PHILADELPHIA — In a heavyweight boxing town, the Broncos staked their Sunday afternoon on body blows.
They jabbed early with the run game, before straying away from it for almost too long.
They absorbed a punch that might have knocked others out early in the third quarter when All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley raced past Alex Singleton for a 47-yard touchdown catch.
Then they set about working their way back into the fight against the defending Super Bowl champions, winners of every game their quarterback started and finished over the past calendar year.
Bo Nix played spectacular football in the fourth quarter.
Courtland Sutton picked up huge third downs.
Troy Franklin converted a go-ahead two-point conversion midway through the fourth quarter.
J.K. Dobbins continued to be the most impactful addition of the offseason.
Sean Payton delivered a rousing halftime address and pushed the right buttons down the stretch.
Make no mistake, though, the Broncos erased a two-touchdown deficit and notched the signature win of Payton’s tenure to date, a 21-17 season-changer against the Eagles, because of their heavies.
If this team takes off from here and makes the kind of deep run they think they’re capable of, it will be because of the guys on its offensive and defensive fronts.
“In the end, I think we got the better of them in the trenches,” Payton said after his team improved to 3-2 on the year and he passed mentor Bill Parcells with his 173rd regular-season win. “And we finished.”
This is the blueprint the Broncos have been trying to turn from theory into practice since Payton was hired. Since he and general manager George Paton went on a free-agent bonanza in March 2023 to land offensive linemen Mike McGlinchey and Ben Powers, plus defensive lineman Zach Allen.
Payton has made it clear for quite some time that Denver needs to win the line of scrimmage to win consistently.
They not only did it Sunday, but they did it against the team that’s carried the trench title belt in the NFL and won a Super Bowl because of it eight months ago.
“That’s a great group we just played, and I think that just sets us up for an October run, a November run, a December run, and on in,” defensive tackle D.J. Jones said.
Denver’s defense sacked Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts six times, including a blast of a pass-rush from Nik Bonitto to open Philadelphia’s last-chance drive with 1:11 to play.
Bonitto racked up 2.5 more sacks on the day and now has an NFL-best seven on the season through five games. He went up against a terrific left tackle in Jordan Mailata and built on his budding reputation as one of the most dynamic rushers in the game.
“He’s been incredible,” said Allen, another stalwart on a defense that’s already up to 22 sacks. “If you leave him one-on-one, he’s going to win.”
The Eagles run game has struggled to get into gear this year, but last year was the talk of the NFL. On Sunday, Nick Sirianni’s team only rushed 11 times for 45 yards.
“We felt like we could do that,” Payton said. “And the turnover battle had to be at least even. We did that.”
The Broncos offense, meanwhile, got out of whack early in the game and in one stretch threw the ball 22 times in 28 snaps.
When Payton returned to the run game, even down two scores in the second half, good things immediately followed. Denver had 10 first downs total over its first eight drives and then 10 alone on back-to-back grinding touchdown marches.
They ran 10 times for 36 yards in the first half, but then 19 for 94 in the second despite trailing 17-3 before touching the ball in the third quarter and trailing until midway through the fourth.
“That’s what I was brought here for,” said Dobbins, who finished with 20 carries, 79 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown plunge. “I know a lot of people doubted me. A lot of people didn’t think I was that good. A lot of people think a lot of things about me. ‘Oh, he’s been hurt.’ Go look at the numbers.
“I’ve got the best o-line in the NFL now. They’re going to deliver every time.”
They largely kept Nix upright, allowing just one sack in the pocket before Nix took a second scrambling around on a fourth-quarter third-and-8 call that Payton said he immediately regretted after the game.
Payton often says that confidence is born of demonstrated ability. Most of the time, he’s talking about a young player figuring out how to make it in the NFL.
But it also applies to this team as a whole.
They made the playoffs last year but beat just one team that finished the season with a winning record.
They scored a bunch of points and ran for a bunch of yards against bad teams, but hadn’t closed against good ones.
They led every second of the fourth quarter at Indianapolis and at the Chargers last month, and yet lost both.
They hadn’t won a game like this one. Now they have.
“Being able to play a team like this so well proves that we can keep playing in bigger games,” right guard Quinn Meinerz said.
They took a formula that worked a week ago against a beleaguered Cincinnati team, put it in place on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions, and rode it to a hard-earned, far-from-perfect victory.
That doesn’t just make for a happy flight to London late Sunday night and a 3-2 start after two brutal road losses to open the season.
That’s an identity. A real one. For perhaps the first time in a decade for this franchise.
In the smoke-filled visiting locker room after the game, music thumped and Payton asked his team, “Who are you afraid of?”
They all yelled in unison, “Nobody.”
When you can control the line of scrimmage, there’s no need for fear.
Shocking the Super Bowl champs
The Broncos have rallied to win from deficits of 14 points or more 32 times in franchise history, but those comebacks have been few and far between since their Super Bowl season in 2015. That campaign, of course, was defined by improbable rallies, including the team’s last win in Arrowhead Stadium. Here’s a look at each of Denver’s rallies from 14-plus down during that period, including Sunday’s win in the City of Brotherly Love.
| Date | Opponent | Deficit | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2023 | at Chicago | 21 | 31-28 |
| Comment: Coming after 70-20 debacle in Miami, Sean Payton avoided 0-4 start to tenure behind Russell Wilson’s 3 TD passes. | |||
| Nov 1, 2020 | L.A. Chargers | 21 | 31-30 |
| Comment: Down 24-3 with 7:33 left in third quarter, Drew Lock-led Broncos scored TDs on four of last five possessions. | |||
| Dec 28, 2015 | Cincinnati | 14 | 20-17, OT |
| Comment: Brock Osweiler throws for 299 yards and Broncos win in OT on Brandon McManus field goal after starting off down 14-0. | |||
| Nov 29, 2015 | New England | 14 | 30-24, OT |
| Comment: C.J. Anderson’s 48-yard TD in OT clinches comeback that ultimately decided homefield advantage in AFC Championship. | |||
| Sep 17, 2015 | at Kansas City | 14 | 31-24 |
| Comment: Broncos’ last win at Arrowhead saw them score two TDs (Manning to Sanders, Roby fumble return) in final minute. | |||
| Sunday | at Philadelphia | 14 | 21-17 |
| Comment: Payton’s team takes down the Super Bowl champs after audacious decision to go for two trailing by a point in fourth quarter. | |||
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com.
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.