Broncos protect fortress with OT victory over Seahawks

Week 6 opened with the Denver Broncos hosting the Seattle Seahawks a mile high. The Broncos entered undefeated at home, continuing the trend from last season of winning games on the back of their defense and late 4th-quarter surges.

The defending champions presented another big challenge, however, especially given they were keen to return to the winner’s list following a brutal defeat at home to the San Francisco 49ers the previous week. With both teams sitting at 3-2, the implications of Thursday night’s encounter were to be significant for both teams’ seasons.

Although Seattle struck first with a field goal from Jason Myers, Denver got the game script they were after from the outset. A cagey affair featured a heavy dose of both teams’ punter early on, before the home side put together a lengthy drive for the game’s first major score.

JK Dobbins burst through the middle for a 4-yard touchdown, which was just the third first-half touchdown scored by the Broncos so far this season. Down secondary stars Pat Surtain II and Talanoa Hufanga, the task of containing the Seahawks’ passing attack seemed near-impossible, but thanks to the pressure they were able to generate on Sam Darnold, offense was hard to come by for the visitors.

Bo Nix executed a perfect drive to lead his team to the goal line, which gave the other member of Denver’s split backfield, RJ Harvey, the opportunity to get in on the act with his first score of the season, as the Broncos suddenly held an unlikely 11-point lead and had the star-studded Seahawks on the back foot.

After finally appearing to gain some momentum and moving across midfield, disaster struck for Mike Macdonald’s side when Rashid Shaheed had the ball stripped by Nik Bonitto and recovered by Justin Strnad, wiping potential points off the board and handing the ball right back to Nix as halftime approached.

The Broncos’ offense were unable to capitalise and extend the advantage, but the home crowd must have been pleased with a rare lead at the main interchange, on the back of an improved offensive performance to compliment the elite defense.

Going back to work with the lead and in control, Nix continued to manage the game adequately and ensured his offense didn’t turn the ball over, albeit without a particularly outstanding individual stat line.

The game’s first play of over 20 yards came halfway through the third term when Darnold found Shaheed on a deep ball, but the Seahawks’ drive was once again stifled, and a rare miss from Myers meant they came away empty-handed once again, as the chances of an upset became increasingly likely.

Early in the last period, there had been 10 punts between the teams and very little offense to get excited about, but the league’s best 4th quarter time was more than happy to maintain their 14-3 advantage, leaving Darnold no choice but to start taking the game on if Seattle were to overcome the deficit.

As tends to be the case, the need for aggression actually brought out the best of the Seahawks’ offense on the night. Darnold found Jaxon Smith-Njigba a couple of times and even used his legs for a rare 18-yard scramble before George Holani produced a pair of consecutive tough runs to find the end zone. An improbable 2-point conversion to Shaheed in the back of the end zone all of a sudden meant the margin was just 3 points, with over 5 minutes still to play.

Another 3-and-out for Denver brought Jeremy Crawshaw out for his 7th punt of the night, giving Seattle plenty of time to begin a potential game-winning drive and give the Broncos a taste of their own medicine by completing the comeback.

But after Smith-Njigba had hauled in a massive contested catch to ignite the drive, the biggest play of the night to that point came when Darnold made a poor decision to throw into tight coverage and was picked off by Kris Abrams-Draine, leaving Denver on the doorstep of victory, although the Seahawks still held all 3 timeouts.

Seattle’s defense did its job, forcing the Broncos, who in a turn of events from recent form, managed just 44 second half offensive yards, off the field in just 15 seconds, and after a 31-yard punt return by Shaheed, they resumed possession on their own 46-yard line with the best part of a minute remaining.

Linking up with Shaheed, Cooper Kupp and Smith-Njigba on 3 consecutive throws, Darnold did enough to work his way into range for Myers, who chipped it through from 34 yards out to send a game to overtime for the 4th time in the last week.

Denver elected to kick off, and their decision quickly paid dividends. Darnold threw another poor ball into double coverage on 3rd down, and … McMillan had no trouble swooping in to claim an interception to give his team the ball back inside Seahawks territory.

The Broncos were again able to generate just 8 yards of offense and not pick up a first down, but they did just enough to set up a 53-yard attempt from Will Lutz. The kick couldn’t have been straighter if it tried, splitting the uprights and bringing the home crowd to its feet, having felt down and out after a 4th quarter capitulation.

Seattle fell to 3-3 and could be as many as 3 games behind the division-leading 49ers by the end of the week. No one should be writing the reigning champions off just yet, but they’ll need to recapture their 2025 form sooner rather than later, as they prepare to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in a pivotal contest next Sunday night.

Touchdowns
Seattle: Holani
Denver: Dobbins, Harvey

Top Performers
Seattle: Smith-Njigba, Emmanwori, Dickson
Denver: Bonitto, Crawshaw, Abrams-Draine, Lutz

Injuries
Seattle: Arroyo (shoulder)
Denver: Badie (thumb)

Crowd: TBC @ Empower Field at Mile High