Okay my 1st post got jacked up.
I like to look at TDs/1st downs allowed per play when evaluating a defense vs yards or points or yards or point. It's pretty common for people to say "well teams pass a lot against X so they give up a lot of passing yards" which may be true but doesn't necessarily show a bigger picture.
So here's the total defensive rankings using that metric. Note New England is 5th where Denver is 28th since that seems to be the topic of discussion.
Rk Team G Scrm Plys 1st P_TD R_TD TD Total_D
1 Kansas City Chiefs 5 321 83 4 2 6 27.73%
2 New York Jets 5 333 82 9 3 12 28.23%
3 Baltimore Ravens 5 327 84 9 1 10 28.75%
4 Cleveland Browns 5 354 94 2 8 10 29.38%
5 New England Patriots 5 339 95 4 2 6 29.79%
6 Houston Texans 5 285 76 7 4 11 30.53%
7 Cincinnati Bengals 5 324 91 6 2 8 30.56%
8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4 274 80.8 5 0 5 31.31%
9 Carolina Panthers 4 242 71.2 3 2 5 31.49%
10 Pittsburgh Steelers 4 253 70 4 6 10 31.62%
11 Buffalo Bills 5 363 105 9 2 11 31.96%
12 San Francisco 49ers 5 331 96 5 6 11 32.33%
13 Indianapolis Colts 5 303 90 4 4 8 32.34%
14 Seattle Seahawks 5 315 95 5 3 8 32.70%
15 Tennessee Titans 5 313 94 6 3 9 32.91%
16 Arizona Cardinals 5 335 104 8 1 9 33.73%
17 New Orleans Saints 5 278 87 6 2 8 34.17%
18 Detroit Lions 5 323 101 5 5 10 34.37%
19 Chicago Bears 5 315 98 8 3 11 34.60%
20 Miami Dolphins 5 351 110 8 4 12 34.76%
21 Atlanta Falcons 5 302 94 12 2 14 35.76%
22 Green Bay Packers 4 253 79.2 9 3 12 36.05%
23 Oakland Raiders 5 322 106 9 3 12 36.65%
24 St. Louis Rams 5 314 100 11 5 16 36.94%
25 New York Giants 5 367 121 12 5 17 37.60%
26 Jacksonville Jaguars 5 332 109 12 4 16 37.65%
27 Washington Redskins 4 278 92 9 4 13 37.77%
28 Denver Broncos 5 330 110 11 5 16 38.18%
29 San Diego Chargers 5 312 109 10 2 12 38.78%
30 Minnesota Vikings 4 295 104 10 4 14 40.00%
31 Dallas Cowboys 5 334 118 14 2 16 40.12%
32 Philadelphia Eagles 5 368 133 11 4 15 40.22%
And here's the same thing broken out by passing defense with a sack and int rate included for good measure. You'll note that Denver is a below average team overall, but their volume of turnovers/sacks makes them a good fantasy defense. Of note, Denver is 3rd overall in pass attempts defended, but is 21st overall in pass defense. So yeah, teams pass against them a lot to stay in the game, but they seem to be pretty good at it too. The numbers aren't strength adjusted or anything, but I think it's a good look into what's really happening.
D_Rank Int_Rank Sack/Rank Team G Att TD Int 1st Sck TD_1st/Play Int/Play Sack/Play
1 1 2 Pittsburgh Steelers 4 120 4 0 32 4 30.00% 0.00% 3.33%
2 23 31 Kansas City Chiefs 5 191 4 7 55 21 30.89% 3.66% 10.99%
3 13 26 Cleveland Browns 5 195 2 4 59 18 31.28% 2.05% 9.23%
4 2 22 New York Jets 5 190 9 1 54 16 33.16% 0.53% 8.42%
5 26 21 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4 159 5 6 48 13 33.33% 3.77% 8.18%
6 32 27 Carolina Panthers 4 127 3 6 40 12 33.86% 4.72% 9.45%
7 16 12 Cincinnati Bengals 5 189 6 5 58 13 33.86% 2.65% 6.88%
8 24 19 San Francisco 49ers 5 163 5 6 51 13 34.36% 3.68% 7.98%
9 7 32 Houston Texans 5 121 7 2 35 14 34.71% 1.65% 11.57%
10 18 14 New England Patriots 5 184 4 6 61 13 35.33% 3.26% 7.07%
11 20 23 Tennessee Titans 5 178 6 6 59 16 36.52% 3.37% 8.99%
12 28 18 Seattle Seahawks 5 167 5 7 56 13 36.53% 4.19% 7.78%
13 31 28 Indianapolis Colts 5 153 4 7 52 15 36.60% 4.58% 9.80%
14 30 24 Buffalo Bills 5 197 9 9 65 18 37.56% 4.57% 9.14%
15 27 6 Detroit Lions 5 195 5 8 69 10 37.95% 4.10% 5.13%
16 9 30 Baltimore Ravens 5 176 9 3 58 19 38.07% 1.70% 10.80%
17 22 13 Arizona Cardinals 5 202 8 7 70 14 38.61% 3.47% 6.93%
18 21 3 Chicago Bears 5 174 8 6 60 8 39.08% 3.45% 4.60%
19 29 25 New Orleans Saints 5 163 6 7 58 15 39.26% 4.29% 9.20%
20 17 9 Miami Dolphins 5 205 8 6 73 13 39.51% 2.93% 6.34%
21 19 15 Denver Broncos 5 209 11 7 76 15 41.63% 3.35% 7.18%
22 12 1 New York Giants 5 199 12 4 73 5 42.71% 2.01% 2.51%
23 25 4 Minnesota Vikings 4 187 10 7 70 9 42.78% 3.74% 4.81%
24 5 20 Green Bay Packers 4 147 9 2 56 12 44.22% 1.36% 8.16%
25 15 10 Dallas Cowboys 5 211 14 5 81 14 45.02% 2.37% 6.64%
26 4 8 Jacksonville Jaguars 5 159 12 2 60 10 45.28% 1.26% 6.29%
27 14 5 Philadelphia Eagles 5 220 11 5 89 11 45.45% 2.27% 5.00%
28 8 17 Oakland Raiders 5 178 9 3 72 13 45.51% 1.69% 7.30%
29 3 16 San Diego Chargers 5 179 10 1 74 13 46.93% 0.56% 7.26%
30 6 29 Washington Redskins 4 141 9 2 58 15 47.52% 1.42% 10.64%
31 9 7 Atlanta Falcons 5 176 12 3 72 11 47.73% 1.70% 6.25%
32 11 11 St. Louis Rams 5 162 11 3 67 11 48.15% 1.85% 6.79%