LONDON — The Denver Broncos‘ squeezed out a last-second win over the New York Jets on Sunday overseas.
On one side of the ball it was beautiful. On the other side it was nearly as ugly as it gets.
But the team heads back to Denver 4-2 on top of the AFC West.
Here’s what stood out throughout the game.
Offensive offense
The Broncos’ offense appeared to pick up right where they left off last week in their miraculous comeback victory over the Philadelphia Eagles last week.
In the first quarter, Nix went 11-for-13 for 101 passing yards, a touchdown and a 124.7 passer rating.
Outside of that stat line from Nix, the Broncos’ offense was nowhere to be found.
After scoring 10 points in the first quarter, Denver’s offense didn’t score for countless possessions in a row.
At one point in the third quarter, Sean Payton called a fullback run on 3rd-and-10.
Nix didn’t have a single completion in the second half until 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Dominant defense
Denver’s defense came out of the tunnels firing on all cylinders. The Broncos’ defense made a bad Jets offense look even worse.
With 7:45 left in the second quarter, the Jets had one yard of offense. A single yard.
At halftime, the Jets had six points on the board. But Denver’s defense wasn’t responsible for any of them. Also at halftime, the Jets had two total passing yards. Two.
Denver’s defense wasn’t as good in the second half, allowing the Jets to kick a field goal to start the third quarter. But they still dominated.
Justin Field was sacked a whopping seven times, including two half sacks from Nik Bonitto.
Denver’s defense ended the game with a crucial sack on fourth down to have a total of nine on the day.
Once again, Broncos are their own worst enemy
New week, same Broncos. New country, same Broncos. In a positive and negative way.
In London, the Broncos were once again their own biggest opponent. Troy Franklin‘s fumble on the first drive handed the Jets three points. Then Denver’s special teams allowed a 72-yard kickoff return due to poor tackling by the Broncos. That led to three more points for the Jets.
Numerous penalties once again derailed and ended Broncos’ offensive drives. But the worst penalty literally gave the Jets points.
Midway through the third quarter, Quinn Meinerz was called for holding in the end zone, which resulted in a safety and gave the Jets the 11-10 lead.
The Broncos were clearly the better team on Sunday. But their own mistakes made the game way closer than it needed to be.
2 Comments
Scott Smyth
A win is a win, especially after traveling east the past two weeks. I thought Bo played better than the numbers showed and the lack of run game kept them behind the sticks. We will take 4-2!!
Jeff Kirvin
Here’s my concern. In four of our six games, the Broncos’ fate has not been in their own hands, but come down to what the other team did with their final possession. The Colts and Chargers made us pay. The Eagles and Jets each had the opportunity to win but made stupid mistakes that handed us the game. The Eagles would have won if their two receivers hadn’t greedily fought each other for the ball on that Hail Mary. The Jets could have beat us had they made the 62 yard field goal, but they didn’t even try, instead opting for a guaranteed pass on 4th and 8 that was just as guaranteed to result in a sack, leaving them pretty much where they’d have been if they missed the kick. The Broncos didn’t win those games; the Eagles and Jets lost. You could make the argument that the Broncos have only played well enough to be 2-4, but we’ve lucked out. I want to see more games where luck is irrelevant.