Don't Look Now, but Broncos Are Coming Back With a Vengeance

It didn't take a miracle this week, but the Broncos won all the same.

The Broncos moved to 2-0 with a 27-6 victory against the hapless Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon, and they did it behind a defense that continues to bear no resemblance to the ones that made Mile High Stadium a fairly innocuous place to visit over the last two seasons. Elvis Dumervil's four sacks of Brady Quinn led the effort, and his strip of Quinn on the first Browns drive of the second half helped a 10-6 game become a rout.

The Browns converted just 3 of 14 third downs, gained only 200 yards overall and, generally, looked like they had no answer to the newly-frisky Broncos 3-4 scheme.

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The defense's strong game against the Bengals in the opener looks even better in light of the way the Bengals played in beating Green Bay Sunday afternoon. The strong performance of the Broncos' defense got lost because of the justifiable focus on the spectacular way the game ended, but after two straight good weeks, it's much harder to deny that there's been a resurgence under Mike Nolan's tutelage.

The Broncos looked good offensively this week, as well, but it's a little harder to get excited about that side of the ball right now. Kyle Orton completed only 19 of 37 passes, but did hit several big gainers to make for a better showing than last week. Whether that was because of improved relationships with his receivers or the generally abysmal Browns defense remains to be seen. More encouraging was the emergence of Knowshon Moreno, who had 75 yards on 17 carries in a sprightly performance that put to rest lingering concerns about his physical condition.

While you don't want to rush to any conclusions about the Broncos based on a performance against a team of Cleveland's caliber, there's a lot of reason to believe things are setting up well for a Bronco playoff run.

They've got four games with the Chiefs and Raiders in front of them, as well as a trip to D.C. to play the offensively challenged Redskins. The rest of the schedule is relatively difficult, but getting two wins under their belt gets things moving in the right direction. Confidence and chemistry has to be building across the rebuilt roster and having a defense that's actually capable of getting off the field without allowing points goes miles in the NFL.