By Saturday night, there was no hiding it. Even Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz, who doesn’t have Twitter, knew about the Denver-New York Twitter Fingers Beef of October 2025.
Broncos OLB Jonathon Cooper sneered a bit at Jaxson Dart on Thursday, and by Friday, Giants players had responded with some choice GIFs. By Saturday, this was a full-on online war.
So when Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph addressed his group Saturday night, there was a less-than-secret undercurrent. They “knew what was up,” as inside linebacker Justin Strnad said Sunday, smiling.
Broncos score franchise-record 33 fourth-quarter points, storm to walk-off win vs. Giants
“Obviously, Coop wasn’t even trying to be disrespectful,” Strnad said of Cooper’s viral comments on Dart. “But their fanbase flipped it around and tried to make it this huge beef.
“But we always got our guys’ back, and we always will have our guys’ back.”
The Giants had their guys’ back, too. They were ready to send a message, defensive tackle Malcolm Roach reflected. They did send a message, punching the Broncos in the mouth from the jump and racking up a 19-0 lead entering the fourth quarter that spawned a bad-body-language clinic on Denver’s sideline.
But when all hope seemed lost, Strnad earned the last laugh with the first pick of his career — a fourth-quarter floater from Dart that singlehandedly flipped the scales towards the Broncos’ miraculous 33-32 win.
“He’s doing his thing right now, he’s going crazy,” Roach said postgame, the exuberant defensive tackle tossing out a nickname.
“Give it up for Stranogie, now.”
Give it up for Strangoie, indeed. He has been “doubted a lot,” as Roach said, across his five-year career in Denver. Strnad didn’t play a single snap on defense from 2022 to 2023. He found himself as Denver’s starting linebacker amid injuries last year, and found himself as Denver’s starting linebacker through six weeks in 2025 with Dre Greenlaw’s continued injury absence.
And when the veteran reserve suddenly lost his starting job with Greenlaw’s return Sunday — the star free-agent signing finishing with six tackles in 20 snaps — Strnad didn’t flinch.
In the fourth quarter, Joseph trusted him. And as the Broncos defensive coordinator dialed up one of his famed disguised pressures on a key third-and-5, Strnad dropped back in coverage as Dart stepped up against the rush.
Strand thought Dart wouldn’t throw it. New York was up 26-16 with five minutes left, after all, and just needed to bleed clock. Instead, the rookie quarterback fired a wonky-footed duck in hopes of finding tight end Theo Johnson on a crosser, and Strnad plucked a gift out of thin air.
Head coach Sean Payton said he first thought there was a No. 40 on New York that he didn’t know about. But it was his weak-side linebacker. Strnad returned the pick 20 yards.
The Broncos scored a minute of clock later, scored again two minutes after that, and led a last-second field goal drive to flip one of the nuttier football games in recent memory on its head.
“That probably was the difference in winning or losing the game,” Payton said of Strnad’s interception.
The 230-pound Greenlaw teed the Broncos off early, flying around the turf like a banshee on creatine. He walloped Dart on several plays. He talked trash to Giants rookie Cam Skattebo. He barked several times, with Giants players from the sideline. And it was an encouraging debut for the future of the Broncos’ defense, as Greenlaw looked much like the difference-maker he was a couple of years ago in San Francisco.
“That’s how I play the game, man,” Greenlaw said postgame. “I love hitting people. I love my job. I love what I do.
“Football is the only place where you can go out there and hit people and not go to jail for it.”
Strnad, though, closed brilliantly, finishing with the interception, four tackles and a pass-breakup. Joseph called him a “real NFL starter” on Thursday, and Strnad’s played like one through seven weeks, racking up 3.5 sacks and 30 tackles. He’s putting himself in position for a monster payday, playing on just a one-year deal worth $2.8 million.
“Like I said — ‘Man, it’s gon’ be hard to keep you around here,'” Roach said postgame. “And that’s all you want in this league.”
Strnad’s role will naturally subside in the coming weeks, as Greenlaw continues to ramp up.
“Boy, when they can take him off that play limit, it’s gon’ be crazy,” Roach said of Greenlaw. “Because he downhill. And like I always say, we running to that ball, gotta watch out for him. ‘Cause he trying to beat me to it.”
The 29-year-old Strnad will still have a defined role in specific packages, Joseph said this week. And Strnad has long shown the ability to be a difference-maker if anyone goes down again.
“I’m so proud of him,” starting ILB Alex Singleton said. “He deserves this. He’s been playing like this all year.
“It’s just exciting, I’m happy for him. And yeah — we’re deep now.”
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