The Broncos' win over the Saints showcased two of the QB's best friends: a great ground game and a dominant defense

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — As Sean Payton prepared to turn his offense over to a rookie quarterback for the first time in his 17 years as an NFL head coach, he said two essential ingredients for success were a good ground game and a strong one Defense.

Both appeared in the The Broncos' 33-10 smackdown the injury-plagued Saints in Payton's emotional and triumphant return to New Orleans on Thursday night.

“I think they said there were 22 guys that were with the Saints at some point as a coach or player, so it's great for Sean and all those guys,” defensive end Zach Allen said. “It’s definitely something we’ll all remember for a long time.”

Vance Joseph's defense collected six sacks, two takeaways and a defensive touchdown (another was negated by a penalty), and the Broncos (4-3) rushed for a whopping 225 yards. That included 75 yards from quarterback Bo Nix, who shook off a terrible game against the Chargers last week to direct six consecutive scoring drives and two touchdown runs Javonte Williams and four field goals by former Saints kicker Wil Lutz.

“We need to convert some of those field goals into touchdowns,” Nix said, “but it was good to get points early and move the ball early.” We got a first down on the first play and our defense played solid as always, So overall we played well and let the ball run for a lot of yards. That always helps.”

Williams led the way with 88 yards on 14 carries and had his first two-touchdown game of his career.

“Everything was right for me, and everything was right for the team in attack and defense,” said Williams. “It was a great game for us.”

Four times the Broncos have limited their opponents to a touchdown or fewer and three times they have allowed 10 or fewer points.

“If everyone does their job, we can really do something special, and we've been saying that since the OTAs,” Allen said. “We have three of them this year and last year the sky apparently fell, so we are in a good spot. There is still a lot to do, but we have the people here who will do the right things.”

Nix knows that the offense still has to make some leaps.

“We're going to continue to find ways to make explosive plays and move the ball like we did today,” he said. “We just have to go back and duplicate it as the weeks go by.”

What works

The defense has been top-notch all season, and on Thursday night the Broncos held the Saints out of the end zone on 11 drives before conceding a late touchdown.

What needs help

Despite the loss, there is still plenty of room for improvement on offense. Although the Broncos scored on six straight drives, four of them were field goals by former Saints kicker Wil Lutz.

Stock up

ILB Cody Barton. He tied for the team lead with eight stops, had a sack, a quarterback hit, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. He scored a touchdown and another score was wiped out by a penalty. Barton has worn the green dot on his helmet so he can give the defensive signals since Alex Singleton went on IR at the end of the season a month ago.

Inventory reduced

WR Courtland Sutton just because he had no targets on Thursday night. Williams had three catches for his 23 this season, two more than Sutton, the Broncos' top receiver. After a lengthy delay in the spring, Sutton agreed to a revision in July that included an additional $1.5 million in performance-based incentives. Last month, the Broncos converted $11.875 million of his $13 million salary into a bonus.

Injuries

Star CB Patrick Surtain II is expected to emerge from the concussion protocol next week.

Key numbers

28 – Broncos sacks, which lead the league.

5 – Consecutive games with at least one sack for Nik Bonitto.

4 – Sacks by Zach Allen, one fewer than last year in 17 games.

1 — Game ball is presented to Payton from team owner Greg Penner.

Next Steps

The Broncos host the Carolina Panthers on October 27th.

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