The details change weekly, but the Broncos’ clutch success is the constant

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At this point, do the Broncos’ “sustainability” questions have to stop?

Maybe they should have at consecutive one-score-win No. 10 or so. But the tally of wins in tight games without a loss is now 16 in the regular season — and if you want to count playoffs, it’s a 17-game streak when Bo Nix starts at quarterback after Sunday’s 26-21 win over the Carolina Panthers.

It’s equal parts unfathomable and utterly predictable by now, with one narrow escape after another. Only the week-to-week methodology changes.

Some weeks, the Broncos will hit the snooze button and not awaken until the second half; that’s what happened against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams. Others, they’ll launch out of the locker room as if all wearing jetpacks, only to see their fuel run out and a plummet begin.

Last week, Malcolm Roach brought down Patrick Mahomes for the sack that sealed the 28-24 win on the game’s final play, with edge rusher Jonathon Cooper providing the initial pressure. This week, it was Nik Bonitto who finished the job by bursting through and around Carolina tackle Rasheed Walker for the strip-sack fumble of Bryce Young that put the game away in the final two minutes.

In Week 3, safety Talanoa Hufanga was the hero with a pair of second-half interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Sunday, it was one of the understudies filling in for him and fellow safety Brandon Jones, Devon Key, who plucked a deflected pass a fraction of a second before it hit the ground in the west end zone at Bank of America Stadium.

RJ Harvey had the explosive catch-and-run at Arizona a fortnight ago. Then Jonah Coleman nearly went the distance with his own reception of 50-plus yards seven days later.

At some point, it seems as if everyone on the roster has been a hero at some point this season.

“I think it speaks to the character of our program,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. I think it speaks to the guys that we have and the execution at the hardest times. Can’t say enough good things about that. It’s an unbelievable skill to have, and as we keep getting better and keep improving, we’re figuring out ways to win every game — and that’s all that matters.”

And at this point, the Broncos seem to know that every game day, they’ll find a hero in their mist.

“I’ll be honest, it seems like it’s always the same feeling,” Nix said. “There’s always a look in the huddle that, like, ‘Hey guys, we don’t have a choice right here. We gotta go make something out of it.”

Some teams have a defensive identity, a pass-first identity, a ground-and-pound identity.

These Broncos have a CLUTCH identity. Which makes it harder to quantify — and even harder to support with data, as the team gets out-gained week after week. But there’s no quibbling with the results.

MOMENTUM WAS A THING FOR THE BRONCOS

Some like to say that momentum is a non-existent construct. This game would stand as the clearest possible evidence to the contrary.

“Football has such an unbelievable way of ebbing and flowing throughout the whole day,” McGlinchey said.

But while Broncos Country bobs along with the changing direction of the winds and the currents that buffet a team — sometimes enduring whiplash in the process — it’s a different matter for the team itself, which has become quite accustomed to those moments in each game where it seems as if matters are spinning beyond their control.

When it comes to the emotions themselves, the Broncos generally don’t get flustered when the the waters get stormy.

“We don’t really ride those waves, which is good.”

But at the same time, when a breeze is at their backs, they’re prepared to raise their sails and let it take them as far as it can.

“Obviously we capitalize on momentum,” McGlinchey said. “That turnover by Key and then the drive that ensued afterwards, that’s an unbelievable sequence for us, and it’s a sequence that really changes football games [and] changes football seasons.”

And yet that momentum swing was at the precipice of never existing.

Consider the consequences if game-management coach Evan Rothstein doesn’t get the message to challenge the call on Key’s interception to Sean Payton in time for the coach to drop the flag.

So narrow was the window that instant replay had to determine whether Payton’s flag was tossed in time. Meanwhile, Rothstein was yelling from the coaches’ booth into Payton’s headset.

“it was a scream because they were running, so, that one was the first that I can ever recall like that — like ever, where it was that close,” Payton said.

A fraction of a second. That’s all it took.

Instead, the Broncos take over at their 20-yard line. Carolina’s opportunity at three-consecutive touchdown drives evaporated. Two plays later, the Broncos had a first down on a Bo Nix pass to Pat Bryant, and after an illegal-use-of-the-hands against the Panthers two snaps after that turned second-and-15 into a first down, the Broncos were in full gallop, on their way to a touchdown.

Momentum, previously Carolina’s best friend as the Panthers threatened to end the Broncos’ winning streak, was back on the Broncos’ sideline. And they never trailed again.

Rothstein got a game ball. Key did, too.

They helped the Broncos do what they always do: Come through in the clutch and win by an eyelash.

Such moments are remarkable for many teams. For these Broncos, it’s just another Sunday.

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