ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- When the Denver Broncos file into the Superdome this weekend, they will know what’s waiting for them.

It will be the same thing, it seems, that has been waiting for them week after week, game after game this season. And that has been the best the NFL has to offer at quarterback.

“It’s every week, man," said Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib. “Every week, we face those guys who know what to do and where to go with the ball. ... We face the ballers."

The Broncos have faced a murders' row of elite quarterbacks, and coach Gary Kubiak puts the Saints' Drew Brees "on top of the list." AP Photo/D. Ross Cameron

In fact, when the Broncos face the New Orleans Saints and quarterback Drew Brees on Sunday, it will mean a Denver pass defense rated No. 1 in the league will have faced the league's top five quarterbacks in passing yardage within a 10-week span.

Brees is second in passing yards, and the Broncos have already faced Matt Ryan (No. 1), Andrew Luck (No. 3), Philip Rivers (No. 4) and Derek Carr (No. 5). Toss in Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton (No. 8), and the Broncos will have faced six of the top eight passers in the league in their first 10 games, with Tom Brady waiting in December as well as another game against Carr to close out the regular season.

Against those previous five quarterbacks, including Dalton, the Broncos have not surrendered as much as a 270-yard passing game. And along with the five touchdown passes they've given up, they have five interceptions in those six games -- the Broncos have faced Rivers twice.

Rivers, in the second meeting between the teams, had the most passing yards, 267, but the Broncos intercepted him three times in that game. The Broncos are 3-3 in those games, with a split with Rivers to go with wins over Luck and Dalton. Ryan, Rivers and Carr have won games against the Broncos, with the most recent being the Raiders’ win this past Sunday night. Oakland pounded out 218 rushing yards, and Carr finished with 184 passing yards and no touchdowns.

“We’re tested,’’ said Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. “We have played the best.’’

And Brees, indoors, on the carpet, just might be the most difficult of all, given that Talib is a question mark for the game with a back injury and defensive end Derek Wolfe will miss the game because of a fracture in his right elbow.

Brees clearly likes the comforts of home, given that he has topped 400 passing yards in two of his four home games this season and has thrown for at least 376 yards in three of those home games. For the season, Brees has 21 touchdown passes and just five interceptions, and per usual he’s been difficult to sack -- 12 times in eight games.

“We talked about that [Wednesday] morning," said Broncos coach Gary Kubiak. “We’ve faced a lot of good quarterbacks, and this one’s got to be on top of the list. He’s exceptional, one of the finest players I’ve ever seen, from being a quarterback guy and watching that position. This guy’s been exceptional for years and years. Really at the top of his game right now."

What has always made Brees so difficult to deal with is his ability to digest what he sees across the line before and just after the snap, and then to deliver the ball to the best spot well before the pass rush has made any progress toward him.

Kubiak, a former NFL quarterback who has coached quarterbacks for well over two decades as a head coach and NFL assistant, called Brees' ability “brilliant.’’

“Drew can throw to spots with his eyes closed," Kubiak said. “He goes out and plays, boom, boom, boom. That’s the way you teach guys to play quarterback. That’s what he does. He knows all the spots on the field, he knows where everybody’s supposed to be, plays the game extremely fast with a great tempo. Just a great leader."

The Broncos have consistently frustrated opposing quarterbacks of all pedigrees for much of the last two seasons with a combination of man-to-man coverages in the secondary to go with a pass rush that features Von Miller.

However, the Broncos have shown some cracks in their run defense of late. The Chargers' Melvin Gordon and the Raiders' Latavius Murray have each topped 100 yards rushing in the last two games, and the Saints are coming off a 248-yard rushing day in their win over the San Francisco 49ers last weekend.

“It’s Drew Brees," said Broncos linebacker Shane Ray. “He’s been in the league 15 years. I look at him as one of the legendary quarterbacks. When you think about Peyton [Manning] and [Steelers quarterback] "Big Ben" [Roethlisberger] and that group of quarterbacks, he’s right up there, too. The amount of yards that he’s put up passing, everything speaks for itself and who he is."