Denver Broncos: Week 14 State of the Franchise

News and notes from the Denver Broncos‘ weekly press release. View the full release here (.pdf).

The Denver Broncos (8-4) travel to Indianapolis this week to face a Colts squad that is 12-0 this year and has won its last 21 regular-season games to tie for the longest such streak in NFL history. Kickoff at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday is set for 1 p.m. EST, and the game will be televised on CBS with Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts calling the action.

QUICKLY:

• Denver has won its last two games, including a 44-13 win at Kansas City last week, and has not trailed in either of those contests to mark the first time the club has accomplished that feat in three seasons.
• This week’s game features the most combined wins (20) by two rookie head coaches in NFL history with Josh McDaniels guiding Denver to eight victories and Jim Caldwell leading Indianapolis to 12 wins.

OFFENSE:

• The Broncos have averaged 191.5 rushing yards per game in the last two weeks for the second-best mark in the league during that time. Last week against the Chiefs, Denver totaled its best rushing output in a game in
  four years (245 yds.) while posting only one negative rush on 45 attempts.
• Rookie RB Knowshon Moreno, who leads NFL rookies in rushing yards (774) and yards from scrimmage (870), owns six 80-yard rushing games this year that tie for the 10th most in the NFL since 1960 by a rookie through his team’s first 12 contests.
• QB Kyle Orton, who attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., is 11-4 (.733) in his last 15 starts dating back to last year.

DEFENSE:

• OLB/DE Elvis Dumervil leads the NFL with 15 sacks and is one sack away from tying Denver’s single-season sack record (16, Simon Fletcher, 1992). His league-leading 10 sacks on third downs tie for the second most in NFL history for a season since sacks were tracked starting in 1982.
• Led by long-time NFL defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, the Broncos are the only team to rank among the league’s top five clubs defensively in yards per play (2nd, 4.6), passing yards per game (2nd, 180.3), yards per game (3rd, 288.9), points per game (3rd, 16.8) and sacks (5th, 34).

SPECIAL TEAMS:

• ILB/FB Spencer Larsen registered four solo tackles on special teams last week against Kansas City. His 10 special-teams stops since making his season debut six weeks ago rank second in the NFL.
• K Matt Prater has made his last 11 field goal attempts and has accounted for an NFL-high 28 points during the last two weeks.