For three quarters, there was a lot of bad Broncos football.
But that fourth quarter was freakin’ amazing [defensive] football.
And to think it all started because a veteran running back began celebrating too early.
Let this be a lesson, kids.
Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton isn’t going to be teaching it, though. He’s still trying to understand what just happened.
“It would not be a teaching point. I think that will be difficult for the coaches and every one of his teammates,” Payton said of Jonathan Taylor’s “fumble” into the end zone after a 41-yard touchdown run. “It’ll just be difficult, I don’t get it. “
He may not get it, but no way Payton is going to argue with it as the called-back touchdown from Taylor took six points off the board for the Colts and gave the ball back to the Broncos.
“That was significant. I don’t get it, but I’m not going to try to,” Payton said, adding it was a significant play in turning the game around for Denver. “You go from breaking a long run for a touchdown for your team to us having the ball.”
Instead of 20-7 and Indy on the brink of breaking the game wide open at the start of the second half, it was still 13-7 with Denver getting another shot to close the gap.
The offense would end up having to punt and would lose the ball via interception on its next possession, but the defense never let up, and Marvin Mims Jr. kept returning the ball into good field position.
Both allowed the offense to finally get it together for one important quarter.
That fact did not go unnoticed by quarterback Bo Nix, who had one of his rougher games statistically.
“Honestly, I felt like in the second half the defense played lights out. It felt like they kept turning the ball over to us, and then Marvin kept returning punts,” Nix said. “When you have good field position, like I said, eventually we have to go something with it.”
Eventually, they did. A field goal late in the third quarter allowed the Broncos to keep it close, down just 13-10.
But a 61-yard punt return from Mims as he directed traffic all the way to the Colts’ 15-yard line provided the spark that led to the fire. Two plays later, Nix hit Nate Adkins for a 15-yard touchdown and the lead for the first time of the game.
“Marvin has had an unbelievable year,” said offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey. “He’s been in the backfield, the slot, out wide, and obviously his calling card has always been in the return game. He’s been so vital for us...That gave us a spark tonight and we needed it. Our defense and special teams gave us a lot of help. Marvin had two or three returns that really changed the game.”
Every time the Colts started to look dangerous, a big defensive play would snatch it away — none more impressive than Nik Bonitto’s massive pick-six on a trick-play that led to a 51-yard touchdown (which was ruled a fumble recovery since the pass from Adonai Mitchell back to Anthony Richardson was a backward pass).
“I am still trying to figure out the play, I don’t know if it was a double or triple pass. It was a heck of a play,” Payton said after the game, noting that play moved the Broncos from being barely in front to comfortably ahead at 24-13 with two-thirds of the quarter. “[Bonitto] is athletic. That is two games in a row. It was a real good play, and the timing of it.”
Mitchell might still be trying to figure it out too.
“I executed. I saw it, he was open, I threw it. Turns out he wasn’t open,” the Colts receiver said. “I don’t know where [No.] 15 came from, but I didn’t see him.”
No one did until Bonitto bolted forward, seemingly out of the edge of the TV screen right into the ball, never breaking stride for the end zone.
But to him, the play was developing in slow motion.
“It was kind of a slow-developing play, so I knew something was weird. The receiver usually doesn’t go catch screens like that,” Bonitto said. “Once I saw Richardson drifting back a little bit, I decided to go try and break on it and ended up getting it.”
Despite the 11-point advantage, the Broncos defense didn’t give up, stopping the Colts on a 4th-and-6 on their next drive before adding another takeaway on the following drive, this time from Patrick Surtain.
“I think we answered the call. [We] just have to win the turnover battle,” said edge rusher Jonathan Cooper. “Guys were making plays, and guys were creating turnovers. I couldn’t be more proud of our defense.”
Starting at Indy’s 35 following Surtain’s pick, the Broncos’ offense caught another break when they had to settle for a field goal but an offsides penalty on the kick gave Denver a fresh set of downs. This time they capitalized with a Nix-to-Courtland Sutton 20-yard TD special.
“At the end of the day, you want to do whatever it takes to win the game. It’s a tough league played by tough people, and they had a really tough defense. They were stout, and they played really well,” said Nix, noting the offense had a tough time getting in rhythm all day. “And then we turned the ball over three times in the air. That’s never going to be the recipe for success, but you flip to the other side of the field, our defense gets five turnovers and one goes for another touchdown. That just changes the game.”
Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen certainly knows that.
“Phenomenal. They were phenomenal,” he said of the defense. “I think that they (the Broncos) had 193 yards. Great job. Three takeaways. Those guys were on it today.”
