EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — At halftime, the sellout crowd at MetLife Stadium was treated to a rendition of Billy Joel’s classic “New York State of Mind.”
But it’s another song title from the Piano Man’s catalog that actually resonates in the wake of the Broncos’ 27-13 win over the New York Giants here Sunday:
“A Matter of Trust.”
Vic Fangio trusted Teddy Bridgewater.
More importantly, his gut trusted Bridgewater.
With fourth-and-7 at the New York 37-yard line and 2:10 left in the first quarter, he trusted Bridgewater to find Tim Patrick for the 15-yard connection that kept the Broncos’ second drive alive.
Last year, that sort of scenario would lead to Brandon McManus field-goal attempt from a range (50-plus yards) where he hit two-thirds of his 15 attempts. This year, going for it still led to a McManus field goal after the drive stalled in the red zone, but the message was sent.
“I appreciate it as an offense, and we appreciate it as a team to show that we’re trying to do everything to win out there,” Patrick said. “So, just to know that he trusts us to get it, it’s huge.”
Going for it from no man’s land — the area from which field goals are not the 90-percent they are from 40 yards and in — that’s one thing.
Doing so on fourth-and-2 with 48 seconds left in the first half and the ball at the New York 49-yard line? That was something different, something bold, and something that even Fangio’s own staff didn’t believe.
“When I brought it up, I didn’t have a lot of backing by anybody. It was kind of cricket-ish, cricket-like,” Fangio said. “But I said, ‘We’re doing it.’”
He let the clock drain before calling timeout prior to the snap, thus limiting the chances of the Giants turning a fourth-down failure into points. But even then, it was fraught with risk; failure would have meant New York was just one first down away from a field goal and a 7-point halftime lead.
“I had confidence in the offense, number one, obviously. Number two, I felt that I knew if we got the first down, we could go get some points, I didn’t know if it would be three or seven, and I thought it was important,” Fangio said.
“It was just more of a gut feeling than anything else.”
It was more than that. It was Big Vic Energy, with Bridgewater flipping the switch.
“You talk about coaches believing in players and players wanting coaches to believe in them — that was the ultimate sign of belief right there,” Bridgewater said.
And the energy coursed through entire offense. Bridgewater fired a 14-yard strike to Courtland Sutton, and after two more completions to Jerry Jeudy and Patrick, the Broncos were just 2 yards from the goal line. Then he veered left off a play-action fake and turned upfield as though he would run for the goal line. That caused just enough hesitation among the Giants’ defenders to give Patrick some separation near the left sideline outside of the numbers.
Pass, catch, touchdown. Fangio’s trust was justified. Two successful fourth downs led to all 10 points as the Broncos had just their fourth halftime lead in their past 11 games.
By halftime, the Broncos had as many fourth-down conversions as they did in their first 14 games last year.
Back then, the Broncos offense was a woeful 4-of-14 on fourth-down plays. (A mishandled punt snap in Week 2 at Pittsburgh resulted in a safety that went into the books as a 15th fourth-down attempt.)
Remarkably, the Broncos were 0-for-5 on fourth downs of 2 yards or fewer. They ailed on a fourth-and-1 in Week 1; they failed on a fourth-and-1 in Week 17. Fangio had no reason to trust the offense on fourth-and-short.
But in the preseason, he got an indication that it could be different. Denver’s No. 1 offense went 3-of-4 on fourth-down attempts, including a perfect 3-of-3 against Seattle with Bridgewater at the helm.
So, when the offense had fourth-and-1 at the Giants 4-yard line on its first series of the second half, the surprise would have been if the Broncos had sent McManus and the field-goal team onto the field.
Again, Bridgewater faked a handoff, this one to Javonte Williams. Xavier McKinney raced unblocked toward the quarterback after the fake, Bridgewater tried to juke him — and failed.
“It was just like, ‘Man, you can’t take a sack right here,’” Bridgewater said.
He had one tool left in his chest: a stiff-arm with his left hand. That provided just enough separation from McKinney to allow him to throw an off-balance attempt to Albert Okwuegbunam — who wasn’t even supposed to be running a route on the play.
“I just reacted and Big O did the same thing. He wasn’t even supposed to run a route. He was part of the run play,” Bridgewater said. “He just leaked out and it happened to be a touchdown.”
Once again, Fangio’s trust was justified.
It’s not just that Bridgewater is one of the league’s most accurate quarterbacks. It’s that he has the improvisational skills to turn disaster into delight — something he would do on the next series when he rolled right and found KJ Hamler after eluding pressure, turning third-and-8 into a 22-yard gain.
That’s how you justify a coach’s faith.
Fangio trusted Bridgewater. He trusted the offense.
It paid off, and the result was a series of sustained drives that didn’t include a three-and-out until 1:49 remained and the game had been decided. Until that point, all eight of Denver’s drives moved the chains, and just one of them ended in a punt.
Bridgewater’s 28-of-36, 264-yard, two-touchdown performance was the biggest reason why.
“I saw a guy in total control, and when he had to improvise, he did, and some of those were on big, big plays,” Fangio said. “He’s been doing that his entire career … and he showed it today.”
Like the protagonist in Joel’s 1986 hit, Fangio has “lived long enough to have learned the closer you get to the free the more you get burned.
“But that won’t happen to us,” Joel sings. “Because it’s always been a matter of trust.”
And maybe together, that trust can help both Bridgewater and Fangio find what each has been missing.
