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PHILADELPHIA — The quarterback fought frustration. The tight end remained in witness protection. The cornerback got cooked.
The penalties, each more ridiculous than the last, mounted. The Broncos were on the verge of getting skunked.
Then something remarkable happened. They finished.
They met the moment. At last.
Trailing by 14 points against the defending champion Eagles, who had not lost a home game in 13 months, the Broncos rallied for a 21-17 victory, surviving a heart-in-a-blender Hail Mary pass.
This game threatened to become a blowout. Instead, it became the blueprint. You saw it. Run the ball. Convert third downs. Use the middle of the field. Turn Nik Bonitto loose (not sure if he showers after games or just licks his paws).
As the football sat lonely in the corner of the end zone with time expired, safety Talanoa Hufanga taunted Philadelphia fans, raising his arms in the air for dramatic effect. The swagger and confidence were no longer just a locker room thing, but in the light for everyone to see.
The Broncos are back in every January conversation.
They are 3-2 and should be favored in their next seven games. In a remarkable final 15 minutes, they transformed the lingering narrative that they were frauds into a story inspiring fear.
These players, who were the equivalent of a clenched fist after walk-off losses to the Colts and Chargers, punched back.
Enough was enough.
“When that ball went up in the air and those two (Eagles receivers DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown) thought they had it, there was no way I was letting that happen,” Surtain said. “It wasn’t going to be a horror story. Not today. We were writing the perfect story.”
Puff out your chest, Broncos Country. Embrace this group.
Why not? Sean Payton wants the bright lights, the biggest challenges, and his team beat the champs as he passed mentor Bill Parcells on the NFL’s all-time wins list. The Broncos knocked out a great team. In a close game.
Want to be taken seriously? Beat teams you are not supposed to beat in games you are not supposed to win.
That was Sunday.
“That is just who we are,” left tackle Garett Bolles said. “We believe in each other.”
They were all they had through three quarters. At one point, the Broncos punted six straight times. CBS did not assign Jim Nantz and Tony Romo this game to narrate a documentary on Jeremy Crawshaw. The excuses were lining up. Short week. Early start back East. Visiting teams prior to a game in London were 10-17.
“And then we come out and make mistakes. I obviously had one,” said cornerback Riley Moss, who Smith outran for a 52-yard completion on third-and-17. “But guys never stopped competing.”
The fourth quarter turned paint-by-numbers into Picasso.
Bo Nix looked like an elite quarterback.
He led three scoring drives, completing 9 of 10 passes for 127 yards. He found Evan Engram, who was called out by Payton for bad body language. Engram responded to the challenge with two catches for 29 yards and a touchdown. Nix turned to the one player he never had chemistry with last season, college teammate Troy Franklin, drilling a strike for a two-point conversion. And when it mattered most, he leaned on Courtland Sutton — they share the same biorhythms on third down.
Even then, the Broncos needed one more drive to close out the Eagles, and J.K. Dobbins became the Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki.
They won between the lines. But also conquered demons between their ears, improving to 3-8 in one-score games over the past two years, including 2-2 this season.
“Today we showed we’re mentally tough,” Dobbins said. “We showed we are a dangerous team.”
Let’s be clear. This is Payton’s signature win with the Broncos. Better than the victories at Buffalo, at Tampa Bay and the streak-buster against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles were 20-1 in their last 21 games.
“You always get a chance to see where you are at. We talked a lot about that,” Payton said. “Our guys did a good job of preparing, and I think the locker room prior today felt like this would be the result. I have done this long enough. I have pretty good instincts.”
And you wonder if the message to run the ball — written again on his play sheet — finally seeped into his brain as the Broncos imposed their will. Unable to win at the line of scrimmage, the Eagles crossed the line. The Broncos benefitted from a suspect personal foul on linebacker Zach Braun that extended a late drive. And Denver’s patience was rewarded when Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo committed malpractice.
With Philadelphia holding a 14-point cushion, he kept passing. At one point, the Eagles had a 20-second drive. Saquon Barkley finished with six carries. One in the fourth.
The same criticisms we have lobbed at the Broncos applied to them. The Eagles abandoned the run. They got cute. And they did dumb stuff.
Sunday, the Broncos were not the same ol’ Broncos. They were the old Broncos. Like from 2015. A team that had the discipline, defense and determination to beat anyone, anywhere.
No, Denver was not without sin. This was not perfection. But it was retribution.
In the smoke-filled celebratory locker room, Payton stood in front of the team and asked a simple question: Who are you afraid of?
The answer? Nobody!
“It was electric,” Moss said. “We proved something today.”
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Troy Renck
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