The Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to raid the Denver Broncos this Sunday in the hopes of stealing a victory. Denver (8-3) has won six consecutive games – the longest active streak in the NFL – and Tampa Bay (6-5) has won four of its past five. Since Week 6, Tampa Bay leads the NFC with 228 points (32.6 per game). During that six game streak, the Broncos have outscored their opponents 183-107 and have averaged 30.5 points per game. Last week, the Bucs lost to the Atlanta Falcons 23-24 and the Broncos defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 17-9.
Broncos head coach John Fox is 11-7 against the Buccaneers and Tampa Bay’s Greg Schiano, in his first season, has never faced the Broncos.
Lets take a look at the numbers shall we?
BRONCOS BUCCANEERS
Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Division Standing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st (AFCW) . . . . . . . . 2nd (NFCS)
Turnover Margin (NFL Rank) . . . . . . .-3 (T-18th) . . . . . . . . . .+11(6th)
OFFENSE
Net Yards Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . 391.8 (4th) . . . . . . . . . . 365.4 (12th)
Yards Per Play (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . 6.0 (4th) . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 (3rd)
Points Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . . . . .28.9 (3rd) . . . . . . . . . . . .28.2 (4th)
Possession Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29:05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29:56
Net Rushing Yards Per Game . . . . . . 104.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121.7
Net Passing Yards Per Game . . . . . . . 287.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243.6
Had Intercepted/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/191 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7/143
Sacks Allowed/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16/98 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16/109
Fumbles/Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16/13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11/4
Third Down Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . . 44.1% (5th) . . . . . . . . . . .34.8% (24th)
Red Zone TD Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . 60% (T-6th) . . . . . . . . . . 66.7% (3rd)
Giveaways (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . . . 21 (T-24th) . . . . . . . . . . . 11 (T-4th)
DEFENSE
Net Yards Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . 308.4 (4th) . . . . . . . . . . 397.1 (30th)
Yards Per Play (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . 4.6 (3rd) . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 (31st)
Points Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . . . . 20.1 (8th) . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.1 (T-18th)
Net Rushing Yards Per Game . . . . . . 98.7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.5
Net Passing Yards Per Game . . . . . . .209.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315.5
Intercepted By/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . .13/205 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16/392
Sacks For/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37/251 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18/116
Opponent Fumbles/Lost . . . . . . . . . . 17/5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13/6
Third Down Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . . 33.5% (4th) . . . . . . . . . . 42.9% (25th)
Red Zone TD Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . 61.3% (27th) . . . . . . . . . 47.1% (9th)
Takeaways (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . . . 18 (T-13th) . . . . . . . . . . 22 (T-6th)
SPECIAL TEAMS
Punts-Average Yards (Gross) . . . . . . 47.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.9
Punts-Average Yards (Net) . . . . . . . . 43.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.0
Punt Returns-Average Per . . . . . . . . .9.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.9
Punt Returns-Avg. Per Allowed . . . . .4.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6
Kickoff Returns-Average Per . . . . . . . 23.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4
Kickoff Returns-Avg. Per Allowed . . . 21.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.8
Field Goals Made/Attempted . . . . . . . 16/20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20/25
PENALTIES
Penalties Against/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . 66/540 . . . . . . . . . . . . 72/571
Opponent Penalties Against/Yards . . .80/615 . . . . . . . . . . . . 76/629
Pro Football Focus
- has the Broncos ranked 3rd Overall on Offense, Defense and Special Teams.
- The Buccaneers rank 10th on Offense, 13th on Defense and 12th on Special Teams.
Football Outsiders
- Denver at 3rd overall, 3rd on Offense, 5th on Defense and 11th on Special Teams.
- Tampa Bay is 12th overall, 10th on Offense, 15th on Defense and 27th on Special Teams.
Advanced NFL Stats
Adjusted Team Success Rate
| Rank |
Team |
Tm AdjSR |
Off AdjSR |
Def AdjSR |
| 1 |
Denver |
53.7% |
49.4% |
58.1% |
| 28 |
Tampa Bay |
47.5% |
42.3% |
52.8% |
BRONCOS 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. Peyton’s 22 career AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors are tied for the most by a player since the award was initiated by the NFL in 1984. 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 surpassed 4,000 passing yards in a season an NFL record 11 times during his career.
- Denver leads the NFL with 18 individual 100-yard rushers since 1995, totaling an NFL-best 134.8 rushing yards per game during that stretch.
- RB Ronnie Hillman, who is the NFL’s youngest player, will be 21 years, two months and 18 days old on Sunday.
- WR Eric Decker’s 17 career receiving Touchdowns since he entered the NFL in 2010 are tied for the most receiving scores by a Bronco in his first 3 professional seasons. He is one of just three players in franchise history with at least 8 receiving touchdowns in consecutive seasons.
- WR Demaryius Thomas has posted a career-high 1,015 receiving yards this season to set a career high in that category and represent the 31st 1,000-yard receiving season in Broncos history. Thomas leads the NFL with 16 receptions of 25+ yards. Demaryius set a franchise record by leading the team in receiving yards during the Broncos’ final 7 games of the 2011 campaign.
- TE Joel Dreessen ranks 4th in the NFL among Tight Ends in percentage of catches resulting in Touchdowns (15.1% / 14-of-93) since 2010 (min. 40 rec.).
- WR Brandon Stokley is just the 11th player in NFL history to post 30 receptions and 5 Touchdowns after entering a season aged 36 or older.
- T Ryan Clady has started 75 consecutive games to begin his career as one of just 3 players from his 2008 draft class to accomplish that feat. Clady is tied for the fewest sacks allowed (1.0) among Offensive Tackles who have started every game for their team.
- C Dan Koppen ranks 1st among offensive linemen in NFL history (min. 100 GP) with a winning percentage of .786 (103-28)
DEFENSIVE NOTES
- Jack Del Rio is in his 1st season as the Broncos’ Defensive Coordinator after spending the previous nine 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 33 Interceptions rank 5th in the NFL since he joined the Broncos in 2004. His 51 career interceptions rank 1st among all active NFL Cornerbacks and are 3rd among all players since entering the league in 1999.
- LB Von Miller is tied for the NFL lead in Tackles For a Loss (24) in addition to ranking 3rd in the league in Sacks (14). Miller was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press after setting a Broncos rookie record with 11.5 Sacks.
- 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 (.70) and owns the 3rd-most multiple-Sack games (19) in the league since his rookie season in 2006. Dumervil ranks 2nd in the NFL lead with a career-high six Forced Fumbles in 2012.
- LB Wesley Woodyard is the only player in the NFL this season and just the 9th player in Broncos history (since 1970) to record at least 3 Interceptions and 3 Sacks in a single season.
- CB Chris Harris is one of just 4 NFL players (and the only Defensive Back) with multiple Interceptions (2) and Sacks (2.5) in 2012.
- LB Keith Brooking has played 187 consecutive games to represent the 3rd-longest streak among active NFL players.
- CB Tracy Porter has totaled three career game-sealing Interceptions returned for Touchdowns with all 3 of those plays occurring with less than 3:30 remaining in the 4th quarter and his team leading by one score or less.
- DE Derek Wolfe recorded his first 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 is in 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 36-of-37 (.973) in his career in the 4th quarter or Overtime, including 8-of-8 in 2012. Prater became the first 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 3 consecutive contests in 2011. He 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. Matt owns the 2nd-best field goal percentage from 50+ yards (.750/ 15-of-20) 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. Colquitt ranks 2nd in the NFL with a 43.1 Net punting average having allowed a league-low 4.3 yards per return against him.
- LB Wesley Woodyard led the team in Special-Teams tackles (10) for the 2nd consecutive season in 2011 and the 3rd time in his first 4 NFL seasons.
- WR Trindon Holliday’s 105-yard Kickoff return for a Touchdown against the Bengals in Week 9 represented the longest play in franchise history. Holliday is just the 3rd player in franchise history to record a Touchdown on a Kickoff return and a punt return in the same season.
Go Broncos!
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