Joseph: ‘Stopping the run won’t be one of our issues”

The preseason is the preseason. It’s hard to judge how a unit will perform in the regular season, since everyone knows the preseason doesn’t actually count. With the Denver Broncos, they have been middle of the road stopping the run through three preseason games.

Should we be concerned? Not according to Head Coach Vance Joseph.

“I’m not,” Joseph said on Monday. “As a whole, when our ones and twos were out there—as far as preseason, outside of, I think, Week 1—[we] have given up two big runs that were concerning. I think against Chicago and Minnesota we had a couple issues there, but I’m not concerned because the things that we did wrong we can fix. [There are] really easy fixes to it. In my opinion, stopping the run won’t be one of our issues.”

I would tend to agree. You should look at recent history and base our expectations on those. When it comes to yards per attempt, the Broncos have a recent history of dominant run defense.

Despite a slow start in 2017, they would finish with the best run defense in the NFL giving up just 3.3 yards per attempt. The defensive line is basically unchanged and arguably even added talent since then.

I think they’ll be just fine against the run in 2018.