Broncos vs Seahawks: Denver survives overtime scare 17-14

Denver had this one by the throat, then nearly let it crawl away

The Broncos had the Seahawks on the ropes, in their own building, with a fourth-quarter lead that should’ve been good for a quiet walk to the parking lot. Instead, they turned it into a nail-biter and needed overtime to finish the job, 17-14. That’s Denver football for you lately: a lot of fight, a lot of sweat, and just enough dumbness to make everybody reach for the aspirin.

Wil Lutz Wil Lutz kicked the 53-yarder that ended it after Ja'Quan McMillian picked off Sam Darnold and handed the Broncos the ball where kickers start licking their chops. Clean finish, ugly road to get there.

The larger detail in this one is the one Denver fans will keep in the pocket. The Broncos had not lost a home game after leading by 11 or more points in the fourth quarter since a 2004 loss to the Raiders. They still haven’t. That’s the kind of streak that tells you something about a team’s nerve, and maybe something about a fan base’s blood pressure.

Seattle made a game out of nothing

Seattle was running out of room, then found a seam. The Seahawks Seattle Seahawks rallied from 11 down in the fourth quarter and turned a tidy defeat into a borderline theft attempt. That matters, because the NFL is full of teams that fold when the script goes sideways. This one didn’t fold. It scrapped.

Still, scrapping and closing are two different trades. The Seahawks got back into it, but they also left the kind of evidence that hangs around all week: too many missed opportunities, too many possessions that died before they could matter, and then the fatal mistake when the game was hanging by a thread. The best comeback in the league is the one that ends with points, not regret.

Denver won the game, but Seattle spent the fourth quarter reminding everybody the Broncos still have a long way to go before they’re trustworthy.

Ja'Quan McMillian made the play that changed everything

Pick plays don’t always get the glory, but they should. McMillian’s interception of Darnold gave Denver the short field and the cleanest possible path to a win that had started to leak badly. That’s the kind of defensive snap that saves locker rooms from ugly postgame speeches. No fancy math. No motivational poster nonsense. Just a defender reading the moment and stealing it.

For Sam Darnold, it was the sort of turnover that sticks to a quarterback like wet newspaper. One bad throw, one bad decision, and all the good work before it gets dragged into the alley behind the building. I’ve seen enough football to know this: the losing quarterback always gets asked whether he “felt pressure” before the pick. Of course he did. They all do. The question is whether the ball should’ve been out of his hand in the first place.

The Broncos Denver Broncos won because their defense did what defenses are supposed to do in the big moment. Which, around this league, is starting to sound quaint.