Another week, another stress-inducing game for the Denver Broncos.
It wasn't pretty, especially in the second half for Bo Nix and the Denver offense. But the team gritted out another win.
All that matters is the Broncos beat the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks 17-14 in overtime.
Denver now sits at 4-2 after a brutal six-game stretch to start the season. Now the Broncos get a mini-bye before heading to the desert to face the Arizona Cardinals.
You always hold your breath when the Denver kicker attempts a field goal. And all of Broncos Country did that at the end of the game.
Thankfully, it was an exhale of celebration after Lutz nailed the game-winning 53-yard field goal.
On this day, he was big nuts Lutz, and absolutely clutch Lutz. Helluva kick.
Down the best cornerback in the NFL in Patrick Surtain II, the team's best safety in Talanoa Hufanga, and the Broncos hold Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the Seattle offense to 14 points? Damn impressive showing by Denver's defense.
On top of that, the Broncos forced three turnovers, got five sacks, five tackles for loss, and nine passes defended. Perhaps the stat of the night, Denver got 17 quarterback hits on Sam Darnold.
In a defensive battle, the Broncos outshone one of the best defenses in the league.
Without the two best players in the unit, and Riley Moss limited most of the night, Denver's secondary played an unreal game.
Yes, JSN got his yards, but when the Broncos needed a play, the guys stepped up. Two of the biggest plays coming from Kris Abrams-Draine and Ja'Quan McMillian forcing huge turnovers, the latter getting the game-winning interception. McMillian is making a habit of this for Denver in clutch moments. He also got a sack.
McMillian finished with five tackles (five sol0), one sack, one tackle for loss, two passes defended, and one quarterback hit.
Abrams-Draine had six tackles (four solo) and three passes defended.
All without PSs and Hufanga.
What we saw from the Broncos quarterback in the second half will not cut it. He must play better. What's perplexing is how good the offense looked on back-to-back touchdown drives in the first half.
Why does it have to be one or the other?
Obviously, some of the credit goes to the Seattle defense. The Seahawks rank at the top or near the top for each statistical category. But Nix is going to have to start playing with more consistency because what he's putting on the field is not good enough.
It no doubt helps to sit at 4-2, having faced five of the best teams in the NFL, but figure it out.
The Broncos finished with 74 yards rushing on Thursday night. How the heck did they get that many?
I don't know if it's J.K. Dobbins or the offensive line suddenly being terrible at run blocking, but this is bad. Perhaps rookie Jonah Coleman is the savior, and he'll be back in Week 7 against the Cardinals.
But similar to Nix, the running game issues have to get fixed. It's brutal to watch Denver attempt to run the football right now.
The Mile High Magic has returned. The Broncos improved to 3-0 at home this season after going 9-2 if you include the postseason.
Denver has always been one of the best, if not the best, home-field advantages in the NFL. To see the success at home return like this is great to see.
There is no better throwback jersey in the NFL than the Broncos. And to have Seattle rock their throwbacks gave us veteran fans flashbacks to the old AFC West days.
Just like at home, the Broncos remain unbeaten when they rock the snot rocket.
As noted at the top, Denver just faced a brutal six-game stretch to start the season, and they sit at 4-2.
When the schedule was released, every single person in Broncos Country would take that record.
What should give fans hope is that the Broncos haven't played their best yet. Similar to last season, we didn't see the team start putting it all together until the calendar turned to November.
Yet despite ugly games and performances, Nix and the offense being a disaster, they've beaten four of the best teams in football.
That's reason enough to feel good about this team.
