WHAT TO WATCH FOR vs. SAINTS
S MIKE ADAMS (8 passes defensed in 2012)
- Needs one Pass Defensed to set a single-season career high.
CB CHAMP BAILEY (33 interceptions as a Bronco/199 career GS)
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Needs one Interception to tie Mike Harden (32) for the 5th-most in franchise history.
- Will make his 200th career regular-season start against New Orleans.
DE ELVIS DUMERVIL (4 forced fumbles)
- Needs one Forced Fumble to take the NFL lead and set a career high in that category.
QB PEYTON MANNING (47 game-winning drives)
- Needs one game-winning scoring drive to pass Dan Marino (47) for the most all-time.
RB WILLIS McGAHEE (62 career rushing TDs/8 100-yd. gms., 2011-12)
- Needs one rushing Touchdown to tie Maurice Jones-Drew (Jac.) for the 2nd most among active NFL players.
ONE OF THE BEST AFTER THE BYE
Denver is tied for the NFL’s second-best record (17-6 / .739) in the game immediately following the bye week, which was introduced in 1990. The Broncos have won seven of their last nine games after the bye week and look to improve their post-bye success against the Saints.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
- Mike McCoy is in his 4th season as Denver’s Offensive coordinator and his 11th year coaching offense under John Fox.
- QB Peyton Manning, who was signed by the Broncos on March 21, 2012, is the league’s only 4-time MVP and the NFL’s active leader in nearly every major passing category.
- Manning owns the 4th-most regular-season wins (144) by a starting Quarterback in NFL history, trailing only Brett Favre, John Elway and Dan Marino in that category.
- Manning’s 22 career AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors are the most by a player since the award was initiated by the NFL in 1984.
- Manning is the 1st player in NFL history to throw for 300 yards, three Touchdowns and complete 70 percent of his passes in three consecutive games—all in his last three outings.
- Manning is just the 3rd player in NFL history with 400 career passing Touchdowns, reaching the milestone in Week 1 in his 209th game to become the fastest of the three players to No. 400.
- Manning has orchestrated 47 game-winning drives in the 4th Quarter or Overtime to tie Dan Marino for the most since the 1970 NFL merger.
- Manning owns an NFL-record 67 games with 300-yards passing, overtaking Dan Marino in that category with his 330-yard effort in Week 3 against Houston.
- Manning has surpassed 4,000 passing yards in a season an NFL record 11 times during his career.
- Denver finished with the league’s No. 1 Rushing Offense in 2011 after totaling a franchise-best 2,632 yards on the ground.
- Denver leads the NFL with 18 individual 100-yard rushers since 1995, totaling an NFL-best 135.1 rushing yards per game during that stretch.
- RB Willis McGahee is tied for the lead among active NFL players with 32 career 100-yard rushing games.
- McGahee, who totaled 1,000 rushing yards for the 4th time in his career in 2011, previously accomplished the feat with Buffalo (2004-05) and Baltimore (2007), joining Ricky Watters (S.F./Phi./Sea.) as the only two players in NFL history to record 1,000-yard rushing seasons with three different teams.
- McGahee owns the 3rd-most rushing yards (7,798) and rushing Touchdowns (62) among active NFL players.
- WR Eric Decker’s 8 receiving Touchdowns in 2011 represented the 2nd most in franchise history by a rookie or 2nd-year player.
- WR Demaryius Thomas currently ranks 8th in the NFL in receiving yards per game (90.3) through six contests.
- Thomas set a franchise record by leading the team in receiving yards during the Broncos’ final seven games of the 2011 campaign.
- TE Joel Dreessen ranks 3rd in the NFL in percentage of catches resulting in Touchdowns (16.0% / 13-of-81) since 2010 (min. 30 rec.).
- TE Jacob Tamme recorded a career-high 67 catches in 2010—all in the last 10 games with Quarterback Peyton Manning—to lead the NFL during that stretch after starting tight end Dallas Clark was placed on Injured Reserve.
- T Ryan Clady has started 70 consecutive games to begin his career as one of just three players from his 2008 draft class to accomplish that feat.
- C Dan Koppen ranks 1st among Offensive Linemen in NFL history (min. 100 GP) with a winning percentage of .778 (98-28).
DEFENSIVE NOTES
- Jack Del Rio is in his 1st season as the Broncos’ Defensive coordinator after spending the previous 9 seasons as head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- Del Rio spent the 2002 season as Head Coach John Fox’s Defensive coordinator in Carolina, where he inherited the NFL’s worst defense statistically and turned it into the league’s No.2-ranked unit.
- CB Champ Bailey played in his 11th Pro Bowl in 2011 to tie for the 3rd-most in NFL history.
- Bailey’s 32 Interceptions rank 5th in the NFL since he joined the Broncos in 2004. His 50 career Interceptions rank 1st among all active NFL Cornerbacks and are 3rd among all players since entering the league in 1999.
- CB Tracy Porter has totaled three career game-sealing Interceptions returned for Touchdowns with all three of those plays occurring with less than 3:30 remaining in the 4th quarter and his team leading by one score or less.
- CB Chris Harris led all NFL rookie Defensive Backs with 65 Tackles in 2011 after joining the club as a College Free Agent.
- DE Elvis Dumervil, who led the NFL in Sacks (17) in 2009, returned to the Broncos Defense in 2011 after missing the entire 2010 campaign with a pectoral injury suffered during Training Camp.
- Dumervil ranks 3rd in the NFL since 2006 in Sacks per game (.71) and owns the 3rd-most multiple-Sack games (19) in the league since his rookie season in 2006.
- Dumervil is tied for the NFL lead with four Forced Fumbles in 2012.
- LB Von Miller was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press after setting a Broncos rookie record with 11.5 Sacks.
- Miller ranks 2nd in the NFL with 13 Tackles For a Loss this season, including a career-best five TFLs against New England in Week 5 that represent the most by an NFL player in a single game this season
- LB Keith Brooking has played 182 consecutive games to tie for the 3rd-longest streak among active NFL players.
- DE Derek Wolfe recorded his 1st career Sack in Week 1 against Pittsburgh to become just the 6th rookie in Broncos history (since Sacks became an official statistic in 1982) to record a Sack in the club’s regular season opener.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
- Jeff Rodgers enters his 2nd season as Denver’s Special Teams coordinator after serving in that capacity under Head Coach John Fox in Carolina in 2010.
- K Matt Prater is the most accurate kicker in franchise history having made 97-of-119 (81.5) Field Goals as a Bronco.
- Prater is 31-of-32 (.969) in his career in the 4th quarter or Overtime, including 3-of-3 in 2012.
- Prater became the 1st player since K Chris Jacke (Ari., 1998, Weeks 15-17) to kick a game-winning Field Goal on the last play of the game in three consecutive contests in 2011.
- Prater converted 4 game-winning Field Goals on the last play of the game in 2011 to tie for the 2nd most in a single season in NFL history.
- Prater owns the best Field Goal percentage from 50+ yards (.778 / 14-of-18) in NFL history among players who started their career after 1970.
- P Britton Colquitt set the team single-season records for Gross and Net Punting average in 2011, previously held by Tom Rouen (47.6; 1998) and Mike Horan (38.9; 1990), respectively.
- LB Wesley Woodyard led the team in Special-Teams Tackles (10) for the 2nd consecutive season in 2011 and the third time in his first four NFL seasons.
- Rookie CB Omar Bolden recorded a 103-yard kickoff return for a Touchdown in Denver’s preseason finale at Ari. (8/30) to represent the longest such play in any game in Broncos history.
Go Broncos!
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