Broncos Survive Second-Half Collapse To Get A 17-14 OT Win Over Seattle

The Denver Broncos won the first half of their Thursday night game against the Seattle Seahaks then collapsed in the second, but they wound up beating Seattle in overtime, 17-14, via an interception from cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian that led to a 53-yard game-winning field goal from kicker Wil Lutz. 

Both teams struggled with their initial drives to start the game, but the Broncos found something after giving up a field goal to Seattle, and they proceeded to roar back and dominate the rest of the first half with a pair of touchdowns. 

The first Denver drive was an extended affair that went for 74 yards on 16 plays, as the Broncos slowly rediscovered their lost running game. The screen game was a huge part of that, as running back RJ Harvey had the big play with a 16-yard catch and run, and fellow running back J.K. Dobbins virtually walked into the end zone from four yards out to make it 7-3.

The second drive was more of the same, but the Broncos began to mix in their short passing game effectively, and they were aided by an interference call against Seattle cornerback Nick Witherspoon in the end zone that put the ball on the Seahawks one-yard line. A direct snap to Harvey scored the touchdown and put the Broncos up 14-3. 

The second half was the opposite of that, as the Broncos offense collapsed and left the defense to fend off the Seattle attack and star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Seahawks couldn’t score in the third quarter, but they slowly gathered momentum and finally put together a pair of drives in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 14-14. 

The first score was a touchdown that came via a 67-yard, 11-play drive that featured some short passes from Darnold, then a couple of fine runs in the red zone from running back George Holani, who took the ball in from a yard out.  

A two-point conversion toss from Darnold to Rashid Shaheed made it 14-11, and the second drive covered 38 yards in eight plays after a long punt return from Shaheed. It culminated in a 34-yard field goal from kicker Jason Myers with just three seconds on the clock to knot it up at 14-14 and send it to overtime.

The Seahawks got the ball first in OT, and that was when Darnold lost the game for them. He led Seattle to a first down, then made a terrible underthrow that was picked off by Ja’Quan McMillian in Seahawks territory at the 43. 

The Broncos offense didn’t do much from there, but they didn’t have to. Denver picked up 8 yards in three plays, and kicker Wil Lutz nailed the game-winner from 53 yards out to give the Broncos a 17-14 win. 

The win upped the Broncos record to 4-2, but this victory will lead to more questions about Denver’s inept offense. Nix was awful as he went 17-for-27 for just 107 yards, with the defense winning yet another game in which the offense couldn’t get out of its own way.