PHILADELPHIA — Sean Payton is pissed off. The Denver Broncos head coach had three goal-line performs on his name sheet Sunday that he liked, and he did not get to make use of two of them.
The one he did use, nonetheless, orchestrated a stunning two-point conversion that quieted Lincoln Financial Field, the place Eagles followers have been hushed by a rush of vulnerability. Their defending Super Bowl champions have been abruptly dropping after main by 14 factors earlier in the fourth quarter.
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“He has his ways of letting us know that he loves a play, for sure,” Broncos extensive receiver Troy Franklin instructed reporters in the locker room. “And we’ll get it done for him.”
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Franklin caught the go-ahead two-point conversion go try that gave Denver an 18-17 benefit with 7:36 remaining. The Broncos, who entered the fourth quarter down 17-3, rode their momentum, a couple of late-game calls went their manner they usually held on for a 21-17 victory over an undefeated Eagles team that had won 20 of its previous 21 games.
Franklin wasn’t shocked Payton determined to go for 2 halfway by means of the fourth quarter. Neither is quarterback Bo Nix, who accomplished 9 of 10 passes for 127 yards and a rating in the finale body.
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After tight finish Evan Engram caught an 11-yard landing, the Broncos’ second in 5 and a half minutes of recreation time, Payton determined towards an additional level that might tie the sport at 17-17.
“We came here to win a game,” Payton defined on the podium postgame.
Nix faked a handoff to working again J.Okay. Dobbins, rolled proper and fired a go to Franklin, who snatched it in the top zone, with Eagles cornerback Kelee Ringo trailing behind him.
Nix and Franklin have been teammates for 12 months at Oregon, however Franklin chalked up Sunday’s game-changing connection to weeks of apply on that particular play. Payton attributed the conversion to matchup and execution.
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Payton knew Philadelphia’s prime cornerback, Quinyon Mitchell, would journey with standout Broncos wideout Courtland Sutton to the other aspect of the sphere. That left Franklin with Ringo. Franklin gained a step on him with a lightning-quick jab earlier than bolting towards the pylon.
“We felt good about that one,” Payton stated. “There were two others, but that was one of ’em.”
The threat Payton took Sunday in Philadelphia pales in comparability to the one he took when he was the top coach of the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV. That February evening in Miami greater than 15 years in the past, Payton opened the second half with an onside kick.
The Saints, down 10-6 on the time, recovered it, went on to assert their first lead of the sport and finally hoisted the Lombardi Trophy for the primary, and up to now solely, time in franchise historical past.
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It was true then, and it was true Sunday: Payton trusts his gamers to make performs. Especially Nix, on whom Payton took a threat when he chosen the fiery quarterback in final 12 months’s draft.
‘You can really feel his management when it issues’
Ahead of Payton’s second season in Denver, the Broncos drafted a 24-year-old Nix with the No. 12 general decide. He had struggled at Auburn earlier than ascending to Heisman Trophy finalist standing at Oregon throughout a winding five-year faculty profession.
Denver’s quarterback choice was questioned at first, then reconsidered when Nix threw 29 touchdowns as a rookie and returned the Broncos to the playoffs for the primary time since they gained the Super Bowl with an injury-worn Peyton Manning in 2015.
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But concern continued. Nix’s poise in the pocket and downfield accuracy have been below the microscope throughout his second season in the league. The latter was exhausted in dialog after his overthrows haunted a 23-20 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3.
Through three quarters Sunday in Philadelphia, that speculative narrative solely continued. Nix went into the ultimate interval with a two-touchdown deficit and a 61.6 passer ranking. He was 15 of 29 for 114 yards.
“To tell you the truth, it’s not easy going out there. It’s 17-3. You haven’t had much success. It’s tough to get things going,” Nix admitted postgame. “I mean you want to have juice, but you just know what’s happened to you already.”
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He added: “We just kind of had this sense of, ‘We just need one drive, let’s go down the field, one play at a time, let’s put a drive together.’ … And we kind of spoke it into existence.”
The Broncos have been 3 of 12 on third down by means of the primary three quarters. They have been 2 of 4 in the fourth. But their ultimate conversion earlier than the ultimate body got here on third-and-2, and that 6-yard go from Nix to Sutton stored the wheels shifting on a 10-play, 62-yard sequence that culminated in a 2-yard Dobbins scoring run in the fourth quarter’s infancy that lower the Eagles’ lead in half to 17-10.
While Nix was beginning to discover the passing rhythm that makes him tick, his protection seized management of the road of scrimmage towards what’s been the NFL’s most dominant crew in the trenches of late.
The Eagles clocked out with solely 45 dashing yards. Granted they sprinkled in some RPOs, however that they had just one designed run in second half, versus 23 go makes an attempt.
Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts went from chucking 45-plus-yard bombs to wideout DeVonta Smith and working again Saquon Barkley to working for his life from Broncos defenders.
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A well-timed simulated strain from Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph resulted in a third-down sack and an Eagles three-and-out that set the stage for Nix’s subsequent act.
Payton stated he knew the place the ball was happening third-and-15 earlier than it was even snapped. Nix fired a go to Sutton, who galloped for a 34-yard acquire. The subsequent two performs have been the Engram landing and the Franklin two-point conversion, however they won’t have been potential with out the Nix-to-Sutton hookup.
“I had a good feeling and was just hoping the boundary safety moved to the field because they had shown that, and sure enough that’s what he did, and Courtland ran a great backside route,” Nix stated.
The duo linked up twice extra on Denver’s ultimate drive, first for 16 yards on third-and-6 after which for 12 yards on second-and-14, serving to the Broncos get in place for a 36-yard subject purpose that gave them a four-point cushion with 1:11 left.
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“He’s got my back, I have his, and he made catch after catch after catch,” Nix stated of Sutton. “And in that situation it’s almost like who wants the football, and Sutt wants the football.”
Sutton, a one-time Pro Bowler who has gone over the 1,000-yard receiving mark two instances, caught eight passes for 99 yards towards the Eagles.
He additionally inspired his quarterback by means of a tough begin — not simply Sunday however this season, in which the Broncos misplaced back-to-back video games on walk-off subject targets in Weeks 2-3.
“He’s been growing, and I think that those two losses are something that we had kind of talked about it after those losses happened, but he gets down on himself,” Sutton stated.
“He’s a very passionate guy when it comes down to his craft and to be able to watch him go into the mindset of, ‘Alright, how do I get better and what do I need to do to be better?’ … ultimately, it motivates everyone around him. I tell him all the time, ‘You’re not doing this by yourself. What can I do be better for you? You know what I’m saying? For us. Whatever it may be, you tell me, and I’ll work on it.'”
Sutton continued: “To be able to have your leader be somebody that’s as driven as he is and as detailed and as passionate as he is, man, it ultimately brings everybody else along with him. To see him go out there and put together those drives, it didn’t surprise me, but it was really cool to be a part of.”
Payton added: “You can feel his leadership when it matters, and then you can feel the confidence with his teammates when it matters.”
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Broncos bucked their development
Nix stated it was about time Denver bought “a fourth-quarter close one.”
He stated Sunday’s recreation towards the Eagles felt like final 12 months’s Week 10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, solely it had a distinct outcome. That recreation, the Broncos performed Super Bowl LIX’s different participant and misplaced on a blocked 35-yard subject purpose on the buzzer in Arrowhead Stadium.
This time round, the Broncos hit a chip-shot kick towards a crew that blocked two subject targets two weeks prior, and Denver exorcised some nail-biter demons. Payton’s crew additionally suffered agonizing one-score defeats towards the Chargers and Indianapolis Colts in 2024.
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Stomaching one other setback like that towards the Eagles would have been troublesome. Despite a visit to London awaiting Denver for Week 6, Payton did not flinch on the alternative Sunday, on the variety of recreation that may, in his phrases, outline “what you’ve become.”
“I think they were confident coming in,” Payton stated of his Broncos squad. “I asked them afterwards, ‘Who are you afraid of?’ This is a league, there’s a fine line between a groove and a rut.
“It was win.”
Sean Payton took a chance went he went for two Sunday. He took a chance when he drafted Bo Nix.
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He likes his odds.
So does Nix, particularly after his 3-2 Broncos defeated the Eagles.
“It proves that we are able to go on the street and beat these robust groups,” Nix said, “and we is usually a robust crew to play.”