On a day when the Denver Broncos celebrated the achievements of their championship 2015 defense that was known as the No Fly Zone defense, the Broncos needed a 33-point quarter from Bo Nix and the offense to eke out a 33-32 win over the feisty New York Giants. 

Touchdown passes flew everywhere in this one, but it was the Giants who completed them initially to dominate the first three quarters. Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart shredded the supposedly impenetrable Denver defense, throwing for three touchdowns and 283 yards to go with a rushing touchdown. 

That put the Broncos down big for most of this one. They fell behind 13-0 at the half, then 19-0 late in the third quarter. Denver also trailed 26-8 in the fourth quarter, but that was when Nix donned his Superman cape and turned into a gunslinger in one of the wildest games of the year.  

Nix threw two touchdown passes in the fourth, the first a two-yarder to receiver Troy Franklin, then another two-yarder to running back RJ Harvey. He also ran it in twice, once from seven yards out, then again from 18 on a play where he somehow managed to scoot into the end zone virtually untouched for the last ten yards. 

It almost wasn’t enough. The Broncos took the lead, 30-26, with 0:51 left, but no lead was safe in this game, and Dart brought the Giants back and drove them to a touchdown, sneaking in on a wild run in which he barely made it into the end zone. 

That happened with 0:31 left, but then the key play in the game occurred. Kicker Jude McAtamney missed the extra point, and the Broncos had their narrow window of opportunity. The missed PAT was the second of the day for McAtamney, who donned the goat horns for the Giants. 

The Broncos didn’t waste their chance. Nix quickly hit receiver Marvin Mims Jr. for 29 yards to get Denver across midfield, and Giants linebacker Brian Burns committed a neutral zone offside infraction. That gave the quarterback a chance to hit receiver Courtland Sutton with a 22-yard strike that led to kicker Will Lutz’s winning 39-yard field goal. 

This win combined with the Los Angeles Chargers surprising loss to the Indianapolis Colts, 38-24, left the Broncos in sole possession of first place in the AFC West at 5-2. But no lead feels safe there, either, especially given some of the shakiness Denver showed in the first three quarters--not to mention the fact that the Chargers and the resurgent Kansas City Chiefs are right on their heels at just a game out.