When the Broncos returned to Denver on Sunday night after a hard-fought road victory at Cincinnati, they would have been well within their rights to unwind and leave the next week’s preparation for Monday.

Instead, several of the Broncos’ top defenders, including safety T.J. Ward and cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Kayvon Webster, went to outside linebacker Von Miller’s house for a late-night film session.

Despite a strong performance holding quarterback Andy Dalton and the Bengals to 17 points, those Broncos were nitpicking their bad plays. How did running back Jeremy Hill break free for a 50-yard run on the first drive? How did Dalton connect with tight end C.J. Uzomah for a 22-yard gain on third-and-9 midway through the second quarter? They analyzed the tape.

“Before we even get in the meeting room, for them to tell us where we made mistakes, we already know,” Ward said. “That’s the next level, if you want to be great. Everyone has to be great, not only here, but on their own time.”

That’s why it’s hard for opponents to gauge how best to attack the Broncos’ defense. Pick your poison between attacking Denver by passing the ball or running it — that latter of which increases the likelihood of three-and-outs. The formula to beat the Broncos’ defense has yet to be discovered. Through three weeks, teams are still searching.

“I hope they are. They should be trying to find something, but it’s hard to find. It’s hard to find a crack in this defense. We pride ourselves on that,” Ward said. “You can try to do something from last week that a team had a little success on, but we’re probably going to fix that and be ready for it the next week. You have to come up with something creative. That’s hard, because even if you have a scheme, you still have to beat us one-on-one.”

The Bengals came into the game with Dalton as the NFL’s leading passer after two weeks. Yet they flipped their game plan to a run-heavy offense, passing only eight times in the first half as if trying to catch the Broncos off guard.

“It was obvious they were trying to keep Von and everybody off their quarterback,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “They were committed to the run, chipping us and doing those type of things. But then at the end of the day, we had four sacks out of our two outside guys between Shane (Ray) and Von. So I think that was their plan going into it, but we hung in there. The key was us coming back in the second half, stopping the run. If we don’t stop it, we’re probably in for a long day.”

The Bengals finished with 29 rushes for 143 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.9 yards per carry, but those numbers don’t tell the full story. The Broncos responded well after the Bengals’ opening drive, highlighted by Hill’s 50-yard rush. After that first drive, Denver held Cincinnati to 78 yards rushing and one touchdown on 25 carries, averaging 3.1 yards.

Still, the Hill play drew a lot of attention. It occurred on a counter when the Bengals rushed to the unbalanced left side of their offensive line, where they had an extra offensive lineman and a tight end blocking. It was a well-executed play in which Cincinnati had enough blockers for every Denver defender, sealed the edge and finished blocks, allowing Hill to get to the second level, where he raced safety Darian Stewart down the sideline.

“They caught us out of position,” said Broncos defensive end Billy Winn, who was a key player in stopping the run Sunday. “Guys played real aggressive, and we missed our gaps and techniques. They were able to crease it. We settled down and made some adjustments to stop that.” Related Articles September 25, 2016 Shane Ray busts out for Broncos with three sacks; Jeff Heuerman debuts

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The Broncos saw the same play by running back Giovani Bernard in the second quarter. They were more patient, and linebackers Brandon Marshall and Todd Davis made the stop after a 4-yard gain.

Another flaw the Broncos’ defense noticed over its first three weeks is allowing quarterbacks to scramble for first downs, specifically on long-distance downs. They’ve worked to correct that this week.

“It’s being more gap disciplined on third down,” Ray said. “Teams know that we’re playing man coverage, so quarterbacks start trying to get out of the pocket. When they see that lane, they take off running. We see that. We know what’s going on. We’re just going to go to the film room and see what we can do to counter that.”

When teams have chosen to pass or been forced to pass, the Broncos’ top edge pass rushers, Miller (five sacks) and Ray (three), have been able to get to the quarterback. On the back end, the No-Fly Zone continues to close passing lanes. Counting Dalton, the Indianapolis Colts’ Andrew Luck and the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton, the Broncos haven’t allowed a quarterback to surpass 206 passing yards, and they’ve intercepted more passes (three) than they have allowed touchdowns by air (two).

“Every play is a pass for me,” Talib said. “I’m going to play the pass and react to the run.”

Running the ball has proved to be the lesser of two evils early this season, but as Cincinnati found out, that formula can be foiled. Offensive coordinators will keep unveiling new plans, but it appears that once the Broncos hone in on what an opponent is doing, there is no obvious weakness.

How opposing offenses have fared against the Broncos defense per quarter

Quarter – Pass Att. | Cmp. | Yds | Yd/A | TD | Int | Sacks | QB rating | Rushes | Yds | Avg. | TD

1st Qtr – 17 | 8 | 81 | 4.76 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 80.8 | 19 | 133 | 7.0 | 1

2nd Qtr – 23 | 13 | 146 | 6.35 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 75.6 | 26 | 98 | 3.8 | 2

3rd Qtr – 19 | 11 | 97 | 5.11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 71.6 | 26 | 111 | 4.3 | 1

4th Qtr – 45 | 28 | 273 | 6.07 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 58.8 | 11 | 41 | 3.7 | 0

How opposing offenses have fared against the Broncos defense on each down

Down – Pass Att. | Cmp. | Yds | Yd/A | TD | Int | Sacks | QB Rating | Rushes | Yds | Avg. | TD

1st Down – 37 | 18 | 170 | 4.59 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 50.5 | 44 | 169 | 3.8 | 3

2nd Down – 36 | 19 | 202 | 5.61 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 76.4 | 30 | 184 | 6.1 | 1

3rd Down – 29 | 22 | 213 | 7.34 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 81.5 | 8 | 30 | 3.8 | 0

4th Down – 2 | 1 | 12 | 6.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68.8 | 0 | 0 | – | 0

Cameron Wolfe, The Denver Post

Source: Statspass