Quote Originally Posted by Davii View Post
I have no doubt that the "No Fly Zone" will turn back to dominant once our young safeties have some more experience under their belts. Yes, they both have more athletic skill than TJ possessed at this point in time, however, they aren't TJ, they still have some learning to do.

Also, once we Have Shane Ray back I think our pass rush will get an extra jump, and the longer Joe Woods is calling the D shots the better he'll get at it. I don't think because we're stuffing the run we'll be mediocre against the pass... We were bad against the run last year because we were bad against the run, not because we were the #1 pass D.
I'd say you have it backwards. We were great against the pass because we were great against the pass with Aqub Talib & Chris Harris. But, the two things are interrelated.

Even if your secondary is great, you will NOT be #1 against the pass if teams can't run on your defense at all - like teams cannot run at all on the 2017 Broncos, because the DL with Gotsis, Wolfe, and Pecko is playing like so many werewolves. So, what are they going to do?

Test the no-fly zone. With what result? Mixed. If they throw more they will get more completions and more yards, but they're also taking more chances and will probably suffer more turnovers. But, the statistical ranking of the defense is based on passing yards allowed.

That's the official measure of being the NFL's #1 defense: you gave up fewer passing yards than anybody else. Well, they're unlikely to be that for the third year in a row. They're not close to #1 now.