Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos almost blew a 19-point comeback on Sunday afternoon.
Somehow, they are leaving with a 33-32 win over the New York Giants.
After trailing for much of the game, and failing to back up the smack talk they threw rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart’s way earlier in the week, the Broncos came alive and scored in the final two minutes to jump ahead late at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium. Jaxson Dart and the Giants, after a pretty dominant start to the game, appeared out of it.
But the Broncos, despite the 22 unanswered points that got them in position, nearly fell apart. The Broncos were first hit with a brutal roughing the passer penalty by John Franklin-Myers on a fourth down, which kept the drive alive. Then a few plays later, Dart took a deep shot to Beaux Collins who picked up a pass interference call. That sent Payton off. He came sprinting out to argue the call and was immediately hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Dart then finished off that drive with a short touchdown run with just 31 seconds left. That put the Giants up by just two points, however, after Jude McAtamney missed his second extra point of the day.
Remarkably, that miss left the door open for the Broncos, who crossed midfield almost immediately with a deep pass to Marvin Mims and then into the red zone with a 23-yard pass to Courtland Sutton. The second one put them at the five-yard line.
From there, it was just a chip shot for Wil Lutz to give the Broncos the wild one-point win.
In the end, the Broncos scored all 33 points in the final quarter. Each of their scoring drives took less than a minute of game time, too. The 33 points they put up marks the most points in the fourth quarter by any team that was shutout in the previous three in NFL history.
Dart, who has been on a bit of a run for the Giants after taking over for Russell Wilson in the starting job earlier this fall, went 15-of-33 for 283 yards with three touchdowns in the loss. He threw a bad interception late, however, which set up a touchdown late and brought the Broncos back within three points. Cam Skattebo had 60 yards on 16 carries for the Giants, and Wan’Dale Robinson had 95 yards on six catches.
The Giants will be back in action again next weekend when they travel to the Philadelphia Eagles, where Dart will have another huge test in front of him against the reigning Super Bowl champs. While it looked like he was just fine for more than three quarters on Sunday, Dart will have to throw together a complete game if they’re going to knock the Eagles off twice in a three-week span.
Nix finished going 27-of-50 for 279 yards with two touchdowns in the win for the Broncos, who have now won four straight and sit at 5-2 on the season. He had another two touchdowns on the ground, too, including a huge 18-yard run inside the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter that put the Broncos in the lead for the first time all night.
J.K. Dobbins had 81 rushing yards on 14 carries for Denver, and Sutton had 87 yards on six catches. The Broncos will host the Dallas Cowboys next weekend, where they’ll attempt to pick up a fifth straight win.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.