Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
—
The Denver Broncos won a defensive slugfest 13-11 in London on Sunday to leave the New York Jets as still the only winless team in the NFL.
Denver quarterback Bo Nix threw the only touchdown of the game at the end of the first quarter at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the team’s defense sacked Jets QB Justin Field nine times in an affair which lacked offensive firepower – the nine sacks on Fields was the same number as the amount of successful pass attempts he had during the whole game.
The Jets did attempt to make a late comeback but a sack on fourth down in the final two minutes cemented the continuation of New York’s winless start to the season, with head coach Aaron Glenn searching for his first win in the position.
New York now slips to 0-6 after another poor offensive outing – Fields had 45 passing yards while running back Breece Hall had 59 yards on the ground.
After the victory, Nix expressed how amazed he was with Denver’s defensive performance in London.
“It’s almost impossible what they did. It was impressive,” the 25-year-old told reporters. “Unfortunately, it’s one of those things where I don’t get to watch a whole lot of it, I wish I could.
“They’d be a fun defense to watch and an awful defense to play against. I know that kind of from practice. But they turned it on. Nine sacks is a lot of sacks. That’s really good for our defense. Still looking for turnovers but sacks are pretty much like turnovers, they kill drives. Impressive, not shocked but really impressive performance by them today.”
Despite nominally being a Jets home game, there was a heavy peppering of Broncos fans inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with their bright orange jersey’s making them stand out.
And after receiving the opening kick-off, those Broncos fans were quietened on their team’s first drive as their offense turned the ball over after Nix’s pass to Troy Franklin was caught, only for Jets cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. to punch the ball loose and for Andre Cisco to fall on it. The turnover was the first the Jets have forced all season.
New York could only muster a field goal with that extra position, with Nick Folk hitting from 52 yards away to give the Jets an early lead.
It started off a run of field goals, with Denver tying the scores shortly afterwards with a 57 yarder before Folk added another one – Folk’s second was set up expertly by a 72-yard kick-off return from New York’s Kene Nwangwu to give the home side a starting position midway inside Broncos territory.
However, after falling behind for the second time, the Broncos produced their best drive of the game, with Nix connecting with tight end Nate Adkins on a 16-yard touchdown pass in what was the final play of the first quarter to send their fans to the concourse with a pep in their step.
Remarkably, the Jets had only been able to total one yard on offense and had no first downs midway through the second quarter, with 13 rush yards and minus 12 passing yards on their first four drives of the game.
They did get their first first down of the afternoon on the final play before the two-minute warning, greeted by loud – largely sarcastic – cheers from Jets fans.
New York came out of halftime with renewed purpose and produced their best drive of the game, but the 10-play, 37-yard drive ended in a familiar result, with Folk kicking his third field goal of the game to cut Denver’s lead to one.
Although they had been in control for most of proceedings, the Broncos handed the initiative to the winless Jets, committing an offensive holding penalty in their own endzone, resulting in a two-point safety and giving New York possession.
So, through three field goals and a safety, the Jets somehow had a one-point lead.
But the Broncos thought they had their own game-changing moment just a few plays later when cornerback Patrick Surtain II forced Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson to fumble the ball, with Denver recovering possession. However, after a quick review, the officials announced that it had been ruled an incomplete pass and New York retained possession.
The Broncos did retake the lead with just minutes remaining in the final quarter with another Lutz field goal, pushing Denver ahead by two points – a lead which proved decisive.
And although the Jets attempted to take a late lead and leave the UK with their first win of the season, it wasn’t to be as the Broncos defense stepped up one last time – this time with Jonathon Cooper and Brandon Jones – to sack Fields and turn the ball over.
Nix was able to kneel twice to run out the remainder of the clock as the Broncos improved to 4-2 on the season.
