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The 3-2 Denver Broncos took on the winless 0-5 New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium early on Sunday morning as the part of the NFL’s International Series. The Broncos […]
The 3-2 Denver Broncos took on the winless 0-5 New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium early on Sunday morning as the part of the NFL’s International Series. The Broncos looked to stay in at least a tie for first place in the AFC West with a win, following up Sunday’s upset road win over the previously undefeated Philadelphia Eagles. The Jets, as implied, just needed a win to get their first win of the season, as the league’s only winless team.
The Broncos got the ball first, but on Denver’s third play from scrimmage, wide receiver Troy Franklin fumbled the ball away, giving the Jets their first takeaway of the season. New York settled for a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead, and then Denver answered with a 57-yard field goal from Will Lutz to tie the game back up.
Following a big 72-yard kickoff return, the Jets tacked on another field goal following a quick three-and-out.
Bo Nix then led the game’s first touchdown drive: nine plays, 69 yards, ending in a 16-yard touchdown pass to fullback Nate Adkins.
The Jets offense continued to struggle in the first half. Despite two field goals on their first two possessions, the Jets didn’t pick up any first downs, a trend that continued well in to the second quarter. The Jets’ next two drives, so their first four in total, yielded zero first downs.
And just when New York started putting something together during a two-minute drill (including a fourth-and-one pickup on a fake punt), Justin Fields took a drive-stalling sack, and the Jets opted to not even run a play at the end of the half despite having the ball and a timeout in their pockets.
By halftime, Nix had completed 15-of-20 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown, and was also the game’s leading rusher with 26 yards on three carries. Fields completed 5-of-7 passes for 17 yards (2.4 YPA) and took four sacks in the first half, hampering the Jets’ ability to get anything done on offense.
The Jets had just 32 yards of total offense in the first half, the fewest by any team in a half this season across the entire NFL.
Still, a 10-6 lead felt narrow: one fluke play and the Jets could back on top, so this was still anyone’s ballgame despite the lopsided offensive results.
The Jets moved the ball with some ground-and-pound with Breece Hall and Fields carrying the ball, along with a couple of passes to former Bronco Josh Reynolds, but ultimately settled for their third Nick Folk field goal of the game. This cut the Broncos lead to 10-9 with 10:25 left in the third quarter.
New York’s defense forced a three-and-out, giving the Jets the ball back quickly with a chance to take the lead. But the drive stalled at midfield, as Fields couldn’t hit Garrett Wilson with Pat Surtain II in coverage. Still, the Jets’ special teams continued an impressive game, pinning the Broncos on their own two-yard line with great punt coverage.
That great punt coverage then led directly to Jets points. The Broncos were called for both offensive pass interference (on Troy Franklin, declined) and holding (Quinn Meinerz, accepted) in the endzone, resulting a safety, giving the Jets a stunning 11-10 lead.
The Broncos got the ball back quickly, minimizing the damage of a potential nine-point swing if they had allowed the Jets to score a touchdown, but punted it back away just as quickly, in what was quickly becoming a classic game of field position.
Denver’s defense forced an apparent takeaway that was called back: with Garrett Wilson appearing to catch (but not actually catching) and fumble the football away to Jonathan Cooper. Regardless, Denver recorded a sack of Fields on third-and-six, with Cooper and Justin Strnad splitting the effort, to get the ball back anyway.
But once again, Nix and the Broncos offense couldn’t replicate their first half success. After a four-yard J.K. Dobbins rush, Dobbins was stuffed on second down, and Nix’s short pass attempt was swatted away on third down.
Fields and the Jets regained possession with an 11-10 lead and 13:31 left to play, but facing a fourth-and-one near midfield, punted it right back to Denver.
With 10:00 left in the fourth quarter, Nix got his first passing yards of the second half, breaking an extremely dry spell. Nix found tight end Evan Engram for 12-yard completion and a first down, providing a much-needed spark with just a field goal needed to take the lead. Or perhaps the spark was a 26-yard catch-and-run by Marvin Mims Jr..
Deep in the red zone, the Broncos offense stalled once again: with Dobbins again getting one good run then getting stuffed, and Nix and Courtland Sutton unable to hook up in the endzone (if the play was executed perfectly, there was definitely a small window of opportunity, but literal inches.) The last thing in the world the Broncos could do here was turn the ball over, and a field goal gave them a 13-11 lead with just over five minutes to play, but it still felt like a consolation prize for a once-promising drive despite giving Denver their first points of the second half.
But the Jets offense continued to be the Jets offense, and the Broncos defense swallowed up Fields for the seventh time.
Sean Payton had the Broncos play super conservatively on their next drive, with Mims Jr. rushing for a loss on second down and Nix taking a sack on third down, with both plays keeping the clock churning.
So the Jets took the ball back, down 13-11, with 2:23 left on their own 42-yard line, excellent field position but with the quirk of having no timeouts.
On the first play of the drive, Fields fumbled the football, but Hall picked it back up for a seven-yard gain. A couple of plays later, after Wilson nearly hauled in a huge third down pass attempt, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn was faced with a huge decision: go for it on fourth-and-eight or attempt a 62-yard field goal. Glenn opted to go for it, and Fields went down for a ninth and final time.
The Jets finished the game with -10 passing yards and 82 total yards, the fewest in the NFL this season. And yet, New York could have easily won the game with another ten yards or so of offense. From the perspective of Sean Payton, Bo Nix, and the Denver Broncos, this was an ugly win and there’s a lot of lessons that need to be learned moving forward.
But a win is a win, and the Broncos will return to Denver either tied for first place in the AFC West (if the Chargers beat Dolphins) or as the sole leaders (if the Chargers lose.) Denver hosts Jaxson Dart and a New York Giants team that just shocked the Eagles on Thursday Night Football. The Giants will be on ten days of rest, while the Broncos will be returning from a seven-hour time difference: putting the potion together for another potentially tough game against a seemingly under-powered New York football team.
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Header Photo Credit: New York Post
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