Over the span of the last two seasons, it seemed the Denver Broncos had uncovered every single way to win a football game. On Sunday afternoon in New Orleans, they invented a new one.
Everything appeared to be going along with a script they’ve followed many times. With the clock winding under five minutes, the defense found themselves facing a potential go-ahead drive with Drew Brees across the line of scrimmage. Before the drive could even truly get started, though, the Broncos did what they always do. They made a play.
Jared Crick snuck up behind rookie receiver Michael Thomas and laid a hit that popped the ball free. T.J. Ward pounced on the ball, and the story was ready to be written, “Broncos defense does it again.”
Not so fast.
The offense stalled, taking just 20 seconds off the clock and only mustering a field goal, giving Brees the ball down just six, looking for a win.
The future hall-of-fame quarterback wouldn’t let this second chance slip. In just six plays, New Orleans gashed the Broncos defense for 75 yards and the go-ahea—not so fast.
With their backs firmly planted against the wall, the Broncos made the biggest play of the season.
As kicker Will Lutz approached the likely game-winning extra point, rookie safety Justin Simmons jumped over the line and blocked the kick forcing overti—not so fast.
Fellow rookie safety scooped up the loose ball and took it the length of the field for two points that would prove to be decisive, giving the Broncos a win in a way that literally no team had ever won before.
“We talked all last night; I just want to see them fight,” head coach Gary Kubiak told KOA after the game. “Obviously we’re missing a couple of guys, and we’ve been struggling a bit. I asked the to come in here and just lay it all on the line, and that’s what we did as a football team. It didn’t look good there at the end but we found a way to make a big, big play and that’s what this league is all about. Very proud of our guys.”
“It’s a desperation type play in a lot of ways because all you have to do is touch one guy and it’s illegal,” the head coach added of the miraculous block. “But the kid did a great job of timing it and getting over the top. Joe works with them all the time, and there’s just certain situations where you give it a shot, we gave it a shot, and it wins the game for us.”
One of the redeeming attributes of this Denver squad is their ability to ‘never say die.’ In fact, rather than putting his head down before the play, Parks was already planning on running it back.
“I knew it was coming,” the rookie told reporters. “As soon as I heard [the play call] I said, ‘Get back, watch the ball.'”
“I knew he had hops in practice,” Parks added of his training camp roommate who made the block. “He went about 45 [inches in the air] there to get the block, and I was just sitting there, I grabbed the ball, and I was just thinking, “Man, run like somebody’s chasing you with a big ol’ gun. Just run.'”
Sunday was the safety show for the Orange & Blue, the rookies simply following in the footsteps of the veterans they look up to on their sideline. The young guns may have never even been in a position to make a game-winning play if it weren’t for the efforts of Darian Stewart, who notched three takeaways on the day.
“It was very tough man, but those guys, man,” Stewart said to KOA, at a loss for words for his team’s relentlessness. “Last week’s outing wasn’t good enough, and we knew we needed to come back and be big again this week.”
They couldn’t have been bigger. Four takeaways on the day before the decisive block and return, all ending up in the hands of ‘No Fly Zone’ members.
In the end, Chris Harris Jr. said it best.
“Man, we were amazing, man.”
They were, and now the Broncos find themselves with a hearty 7-3 record heading into a much-needed Bye Week.
