The Denver Broncos have quietly been a brick wall on defense this year. They’re third in the league in both total defense and scoring defense and enter Week 13 leading the NFL in sacks. While great defenses on perhaps unexpected playoff contenders don’t often get a lot of press, rookie quarterbacks who may lead their teams to the playoffs do. Enter Bo Nix, who has been solid for much of his rookie season, completing nearly 65% of his passes and throwing just six interceptions in 399 pass attempts. Defense and not turning the ball over has been a working strategy for the 7-5 Broncos, who head into Monday Night Football holding one of the AFC wild-card spots.
They’ll take on a Jameis Winston-led Cleveland Browns team that’s riding a wave of confidence, if nothing else. They’ve beaten both the Ravens and Steelers over the past few weeks and seem to have something cooking with Winston’s energy under center. They’ll look to play spoiler again with the national spotlight on them after last week’s Thursday night win in a Cleveland snow globe.