DENVER _ It started, and ended, on the 2-yard line. This is the Broncos we're talking about, after all, so narrow margins are where they feel most comfortable.
And like any good superhero flick _ the superheroes in this case being the Broncos' irrationally relentless defenders _ you need a proper villain. Enter, Philip Rivers.
"I even helped him up once," defensive lineman Derek Wolfe said afterward by his locker and, after a pause for effect, added, "But I still told him I'll eat his children."
Anyway, the 2-yard line: The Chargers were there in the third quarter (their own 2-yard line) and Rivers led them 98 yards for a touchdown. Along the way Rivers endured nasty hit after nasty hit, but he still found the energy and gumption to signal for a first down, inciting the Mile High crowd of 75,789 into hysterics. Admit it. You'll miss him when he's gone.
But the Broncos' 27-19 win against the Chargers eventually showed everything the Broncos are and everything they are not. They are, until proven otherwise, the toughest out in the NFL, and in a league where the postseason is where teams are remembered, that's not for nothing. They are not, until they prove otherwise, perfect _ unless they are backed against their own 2-yard line, or into any tight space, picked against and picked on with no room for error. Then they become close to perfect.
The second time on the 2-yard line (their own), the Broncos defense built a wall and stopped Rivers on four consecutive snaps from the end zone's welcome mat: Incomplete, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete. It also stopped a 2-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game and made the crowd even more nervous than it already was. After a penalty on the Chargers for pass interference, the Broncos told one of the hottest QBs in the NFL: Not today, old friend. Not on our watch. Not from the 2-yard line.
"In order to be a great defense you have to make stands like that," T.J. Ward said.
Metaphorically speaking, the Broncos love the 2-yard line. They live for the 2-yard line. Shoved into a spot no one wants to be, they kick and scream and scratch and claw and value pride above of all else. They are at their best against the best, and when someone asks if the Broncos can win the Super Bowl again, this would be my answer: I wouldn't want to play them in the postseason. Start the playoffs here, at Sports Authority, up in Foxboro against the Patriots, or on the moon. They'll be the same.
"We play better on the road," Chris Harris Jr. told me. "Look at the numbers."
This Broncos era is 27 games in, and what you've seen is what you're going to get.
Unless a plague strikes their defense _ or they run out of hospitalized coaches _ the Broncos will be a January nightmare for whichever playoff team draws them.
Now they just need to get there. And the AFC West has decided that won't be easy.
After the game, Von Miller poked fun at Trevor Siemian by asking if the quarterback was going as Peter Parker for Halloween. In a class button-down dress shirt and jeans, Siemian simply nodded the ribbing away. Soon after, Shane Ray called Miller a "stupid head," so it's fair to assume chemistry in the locker room remains strong.
"Who took my cellphone?" Ward hollered at his locker. "Y'all ain't funny anymore!"
It's funny, however, watching Rivers perform his timeless song and dance, unless you are playing against him. His quarterback rating was 28.9, which is like shooting 63 on the front 9, when he took the ball at the 2-yard line and marched 98 yards for a score. It is players like Rivers _ and there aren't many that good, unfortunately _ who flip Denver's intensity switch to high.
"I don't really like the guy. I like playing against him, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy I'd hang out with," Wolfe said.
With the offense putt-putt-puttering along at 5.1 yards per play _ they averaged 5.4 last season _ the defense picked off Rivers three times. Sometimes it feels like the defense is so good because it has no other choice, and if the offense ever catches up, the defense will take it easy. These Broncos seem to prefer plane flights with Rocky Mountain turbulence, rafting trips through Class Vs, blackjack hands when the dealer shows an Ace.
"I've having a ton of fun, actually," Siemian said.
It should be obvious by now the Broncos are not the AFC favorite to reach Super Bowl LI. That would be the hoodie-hoarding, dimple-chinned Patriots, who are 7-1. Simply escaping the AFC West will be a challenge of its own, with the Raiders at 6-2 and the Chiefs at 5-2, and Rivers and the Chargers, mercifully, now shadows in the rearview mirror.
"Every game is going to be a playoff game for us," Wolfe said.
The Broncos are 6-2.
"B-plus," Wolfe graded.
Kicking and screaming is so 2015. The new motto? "Just get in." The NFL postseason is one big 2-yard line, and that's where the Broncos are at their best.
