Broncos defy description, logic and numbers in continuing to craft miraculous results

DENVER — The Broncos aren’t supposed to win a game in which they net fewer than 275 yards and their opponent beats them by more than 200. They’re not supposed to be able to rally from a 16-point halftime deficit against a side that entered the season with near-universal regard as legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

They’re not supposed to be able to sustain the nip-and-tuck form that they displayed last season, when they went 12-3 in one-score games — a tally that included both postseason contests — and won 11-consecutive such games with Bo Nix at quarterback.

And yet … they did all of those things Sunday night.

Now the Broncos have 13-consecutive one-score wins with Nix taking the snaps after taking Sunday night’s thriller by a 30-26 count over the Los Angeles Rams. Once again, Bo Nix led a comeback drive in the final moments — albeit with a final assist from two Rams penalties, including a controversial pass-interference call against Rams cornerback Josh Wallace for contact on Denver’s Pat Bryant that nullified a potential game-sealing interception.

“He did interfere a little bit, but I did what I had to do to get the call,” Bryant said.

Instead, it was Talanoa Hufanga who capped a career night — well, actually a career QUARTER — with the game-ending pick at the Denver goal line, a play that followed his 67-yard pick-six to put the Broncos in front 23-19 and an earlier sack of Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Hufanga’s heroics, along with Bo Nix accounting for three second-half touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversion passes, made the difference.

And that allowed the Broncos to do the following:

… Snap a 20-game league-wide losing streak for teams that gained 275 yards or fewer and allowed 475 or more yards;

… Earn just the 24th win for a team with that stat line in 424 opportunities since 1940, that ledger now stands at 24-397-3, putting the Broncos among just 5.67 percent of teams to emerge victorious despite having such a negative discrepancy;

… End the Rams’ 33-game winning streak when leading by more than 14 points at halftime;

… Pull out the Broncos’ sixth-ever win in club annals when trailing by more than 14 points at the midway point, improving Denver’s record to 6-95-1 in that scenario.

And now they have a 13-game winning streak in one-score games when Nix plays.

And when people say that what the Broncos are doing isn’t sustainable, such data points are why.

And yet there is something to the Broncos’ ability to defy data. It starts with their experience in situations like the one they faced at halftime Sunday: trailing 16-0 with almost nothing going right for them and the Rams with massive advantages in total yardage (273-67), first downs (17-5) and plays run (46-21).

“I’m comfortable with the grit of a team that can play well in the fourth quarter,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “I’m uncomfortable with how we play at the start of games, if that’s a fair answer.”

Imagine how it might look if the Broncos ever did figure out the first half.

“That’s what we’re trying to get to,” wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “We’re trying to put together four quarters of what we’ve done in the past two second halves.”

Indeed, the Broncos still haven’t solved the riddle of the slow start.

HOW THE BRONCOS REFOCUSED AT HALFTIME

“There wasn’t a whole bunch of rah-rah; there wasn’t a whole bunch of this and that,” Sutton said. “It’s, ‘We’ve been here before; everybody go out, execute, do your job, and everything will take care of itself.’

“… I wouldn’t say it’s good to be familiar in those situations, but once you are familiar and you have been in that environment before and you understand what it takes to overcome those situations, it allows you to have the confidence to go out there and play free and play confident and play fast.”

And thus, halftime in the Broncos locker room lacked the fiery invective you might envision from some piece of pop culture or whatnot.

“It wasn’t really a message, it was just more like, ‘Let’s figure out how to fix it,'” defensive end Zach Allen said.

“We had some good downs. It wasn’t like Kansas City. We were able to just hunker down and figure it out.”

The Broncos defense seems to best encapsulate the disconnect. Now, in the team’s two wins, it came up with stops when they were needed most. After putting up little resistance in the first half, the defense forced a three-and-out and generated Hufanga’s two takeaways — one of which he returned 67 yards for the score that put the Broncos in front for the first time.

But on the other hand, Denver’s defense ended Sunday night 30th in rushing defense, 31st in yards per carry allowed, 24th in passing defense, 27th in first downs allowed and 29th in total defense. Especially on the ground, the Broncos’ struggles from two January playoff games against Buffalo and New England seem to have carried over to the still-new campaign.

And the Broncos offense is 23rd in passing yardage, 31st in rushing yardage, 28th in average per carry, 23rd in third-down percentage and 28th in total offense.

Those types of numbers scream “0-3” or, at best, 1-2. Instead the Broncos have their first winning record through three games of the Payton era. The defense accomplished its offseason goal of creating more takeaways; the two procured by Hufanga were as massive as one can find in the regular season.

Sure, it seems like it won’t be enough in the future. But it was enough to beat two Super Bowl contenders in as many weeks.

For more, watch the embedded video.

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