Nov 6, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos punter Jeremy Crawshaw (16) punts the ball in the second quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

I cannot believe we are writing an article about a punter as the secret ingredient behind one of the NFL's very best teams, but here we are, and so are the 2025 Denver Broncos. At 8 and 2, the Broncos are the talk of the league for their defense, their grit, and, oddly enough, their busy special teams unit.

No one saw this coming, but Denver leads the entire NFL in punts, sending the ball away 53 times this season, a stat that sounds improbable for a top team, yet here it is in black and white and in every post-game breakdown on ESPN and NFL.com. Their punter, Jeremy Crawshaw, is suddenly a name every fan knows, which is unheard of unless the guy is setting records or, in Denver's case, changing entire games.

Crawshaw is not just volume punting; he is putting on a clinic every week. Out of his 53 punts, a league high, he has already booted one 76 yards, the second-longest in the NFL this year, which made the Broncos crowd roar and made highlight reels everywhere. Even more impressive, Crawshaw is leading the league by landing 20 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line. With each precision kick, he is flipping the field and basically making Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph want to send him a thank-you note with every three-and-out the Broncos force.

It might sound like a punchline to say the Broncos win the field position game every week, but it is nothing less than true. Opposing quarterbacks see the shadow of their own end zone and know, almost before the drive begins, that nothing will come easy in Denver.

This season, the Broncos have gotten used to ugly wins and low-scoring games, and honestly, at this point, they would not change a thing. The offense is good enough to protect the football and get out of the way, while the defense and special teams are setting up short fields and letting Crawshaw set the tone whenever things stall. Some teams are built on highlight-reel touchdowns, others on stone-wall defense, but the 2025 Broncos are built on relentless punting efficiency and lockdown D.

Who knew a rookie punter could be the difference between surviving and thriving? Broncos fans certainly do. This year in Denver, punts are celebrated like touchdowns, field position is king, and Jeremy Crawshaw has become one of the unlikeliest heroes of the NFL season. You will not hear complaints as long as the wins keep coming and the punts keep pinning back opponents.

This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: The high-punting, high-flying Denver Broncos

Reporting by Tyler Whitcomb, Touchdown Wire / Touchdown Wire

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect