Denver Broncos: 3 Reactions to the Win Over the Bengals

Who is the Denver Broncos best athlete?

You might think Emmanuel Sanders or Von Miller, maybe even Lindsay. A receiver or a back, surely.  All fine candidates.

Denver Broncos

At this point in this season, the Broncos best athlete and honestly a freak of athletic prowess is Bradley Chubb.

It looked, for about five minutes, like Chubb was going to struggle finding his legs in the bigger, faster NFL.  Once he found that NFL gear, though, it created an incredible run that just may see him eclipse the rookie sack record (14.5 by Jevon Kearse in 1999).  Chubb has 10 sacks with four games remaining and it looks like he gets better every week.

Consider his output on Sunday in Cincinnati:  3 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.  Von Miller, perennial star is second in the NFL in sacks.  His resurgence can be partially attributed to the emergence of Chubb.  Teams double-team Miller at their own peril at this point, options for protection have become thin for opponents.

Chubb is big and strong and fast and he’s just getting better.  There’s more competition on the defensive side with Indianapolis Colts ILB Darius Leonard and Chargers safety Derwin James generating much of the press.  A charge from Dallas linebacker Leighton Vander Esch may make it difficult for the Astronaut but he’s absolutely had the biggest defensive impact this season.

Watch his strip sack and recovery, how he tracked Adam Gotsis Keystone Kops-ing the ball around and grabbed it right before the Cincinnati player could.  Chubb is an athletic freak and his presence has had as much to do with the Broncos climb to .500 as anything.

So, while the Denver Broncos enjoy incredible rookie seasons on both sides of the ball, there’s a factor that they’d largely avoided but is rearing it’s ugly head three-quarters of the way through the season: