ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Bo Nix has his flaws. One thing is undeniable, though: he's key in the clutch.
Denver has been a quarterback town since John Elway arrived in 1983, and game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime have been the Broncos' signature stat ever since.
Elway engineered 40 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime during his 16-year career in Denver. Payton Manning had 54 in his 18-year career, which culminated
with four seasons in the Mile High City.
That's 2 1/2 late-game heroics per season for Elway, three for Manning, both of whom led Super Bowl parades in Denver and ended up enshrined in Canton, Ohio, not long afterward.
Nix is piling up such wins at a rate significantly higher than either of them.
Nix completed his 15th career game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime Sunday in Denver's 28-24 win over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
In doing so, he surpassed Dak Prescott (14 games) for the most game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime by a quarterback in his first three seasons since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
Add in his comeback to beat Buffalo in the playoffs last year and he has 16 such games in his 44 NFL starts — or an average of 6.4 a season.
Put another way, Elway had a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime in 21% of his starts (40 out of 252) and Manning did it in 18% of his games (54 of 292).
Nix comes in at 36% — twice Manning's average — with 16 instances in his 44 career starts, including playoffs.
The Broncos trailed the Chiefs by 11 points in the fourth quarter Sunday and they were facing a sweep by Kansas City that would essentially put them three games behind them in the AFC West race.
Instead, they stormed into first place in the division at 6-2, a half-game ahead of Kansas City, by scoring 15 points over the final 8:55 and staving off the Chiefs on fourth-and-goal in the closing seconds.
“I was saying a few Hail Mary's on the sideline,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “I was praying to some guardian angels. And they came through and our defense did, too. It was an unbelievable stand there. It just goes to show the fight that we have here. ... Our defense is lights out in the biggest moments.”
The offense, too.
“I just think there's a different level of toughness that we have here mentally,” McGlinchey said. “Everybody that's been brought here has a certain football pedigree, has a certain football toughness and love for this.”
The Broncos have won 15 consecutive one-score games dating back to last season and including wins over the Jaguars, Rams, Seahawks, Chargers and Chiefs this year.
“I think it has to come from, ‘Well, we did it before,’" coach Sean Payton said. “You can’t count on that, but it has to come from” having that history.
The fourth quarter magic.
The first three quarters, and on Sunday, it was the third quarter, especially. That's when the Broncos went three-and-out on all three of their drives before closing the game with a pair of touchdown drives.
ILB Alex Singleton continued his torrid start with 14 tackles, a sack and a pass breakup Sunday. That pushed Singleton to 101 tackles and made him the second player this century to top the century mark in stops in his team's first eight games. The only other player to do that was Indy's Zaire Franklin, who had 102 tackles through eight games in 2023.
Darren Rizzi's special teams. With the game on the line, the Broncos surrendered a 44-yard kickoff return to Emmett Johnson that gave the Chiefs great field position on their final drive that began with less than two minutes remaining.
The Broncos got All-Pro CB Patrick Surtain II back on Sunday but lost CB Kris Abrams-Draine (ankle) and S Brandon Jones (hamstring) in the first half. They hope to get S Talanoa Hufanga (ankle) back next week.
20.8% — That's the Broncos' third-down conversion rate (10-for-48) during their four-game winning streak. They were 2-for-2, however, on fourth down Sunday.
The Broncos visit the Carolina Panthers (3-4) next weekend.
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