stop the Faiders on 3rd down were

5, 2, 3, 5, and 2

The average 3rd and to go distance for the Faiders this game was 8.3 yards. So our D gave up an average of only 1.7 yards combined on 1st and 2nd down this game. Additionally, the Broncos continued their trend of being able to stop the opponent fairly well on 3rd and short - stopping two 3rd and 2 situations.

Overall the team improved to allowing only 41% conversion on 3rd and long (12/29) on the season. On 3rd down in general, the D improved to 41% as well ( 24/58) and is now 23rd in the league at allowing 3rd down conversions, up from 28th after week 3.

We got some revenge for the three years of getting beat at home by the Faiders in week 4. Here's hoping we can exact some vengeance in week 5 for the beat-downs that the Pats put on us last year. Go Broncos!