Mile High Sports

Denver Broncos snap Raiders streak behind Bo Nix’s second half, PS2’s career day

Cody Roark
NFL: Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos

Oct 6, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II (2) brings in a interception away from Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers (89) in the fourth quarter at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Denver Broncos finally snapped the Las Vegas Raiders’ eight-game win streak against them with a dominant 34-18 performance on Sunday at home on Throwback to 77′ Day.

Denver Broncos dominate Raiders in second half

The Denver Broncos overcame some first-half offensive struggles, generating some points defensively and then running away with it in the second half behind Patrick Surtain II’s career day and Bo Nix’s best game as a pro.

Patrick Surtain II is making the strongest case for defensive player of the year

PS2 is playing elite-level football. With the Broncos trailing 10-3 and in danger of giving up another touchdown, Surtain snagged Gardner Minshew’s pass for a 100-yard pick-six, leading to a 14-point swing. Instead of trailing 17-3, Denver tied the game at 10-10.

Denver’s All-Pro cornerback has made a case for himself early on for defensive player of the year, and the pick-six should elevate that case further. While the Broncos’ offense struggled in the first half, Surtain, the team’s lone first-round pick on the defense, came up big whenever the team needed a big play.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Surtain was clocked at 20.92 mph, which is the fastest speed clocked this year by a player returning a pick-six. In the fourth quarter, Surtain snagged his second interception, this time knocking one of Aidan O’Connell’s passes into the air and intercepting it

Riley Moss, who has been spectacular this season opposite of PS2 also came away with his first career interception.

On top of snagging three total interceptions, the Broncos defense also finished the game with three sacks and six quarterback hits.

Bo Nix, Broncos score 34 unanswered points

The Broncos offense struggled mightily in the first half of Sunday’s game. With Denver trailing 10-0 at one point, the offense couldn’t get in a groove, including Nix. The Broncos offense was 1-for-6 on third down at halftime, and Bo Nix was sacked twice as Denver went in with a 13-10 lead, fueled by Surtain and the defense, and a drive right before half that saw Nix find Troy Franklin for a 19-yard gain to help set them up in field goal range.

Despite the first-half struggles, Denver came out firing in the second half on their second offensive series, which was set up by Marvin Mims breaking off a 38-yard punt return. Several plays later, Lil’Jordan Humphrey took a bubble pass for extra yardage and Jaleel McLaughlin’s extra effort dive on a pass from out of the backfield from Nix gave Denver a bigger lead.

From that point forward, Nix and the offense began to get in rhythm even further, with Javonte Williams rattling off a few big runs, including a 17-yard one that put Denver in Raiders territory. Nix scored on a QB keeper and fired off his second touchdown pass of the day to Josh Reynolds in the fourth quarter, his third total touchdown of the day, scoring 34 unanswered points and running away from the Raiders.

Nix, Payton sideline spat not a big deal

Viewers in the stands and on the FOX broadcast saw a moment in the third quarter where Nix and Sean Payton were having a heated discussion, following a play where Troy Franklin had a wide open touchdown sail through his hands. While it will certainly be a talking point, it’s something that shouldn’t be overanalyzed.

This game is a rollercoaster of emotions, and sometimes things like that will happen, but what’s important is that cooler heads prevail. It’s a good thing that this type of thing happened, considering the offense had struggled early on and has been inconsistent this season. I would have been more concerned if we didn’t see this type of fire from Nix. On top of that, he and the offense put things together in the second half.

Exit mobile version