When the Miami Dolphins line up on defense, they will have four guys up front, three linebackers and … Blitz! Blitz! Blitz!

The Dolphins love to blitz. Entering their game Sunday against the Broncos, the Dolphins have been blitzing 25.3 percent of the time, the fourth-highest figure in the NFL.

Whether the Dolphins back off their blitzes against Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning remains to be seen. But as a general rule, Miami likes to play with chaos.

“You have to mix it up. That’s the hardest thing about (facing blitz-happy teams),” said Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase. “You can’t be one-dimensional.”

When the Broncos line up on defense, they will have four guys up front, three guys at linebacker and … four guys back in coverage. No blitz.

This season, the Broncos have viewed the blitz like a dark alley after midnight — something to fear.

The Broncos have blitzed on only 13.7 percent of their defensive snaps, which ranks 30th in the 32-team league. And on first down or run downs? The Broncos have called for only four run blitzes all season, according to Stats Inc., easily the fewest in the league.

“They don’t need to pressure because they get such good pass rush from their four guys up front,” Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill said in a conference call with Denver media this week. “Occasionally they will throw a fifth guy in there, but they don’t use a whole lot of pressure packages. That is a testament to the pass rush that they can get just from their standard guys.”

Whether Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio decides to call more blitzes against Tannehill remains to be seen. But as a general rule, the Broncos don’t feel like they need help from the blitz to get to the quarterback because their two pass-rushing defensive ends in their nickel packages, Von Miller (10) and DeMarcus Ware (nine), have a total of 19 sacks.

“When you have me and Von, you can let the cover guys cover and let the four-man rush do their job,” Ware said. “It’s a lot safer that way.”

There is some ambiguity with the term “blitz.” Statisticians define it as five or more pass rushers, but say Del Rio sends strong safety T.J. Ward at the quarterback and drops Miller into coverage. Is Ward blitzing? Or is he just the fourth pass rusher?

Less confusing is the reason teams blitz.

“In the pass game, you’re always trying to disrupt the quarterback,” said Broncos coach John Fox. “It starts there. The best pass defense in the world is a pass rush. Some people are able to manufacture it with four, some people manufacture it with more than four.”

Should the Broncos blitz more? Ward and Denver linebacker Brandon Marshall wouldn’t mind. They’re fast, aggressive defenders whose skill set is ideal for blitzing.

“I love to blitz,” Ward said. “But I’m just a player. I do what the coaches tell me.”

“We feel like we have the personnel to match up head to head and just play,” Marshall said. “Which we do. But I definitely like to blitz.”

The Broncos are effective when they blitz. Their opposing passing rating of 74.1 ranks fifth in the league.

But the Dolphins blitz frequently and are even more effective. Their opposing passing rating of 68.8 leads the league. The Dolphins’ defense ranks third with 30 sacks, 13 of which have come off blitzes.

“They’ve got two ends that are pretty good rushers too,” Fox said, referring to Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon, who have 14 combined sacks. “Sometimes it might be the personality of your team, personality of your coordinator.”

In the most recent Monday night game, the Tennessee Titans seemed to blitz the Pittsburgh Steelers on nearly every play, sometimes with six or seven guys. And for almost three quarters they had Ben Roethlisberger rattled. But then Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell became a blitz-buster by gashing the Titans for 130 yards rushing between 3:28 left in the third quarter and 1:54 left in the fourth quarter.

“That’s the way they beat it, with quick-hitting plays,” Fox said. “That can be in the run game or passing game. Or you max protect and go deep.”

Manning is facing a few more blitzes than he did last year but still deals with fewer than most quarterbacks because he’s a master at exploiting where the defense is vulnerable. He also has been the least-sacked quarterback in the NFL the past three years with 52.

Tannehill was sacked a whopping 58 times last season alone, 118 in the past three years.

Like most young quarterbacks, Tannehill has faced his share of blitzes, but he may not Sunday.

To blitz or not to blitz? The Broncos rarely blitz and rank fifth in total defense, second against the run. The Dolphins often blitz and rank second in total defense, second against the pass.

“In the first portion of this season, we have counted on and been very successful with outstanding rush people and coverage people and letting them do their thing,” Del Rio said. “In Oakland a couple weeks ago, I don’t remember if we called a blitz that day. Not much. But we had 10 three-and-outs. Any time you can get 10 three-and-outs in a game, we’ll take it.”

Mike Klis: mklis@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikeklis

Some teams blitz a lot, some don’t

The NFL’s top four and bottom four blitz teams based on percentage of defensive plays with a look at the number of blitzes on passing downs and running downs, as identified by Stats Inc., with overall defensive ranking in the 32-team league:

RankTeam Pass Rush Total Blitz pct.Def. rank1Cardinals 150 26 176 28.0132Colts 148 27 175 27.8 243Rams 151 18 169 27.217 4Dolphins 130 33 163 25.3229Patriots 73 168913.81630Broncos 8849213.753149ers 65137812.8432Jaguars 549 639.329