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Broncos Take A Tough Road To A Big Win With Goal-Line Stand
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- Broncos Take A Tough Road To A Big Win With Goal-Line Stand
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
The Denver Broncos have a gift for doing things the hard way, and their 28-24 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday came in the most difficult way imaginable -- with a goal-line stand against quarterback Patrick Mahomes and company.
It didn't look good initially. Giving the ball to Mahomes late in a one-score came is close to an NFL death sentence, and the Chiefs got the ball to the Denver 4-yard line with 35 seconds left, per Jeff Legwold of ESPN.
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The Broncos defense then rose up and somehow kept the Chiefs from scoring the touchdown that would have erased their four-point lead, and it drove the offense crazy as they had to watch the drama unfold.
Tackle Mike McGlinchey confessed to saying "a few Hail Marys," while receiver Marvin Mims Jr. added that he's seen them "come out of crazy situations" before. The other tackle, Garett Bolles, said he wasn't actually watching, as his "head was in my helmet."
The player who ended the game with a sack was defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, who added his own take on just how unlikely all this was. Roach's comment was "Hall of Fame quarterback, Hall of Fame tight end, Hall of Fame coach and the running back is on his way, too,'" he said of Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Kenneth Walker III.
It was all a day in the life for the Broncos, although there was controversy. Mahomes said he thought he'd thrown the winning touchdown to receiver Rashee Rice on fourth down, but the play was blown dead because of a false start on right tackle Jaylon Moore.
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Mahomes added that the "little stuff" doesn't usually get called in situations like that, while coach Andy Reid said he saw Moore turn his head, but he didn't see anything that justified the call. Moore did appear to shift his shoulder slightly, and that may have been a byproduct of the crowd noise at Mile High Empower.
No matter. The Broncos are now 6-2 and a half-game ahead of the Chiefs in the AFC West, so they've emerged from their initial brutal schedule run in a good place.
They still have an offense that's tough to watch, but the secondary story line was that quarterback Bo Nix did make some throws down the field for big plays, and running back Jonah Coleman stepped up to provide some explosive plays.
The Broncos now get a break in the schedule, although their road trip to play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday has "letdown game" written all over it. But the Broncos have put themselves in a good spot with the season approaching the halfway mark, and that was tough to imagine a few weeks ago.
