Over their last five quarters of action, the Denver Broncos offenses has been on an absolutely historic tear, scoring 77 points combined in the 4th quarter of their comeback win vs. the New York Giants two weeks ago and their 44-24 rout of the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday. At the center of this success has been second-year quarterback Bo Nix, who has seemingly shaken off his sluggish start to the season and finally found his groove.
In that time, Nix has accounted for 465 total yards and 8 total touchdowns, video game numbers that have propelled a Broncos offense that had only scored more than 21 points in two of their first six games of the season.
But this Sunday against the Houston Texans defense, it's possible -- if not likely -- that Bo Nix and the Broncos offense could come crashing back down to earth.
Even with a middling 3-4 record, you would receive very little pushback if you were to suggest that the Houston Texans defense is the best in the National Football League. Put together any combination of statistical measures that you'd like, and that will be proven to be the case. But even beyond the stats, the scouting report on the Texans defense that Bo Nix has been given in order to prepare for Sunday's game seems to suggests the same.
Bo Nix talks Texans defense
"They fly around. They do a really good job of attacking the football, making tackles in space. Fast flowing defense," Nix said of the Texans' top-ranked defense. "They don't do a whole lot, but they do what they do really well and they're very consistent at it. They have some key players that you definitely have to be aware of."
To Nix's point, the Texans defense is technically sound, lacking any glaring weaknesses, and they don't do much in terms of blitzing. Houston's blitz rate of 21.1% is in the bottom half of the NFL, and thus far this season, Nix has been excellent against the blitz. This means the Broncos offense is going to have to win straight up against one of the best units in the league, and thus far this season, this has been much easier said than done.
"We gotta execute at a higher level. They're not gonna give us much," Nix said. "They're one of the top defenses for a reason. They do a good job of limiting you to points, they force some turnovers. So we gotta do a good job with the ball and move the chains, create some longer drives and score when we got the opportunity."
Again, this is much easier said than done. The Texans have allowed the fewest points in the NFL. They're one of only seven teams allowing fewer than 5 yards per play, and they're top three in both average time of possession and third down conversion rate.
Surprisingly though, one area where the Texans defense has been curiously below average is when opponents get in the red zone. Now I should note that Houston has allowed the second fewest number of red zone possessions in the NFL this season, so clearly, getting there is hard to come by. But in 17 red zone possessions, the Texans have allowed 12 touchdowns this year. That's tied for the worst red zone scoring percentage in the entire National Football League.