Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton says 16 tackles can mean a bad day. Why 19 felt different

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Denver Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton doesn't often get to relish his monster games — his teams have won just twice in the eight times in his career that he's collected 16 or more tackles.

“It's like having 16 against the Chiefs in Week 1 wasn't great,” Singleton said Wednesday as the Broncos (5-2) prepared for their rematch Sunday against Kansas City (5-1), which walloped them 31-7 in the season opener. "It was kind of making up for bad plays and just like running to the ball.

“So, having a lot of tackles doesn't necessarily mean you've had a good game,” Singleton said. “It matters when you have it in a game like this where a team scores 16 points and you’re also able to do that. That’s what makes it a little sweeter.”

Singleton had 19 stops against the Cardinals in Denver's 30-16 victory at Arizona on Sunday, which earned him his first career AFC Defensive Player of the Week award.

“That was sick,” Singleton said. “It was one of those really cool things when my kids don't believe me someday that this is what I did, I'll be able to show them.”

Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said he appreciates Singleton's lead-by-example approach.

"He models the way in which our defense as a whole plays. And I feel sometimes leadership is just action and it’s just by how you play,” Nix said. "You can just tell by the way he plays, he’s passionate, he’s intense, he’s competitive, he’s tough as nails.

“He made a lot of tackles on Sunday. It was actually pretty selfish of him to have all those tackles; he didn’t let anybody else get any tackles,” cracked Nix. “But it’s impressive to see him continuously overcome the things that he’s overcome in the last couple of years and still put the product on the field."

Singleton's 2024 season was cut short by a torn ACL and he fought testicular cancer last season, missing just one game.

He leads the NFL this season with 87 tackles through Week 7, putting him on pace for 211, which would by far surpass his career-best 177-tackle season in 2023 and put him on the cusp of Hardy Nickerson's record 214 stops in Tampa Bay in 1993.

Singleton laughed at the notion he could approach the record.

“Hopefully, we can create more turnovers and not be on the field as much and give the ball back to our offense, but yeah, it's crazy,” he said. “Do I think it's going to sustain? No. But in the same breath it's like as long as I continue to play within our scheme and continue running to the football and doing my job at a high level, I'll take them all. I do enjoy hitting people. So it is fun.”

Singleton credits his productivity to a renewed emphasis on eating right, getting proper sleep and spending time in hyperbaric chambers both at his home and at the Broncos' new $175 million headquarters.

He said he gets nine hours of sleep a night. How does he do that with a newborn?

“I have a great wife,” he said with a laugh. “What she does is way harder.”

Singleton has three times tallied 19 or more stops. This century, only London Fletcher, with four, has more. His 87 stops so far are the second most by any player through a team's first seven games since 2000. The Colts' Zaire Franklin in 2023 and Miami's Zach Thomas in 2005 both had 88.

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