The Denver Broncos pulled off a stunner on Sunday, storming back from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to hand the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles their first loss of the season in a shocking 21-17 upset victory.
The Broncos trailed 17-3 entering the fourth quarter and had done essentially nothing offensively throughout the entire game, but they flipped the script in the final period. They stepped up with three consecutive scoring drives in the fourth quarter, racking up 154 of their 358 total yards in the final frame alone.
Denver also took the lead in a surprising way. The Broncos scored what looked like would be a game-tying touchdown with 7:36 remaining in the game when Bo Nix -- who had struggled for much of the afternoon before finding his rhythm late -- found Evan Engram underneath for the score. But rather than kick the game-tying extra point, the Broncos went for two, and they converted the try with a Nix pass to Troy Franklin.
That's the kind of thing you'll occasionally see when a trailing team has a chance to take the lead in the final moments of the game, but rarely do you see it with over seven minutes remaining. Alas, the Broncos went for it anyway, and the decision paid off in a big way.
They had found themselves trailing entering the fourth due mostly to a few big plays by the Eagles in the passing game. The Eagles hit on a big play down the field to DeVonta Smith for a 52-yard gain to set up their first touchdown, which came on a two-yard toss to Dallas Goedert at the goal line. For their second score, Saquon Barkley smoked a linebacker on a wheel route up the right sideline.
It looked at that point that the Eagles were in full control and would cruise to victory, but their final five drives of the game went punt-punt-punt-punt-end of game. They totaled just 48 yards on those five drives, two of which actually went backwards. The Eagles also only officially ran the ball with their running backs twice on those drives, as they went with a heavy pass lean after Smith and A.J. Brown were reportedly frustrated with their roles in the offense. Philadelphia had just 11 total rush attempts in a game it led by double-digits for a significant portion of the second half.
The Eagles eventually paid the price for that aggressiveness when the Broncos staged their comeback.
According to CBS Sports research, the two-point conversion from Nix to Franklin was:
The Broncos ran a really nice-looking play to convert, with Nix finding Franklin in the flat after a quick play-action fake.
Sutton finished the game with eight receptions for 99 yards on his 10 targets. He had several crucial catches, including a pair of big third-down conversions in the fourth quarter. The biggest of those came after an intentional grounding flag on Nix was picked up, which set up a third-and-6 rather than third-and-20-plus.
Sutton had a tough matchup as he dealt with Quinyon Mitchell for much of the day, but he made the most of his opportunities, and on the play above allowed the Broncos to keep their drive alive, milk more time off the clock and eventually extend their lead such that the Eagles needed to drive for a touchdown rather than merely a field goal with their final possession of the game.
Philadelphia was the run-heaviest team in the NFL through the first four weeks of the season, and it went 4-0 through those four games. On Sunday, the Eagles passed 38 times, not including the six times Hurts dropped back to pass and got sacked and the two times he scrambled. They ran the ball just 11 times total, with Saquon Barkley receiving only six carries and gaining just 30 yards on his totes. He had one run for 17 yards and gained only 13 on his other five times touching the ball via hand-off.
The Eagles' receivers have been openly frustrated with their respective roles in the offense, with A.J. Brown in particular voicing that frustration in a variety of ways. The Eagles came out determined to get the passing attack going and did hit on a few big plays, but they weren't particularly efficient through the air against what is a very good Broncos pass defense. Hurts averaged 7.4 yards per attempt, but when you take into account the 23 yards lost on his six sacks, that figured dropped to just 5.8 net yards per attempt.
It was a pretty surprising strategy, to say the least, against a Denver defense that has been excellent against the pass and that features the reigning Defensive Player of the Year at cornerback -- even if DeVonta Smith did have himself a really nice game with eight catches for 114 yards.
The Hail Mary pass from Jalen Hurts to the back of the end zone was nearly completed, but eventually knocked to the ground. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith both nearly came down with it but instead it fell to the ground and the Broncos completed their shocking upset victory. It's the Eagles' first loss since Week 16 of last season.
The Eagles are furious about a missed pass interference call on that last pass to Dallas Goedert and they are right to be. One play left, 4 seconds on the clock.
Denver did a really nice job of burning clock and moving down the field at the same time on this drive. In the end it goes 11 plays, 50 yards and takes 3:49 off the clock to give the Broncos a 4-point lead with 1:11 remaining in the game. Eagles will have just south of 70 seconds and no timeouts remaining to try to drive for a game-winning touchdown.
Andrew Mukuba could have just saved the game for the Eagles with a huge tackle on RJ Harvey on the perimeter, but Zack Baun came in with a late hit on Harvey and gave the Broncos the conversion anyway. Now the Broncos have another chance to get a first down and ice the game. Eagles have one timeout and the two-minute warning remaining.
This time it's the Broncos who benefit from a flag that gets picked up as Bo Nix's intentional grounding penalty is overturned and it allows the Broncos to convert on third-and-6 instead of third-and-20-plus. The Eagles still have all three of their timeouts left but there's only 2:39 remaining in the game. A first down or two will seal this for Denver.
Hurts hit DeVonta deep down the field for the second time today but the play comes back because Saquon Barkley is called for an illegal shift. Eagles have to punt and the Broncos have a chance for a clock-killing drive and what would be a remarkable road upset.
Just like that... the Broncos are back in the lead. Wow. Evan Engram caught the touchdown pass from Nix on a little half-roll to the right, and the Broncos went for TWO instead of kicking the extra point to tie the game. Nix completed it to Troy Franklin to put Denver up 18-17. A little earlier than you see teams go for two but the Broncos converted. Stunning turnaround in this game.
The Eagles just caught a break with an offensive pass interference call that turned a third-down conversion into third-and-long... and then the Broncos came back and converted third-and-long anyway. Really nice strike from Nix to Courtland Sutton for 34 yards.
Not the greatest drive from the Eagles following that Dobbins touchdown. Set back by a holding call on a Saquon Barkley run, they quickly go three-and-out and give the ball back to Denver with a chance to tie the game. Pretty impressive stuff from Denver's defense keeping the team in this one while the offense was struggling for most of the day. The Eagles have basically had two good drives and not much else.
JK Dobbins scores from 2 yards out to cap a 10-play, 64-yard touchdown drive. That touchdown makes it a one-score game early in the fourth quarter. Very methodical drive from the Broncos, who didn't have any big plays but kept matriculating the ball down the field.
A.J. Brown just had what should have been a wide-open touchdown but he seemed to slow down on the route a little bit, and Hurts overthrew the pass by about 5 full yards because of it. That would have effectively ended the game.
The Eagles have held the Broncos' offense almost entirely in check throughout this game. It's getting late in the third quarter now, so if the Broncos are going to make a comeback they need to start getting something going offensively very soon against Vic Fangio's defense/
This is looking like Denver's best drive of the game, with three first downs. It's already moved 45 yards, which is easily the most of any drive they've had so far. Nice runs by both Bo Nix and JK Dobbins to move the chains down the field... and then Nix immediately gets called for intentional grounding to move them backward.
Gorgeous wheel route from Saquon out of the backfield and he gets a 47-yard catch-and-run for the touchdown from Hurts to put the Eagles up by two scores. The explosive plays haven't really been there for Saquon yet this season, but he certainly got one right there.
DeVonta Smith is the one who got the touchdown drive going in the first half with his 52-yard catch over the top of the defense, and now he's doing some good work on underneath stuff. He has 5 catches for 96 yards on his 7 targets.
Kelee Ringo was initially called for pass interference down the field, but the officials picked up the flag. Replay shows he probably got away with one, if you ask me. Alas, no call.
Philly did not do much with its chance to get points before the half. Incomplete, five-yard pass, incomplete again. The Broncos will have pretty good field position with just south of a minute left and one of their three timeouts remaining. They can cut into the Eagles' lead here late in the half.
After a 16-yard pass to Tyler Badie got the drive started, the Broncos went nowhere on their next series and had to punt. They left plenty of time on the clock for the Eagles, who have over a minute and a timeout to work with for this late-first-half drive as they look to extend their lead.
Huge third-down sack for the Broncos to stop a potential Eagles scoring drive in its tracks. No surprise, Nik Bonitto was in on the play with Zach Allen. Now Denver gets a chance to cut into this Eagles lead before halftime.
The efficiency is following the passing volume for this Eagles offense now. DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown are finding themselves open both underneath and over the top of the defense. Jahan Dotson even just nearly made a play down the field on a great throw by Jalen Hurts but his foot came down out of bounds. The Eagles are challenging that Dotson had possession.
Denver is averaging 3.5 yards per play. That's worse than the league-worst Titans offense, by way of perspective. This is an offense that has struggled to get untracked this season outside of the explosion against the hapless Bengals last Monday, and today has been no different.
It's the third touchdown in the last two weeks for Dallas Goedert, who came open on a rub route in the front of the end zone off play action. Nice screen set by DeVonta Smith to free him near the goal line. Eagles take their first lead of the game at 10-3.
The Eagles were averaging just 4.7 yards per play until Jalen Hurts just unleashed a deep ball to DeVonta Smith on third-and-17. Smith got WIDE open over the top of the defense for a 52-yard gain.
Bo Nix had Trent Sherfield open over the top of the defense on second down and overthrow him by several yards. Then he took an awful sack on third down that knocked the Broncos out of field goal range. The offenses are not exactly showering themselves in glory in this game, folks.
Philly drove deep into Denver territory but stalled out inside the 10-yard line. A Jake Elliott field goal ties the game 3-3.
Dickerson has been dealing with injury issues on an off all season and it has clearly affected Philadelphia's offense. He just got rolled up on by a defender and had to limp off the field. Brett Toth comes in to replace him.
Brown has two catches on the Eagles' first two drives. That's as many catches as he had all of last week.
The arm was coming forward before the ball was knocked out so the Broncos got the ball back. But Nix's third-down pass over the middle fell incomplete, so they settled for a 55-yard field goal from Wil Lutz. It's 3-0 Broncos midway through the first quarter.
This play will be reviewed but they called it a fumble on the field by Bo Nix. It looks like his arm was coming forward but I can't tell if Cooper DeJean knocked the ball fully out of his hands before his forward motion started. We'll have to see more replays when they come back from the commercial break.
Denver went for it on fourth-and-2 at around Philly's 40-yard line. The Broncos motioned the tight end under center and went with a hard count and it drew the Eagles offside. Not sure why you'd bite on a tight-end sneak from more than 2 yards away, but they did. Denver is driving with a chance to take the lead.
