DENVER (AP) — Wil Lutz kicked a 39-yard field goal as time expired, lifting the Denver Broncos to a thrilling 33-32 win Sunday over the stunned New York Giants, who took a shutout into the fourth quarter.
The Broncos’ improbable comeback snapped a streak in which NFL teams had won 1,602 consecutive games when leading by 18 points in the final 6 minutes of a game.
The Broncos (5-2) trailed 26-8 with just over 5 minutes remaining but scored on a 7-yard Bo Nix scamper, R.J. Harvey’s 2-yard catch, an 18-yard keeper by Nix and Lutz’s game-winner after Jaxson Dart seemingly broke the Broncos’ hearts with a 1-yard TD with 37 seconds left that gave New York a 32-30 lead.
Jude McAtamney missed his second extra point of the afternoon, however, and after Tyler Badie returned the kickoff 19 yards to the 23, Nix found Marvin Mims for 29 yards and Courtland Sutton for 22.
With no timeouts remaining, Nix and the offense raced to the line of scrimmage at the Giants 21 and spiked the ball with 2 seconds left.
The snap was high but Lutz nailed the field goal to secure Denver’s fourth consecutive win overall and NFL-best eighth straight at home.
The Giants (2-5) appeared to dodge the defeat when Dart threw incomplete to Beaux Collins near the goal line in the final minute and cornerback Riley Moss was whistled for pass interference. Broncos coach Sean Payton ran out onto the field to argue the call and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. That put the ball at the 1 and Dart took it from there.
The Broncos had taken a 30-26 lead on Nix’s 18-yard keeper with 1:51 remaining.
The Broncos were actually in danger of getting shut out at home for the first time in their 66-year history when they were blanked for three quarters.
The Giants, who grabbed a 26-8 lead on a deflected touchdown catch with 10:22 remaining, left several points on the field on two missed extra points and a failed 2-point conversion.
Dart threw a trio of touchdown passes, one of them to Cam Skattebo, as the Giants built their big lead.
Harvey’s 2-yard TD catch came on a deflected pass, and Nix’s 2-point pass to Sutton made it 19-8, but on the ensuing drive, on third-and-17 from the Denver 41, the Giants got their own ricocheted touchdown when tight end Theo Johnson hauled in Dart’s pass after it went off wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson’s hands and raced into the end zone.
Trailing 26-8, the Broncos scored twice sandwiched around Justin Strnad’s interception that set up his offense at the New York 19. First, Nix scored on a 7-yard keeper, then threw a 2-point pass to Franklin to make it 26-16 with 5:13 remaining. Then he hit Harvey from 2 yards out to make it 26-23.
The Broncos’ comeback came on a day the franchise by inducting him into the team’s ring of fame.
By the halftime ceremony, the Giants had taken a 13-0 lead highlighted by Dart’s 44-yard touchdown pass to tight end Daniel Benninger in the first quarter and his to Scattebo in the second quarter for the rookie running back’s first career TD grab.
New York made it 19-0 on Tyrone Tracy Jr.’s 31-yard scamper late in the third quarter, but the 2-point conversion failed.
Dre Greenlaw made his debut for Denver after spending the first six weeks of the season sidelined by a quadriceps injury. He had six tackles.
Injuries
Giants: S Jevon Holland left with a knee injury in the first half and didn’t return. … CB Paulson Adebo went out with an unspecified injury in the third quarter.
Broncos: RT Mike McGlinchey got hurt with 4:42 remaining and walked off with an unspecified injury.
Up next
Giants: visit the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Broncos: host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
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