The Philadelphia Eagles had the Denver Broncos exactly where they wanted them.
As the fourth quarter began Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, the Broncos offense was on the field, but the Eagles held a 17-3 lead. Historically, that has spelled doom for Denver. Heading into Sunday’s game, the Broncos were 1-112 when trailing on the road in the fourth quarter by 14 or more points.
An hour later, that record improved to 2-112.
The Broncos completed a stunning comeback, shocking the Eagles and improving to 3-2 in the process, ahead of a trip to London to take on the New York Jets next week.
Philadelphia dropped to 4-1, and the boo birds came out along the way.
Denver finished that above-described possession with a touchdown run from J.K. Dobbins to cut Philadelphia’s lead to 17-10. Then, after the Broncos’ defense forced another three-and-out — what would be the fourth of five three-and-outs forced by Denver’s defense on this day — Bo Nix and company went right down the field to pull within one on this touchdown pass from Nix to Evan Engram:
That made it decision time for Sean Payton, who kept his offense on the field for a two-point conversion.
The Denver defense forced that fifth and final three-and-out on Philadelphia’s next possession, giving the Broncos a chance to ice the game. While they settled for a field goal to extend their lead to 21-17, it was enough. A last-second Eagles’ comeback effort ended on a failed Hail Mary in the end zone, and the Broncos were suddenly 3-2.
And with a much-needed signature win.
“I mean, we just kept stopping them on defense, and we just started putting drives together,” said Nix to Tracy Wolfson on CBS about the comeback. “We had a good drive at the end of the third quarter, we got points, and we got our confidence back. We felt like we could go down there and do it again.
“Our defense just played incredible, they just kept getting us the ball back, no matter what happened they never wavered and just kept getting the ball back, and we just scored when it mattered.”
“We’ve been repping that play for a few weeks, and it paid off,” said Nix about the critical two-point conversion.
The win comes at a perfect time for the Broncos, who face the Jets in London next week before taking on the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys, with both of those games coming at home. It is also a statement win for a team that needed such a victory, as the Broncos’ other two wins on the season came against the Tennessee Titans back in Week 1, and a Cincinnati Bengals team playing without Joe Burrow last week.
While those wins might not stand out, Sunday’s on the road certainly does.
Especially given the history noted above.
