Broncos defense closing on NFL’s sack record, but still not pleased with performance late vs. Raiders

At the end of the day, Nik Bonitto’s jump off the line late in the fourth quarter Sunday meant — well, hardly anything. The outcome was never in doubt, the Broncos up 24-7 with three minutes to play. These were pure garbage-time reps.

But his takedown of Raiders backup Kenny Pickett was another notch towards something greater. For one, the 25-year-old outside linebacker now stands just one sack away from a career-best mark (13.5 in 2024), racking up two sacks on the Raiders to bring his tally to 12.5.

“It was a good feeling, for sure,” Bonitto said simply Sunday.

And for two, the Broncos now sit at 55 team sacks through 13 games — squarely in striking distance of the 1984 Chicago Bears’ all-time team sack record of 72.

It’ll take a large-scale effort to shatter that mark, as the Broncos will need four sacks a game or better the rest of the way to challenge those Bears. But they had four on Sunday, after defensive tackle Malcolm Roach came up with a huge second-down takedown of Geno Smith in the second quarter and DE John Franklin-Myers notched one a play later.

Still, as they break off the snap towards history, Denver’s pass-rush isn’t satisfied. They didn’t get much pressure in the second half, and Las Vegas suddenly turned that 17-point lead into a one-score game with a calamity of errors: a busted coverage on a Raiders touchdown late in the fourth quarter, a defensive delay-of-game call on safety Brandon Jones that gave the Raiders an ultimately meaningless last-second field goal.

“It shouldn’t have even got that close,” Bonitto said postgame. “We didn’t close the way we should have defensively. Obviously we’ll work on that, but I feel like we’ve just got to be better down the stretch.”

Jones active for Jones. If the Broncos had any need for additional interior-defensive-line help earlier this season, they turned most often to 27-year-old Air Force product Jordan Jackson, who was activated for four of Denver’s first five games as Malcolm Roach worked his way back from a calf injury.

With starting nose tackle D.J. Jones (ankle) missing his first game of the year Sunday, though, the Broncos turned to third-round rookie Sai’vion Jones over Jackson against the Raiders. It was only Jones’ second activation of the year, after playing six snaps in Week 4 against the Bengals, and it was a clear show of faith in the rookie to earn some developmental reps against a struggling Raiders unit.

“He’s a lengthy guy,” D.J. Jones said of the rookie in early September. “He knows the moves that work for him. And, we see him getting taught more details on that move … he’ll be a dog.”

IR presence. Broncos starting right guard Ben Powers was with the team in Las Vegas and walking around pregame, a notable development as Powers continues to work back from a bicep tear suffered in Week 5.

Powers’ original timetable was roughly nine to 10 weeks, a source told The Post after he was placed on injured reserve. If he’s still on that track, he could return against Green Bay, Jacksonville or Kansas City in the coming weeks. Powers has been around the facility, and was seen doing rehab work on a side field this week.