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Broncos Fans Thrilled Team Doesn't Choke Away Victory Over Raiders

The victory wasn't as easy as most pundits had predicted, but Bo Nix's Rookie of the Year hopes are still alive.
November 25, 2024
Image: Courtland Sutton catches touchdown pass against Las Vegas Raiders
Courtland Sutton deserves a hat tip for his play during recent weeks, including Denver's November 24 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. Ian Maule/Getty Images

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In the years since their February 2016 victory in Super Bowl 50, the Denver Broncos have regularly found ways to set optimism aflame. Put faith in the wrong executives, coaches, players? Check. Head in an unwise direction despite obvious signs that they're going the wrong way? Check. Lose key match-ups to lesser opponents that doom entire seasons? Check, and mate.

Given these precedents, the Broncos' November 24 meeting with the Las Vegas Raiders couldn't have seemed more like a trap game if the stadium nicknamed the Death Star had just destroyed the planet of Alderaan seconds before kickoff. So Denver's 29-19 victory — the team's first in a road contest versus the Raiders since 2015 — wasn't simply a blow against the Empire. As fans on social media immediately understood, it was evidence that this version of the Broncos may actually represent a New Hope.

In the lead-up to Sunday, the local sports punditry certainly risked jinxing the outcome, with yakker after yakker opining that the Raiders were so terrible, so pathetic, so laughable that the Broncos would blow them out with ease. But that didn't happen.

On the first possession, Vegas quarterback Gardner Minshew looked entirely competent as he drove his charges into the Denver end of the field. A Raiders punt then pinned the Broncos deep after the momentum faltered, with an exchange of punts following before the Broncos settled for a field goal — after which Raiders return specialist Dylan Laube brought back Wil Lutz's boot a stunning 59 yards. Four minutes later, Vegas running back Ameer Abdullah was in the end zone and the Broncos were down 7-3 — and the Raiders soon added three more points thanks to a fake punt by A.J. Cole that resulted in a 31-yard gain.

Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix didn't panic in response, but he didn't slice up the Raiders' defense as he did to the Atlanta Falcons' D the previous week, either. Rather than sitting back and letting Nix operate, as the Falcons and the Kansas City Chiefs before them had done, Vegas blitzed and blitzed and blitzed some more, and the tactic was successful. Nix proved to be far more erratic under pressure, nearly tossing a trio of interceptions and serving up three batted balls over the course of the afternoon. As such, Denver didn't cross the goal line in the first half, managing just two more Lutz field goals prior to an intermission that saw Nix and company trailing 13-9.

At this point, most Broncos squads assembled in the wake of Peyton Manning's retirement would have collapsed. But once again, the Broncos defense, assembled by pariah-turned-hero Vance Joseph, came to the rescue. After Denver began the third quarter with a gag-worthy three-and-out, Brandon Jones intercepted Minshew, and Nix cashed in the pick two plays later via a rainbow to wide receiver Courtland Sutton, whose career rebirth has been a wonder to behold. In the fourth stanza, Nix and Sutton connected for a TD again following Denver's best march of the day, highlighted by a screen to Marvin Mims that ate up 39 yards in a flash.

Minshew wasn't done yet, but close: Later in the fourth, he was injured amid a sack (it was later reporter that Minshew is out for the season with a broken collarbone) and his replacement, Desmond Ridder, kindly fumbled shortly thereafter, essentially handing Denver a clinching field goal.

Nix's final numbers — 25 of 42 for 273 and those two touchdowns — were solid enough to keep up his Rookie of the Year narrative. But the Raiders' pass rush success provides a template for future, and better, opponents to use against him. He'll have to keep improving his technique for Denver to continue its winning ways and make the playoffs, a dream that had seemed like a drug-induced fantasy at the outset of the season. Not that citizens of Broncos Country were complaining.

Denver fans are simply overjoyed that the latest edition of the franchise didn't choke in key moments as so many of its predecessors have done. Continue to see our choices for the twenty most memorable post-game takes on X, capped by an apology from a former Nix doubter.

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Image: Michael Roberts
Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.
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