Will Denver’s turnover binge continue?

Parker Gabriel, Broncos beat reporter: Welcome back to the roundtable, dudes. Denver knocked off Cleveland, is now 6-5 and heads to Houston to face the Texans in a game that will substantially swing the playoff picture for both outfits. But the fun doesn’t end there for Sean Payton’s team regardless of the outcome. They’re on the road three straight weekends, with the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit to follow the Texans. That’s a lot of opposing logo stenciling on the Centura Health Training Facility fields for Denver’s paint guys. The question this week: Can the Broncos really keep this takeaway bonanza they’ve been on rolling? They have 15 in their past four games and at least three in each of those. Before that, they didn’t log more than two in a game and had seven in their first seven games.

Nobody’s expecting 15 more over the next four games, but let’s do it this way: Over the past 10 seasons in the NFL, the average league leader in takeaways has generated 34.9. Denver needs 13 over its final six games to hit that mark. So, over/under 2.2 takeaways per game the rest of the way? I’ll take the over. Barely.

Ryan McFadden, Broncos beat reporter: What the Broncos’ defense has done is pretty remarkable, especially after how they started the season. Some of the takeaways have been pure luck while some have come from how physical they have been as a defense over the past month or so. But it will be a challenge to keep it up against the Texans. They have 11 turnovers this season and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud only has five picks. The same can be said about the Chargers, who only have 12 turnovers. I could see a scenario where the Broncos average between 1-2 takeaways to finish out the regular season. As the Broncos continue to be a physical, hard-hitting defense, they will continue to put up numbers in the turnover margin. They also have guys in the secondary, like Justin Simmons and Ja’Quan McMillian, who have a knack at getting to the football.

I think it’s hard for this team to generate three to five takeaways as they have done in the past four games. But I don’t see this defense reverting back to how they played early in the season when it had one takeaway in three games.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Fundamentals and mojo are sustainable. But luck? Luck isn’t. I’m still trying to wrap my fat head around how the Broncos flipped the switch from the worst defense in NFL history to one of the best in about five weeks. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that doesn’t happen without souls, blood contracts and magic wands. Or some combination of all three.