Between the 10 games played by both teams this season, nine were decided by one score, and this one would be no different. But, for the undefeated Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, each of their games ended in a win before the Denver Broncos came to town. Except for the two seconds in two games, which turned two wins into losses, the Broncos would have been undefeated as well. But as fate would have it, the ball did not bounce the Broncos’ way for that to happen.

So when the final play went down in the Eagles - Broncos game on Sunday, the glory of victory was not guaranteed in Broncos Country. Trailing by four points on the final Hail Mary pass by Jalen Hurts, the ball was touched by both of the Eagles’ top two receivers in the end zone, surrounded by Broncos defenders. When the ball hit the ground to end the game, the Broncos emerged as the team they were hyped up to be at the beginning of the season. Winning the toughest game on their schedule gave them the swagger and confidence that they were indeed  legit.

The 21-17 win over the Eagles was not just a signature win for the Broncos, but also a coming-out, comeback victory for second-year quarterback Bo Nix and a vote of confidence from Head Coach Sean Payton in his offense. Trailing by one point with over seven minutes left in the game, Payton made a gutsy call to go for the two-point conversion instead of going for the tie. The catch by Troy Franklin gave the Broncos the 18-17 go-ahead lead, and the defense would close the game after an insurance field goal added on by the special teams. It was the Eagles’ first loss in 287 days.

“Well, number one, we felt situationally with time left on the clock,” said Payton about the conversion. “We came here to win a game, and I had two or three calls that I loved. So, sometimes you use those calls inside the five, but we got to a call that I had a lot of confidence in, and the guys executed. It was perfect. But we felt – I think there were seven and a half minutes. Let’s do that. Let’s keep being aggressive and I regret one call at the very end, the last call on third down. We had another one that would’ve been perfect. We settled for the field goal and then played really good defense. So good win.”

After taking the early 3-0 lead in the first quarter, the Broncos’ offense went flat until the fourth quarter. The Eagles would score the next 17 points, but were then held by the Broncos’ defense to zero points in the fourth quarter. That’s when the Broncos posted an unanswered 18 points in the fourth quarter.

“I mean, it was great. I think by the time we got a fourth quarter close, it felt like Kansas City last year,” said quarterback Bo Nix. “It felt like we’d been there before. We went down and got points in that four-minute drill, and then our defense held him at the end, so it was good. It felt like we’ve been in that position a lot, and today went our way.”

I thought our defense kept us in the game for the longest, and after the first three points. We just did nothing for a while, and then we finally went down the field, scored, and got some tempo. Then you look up and there’s still a lot of fourth quarter to be played, so we got the ball again and we had to go do it again. Then after the two points, we just got some great momentum and we just played with that for the rest of the game.”

Although the Eagles came into their home game undefeated, all four of their wins were won by narrow margins, giving the Broncos a best-case scenario to challenge the champs. Star running back Saquon Barkley was held to just 30 yards rushing, with only two carries for zero yards in the second half. He scored on a 47-yard touchdown catch in the game.

“Obviously, we want to run the ball more than we were able to today, or pardon me, what we did today,” said Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni. “You always want to come out of that game with Saquon getting enough touches for the type of player he is. So again, we’ll look for solutions, and we’re on a short week trying to get better to put ourselves in position to go play against another NFC opponent.”

While the Eagles’ run game was shut down by the Broncos’ defense, the Denver running backs were reaching a turning point in their game over the years. With 130 yards rushing on 29 carries, with one touchdown, the Broncos have now rushed for over 100 yards and recorded at least one rushing touchdown in each of the first five games of the season. It is the first time a Broncos team has rushed for over 100 yards and scored a rushing touchdown in each of the first five games of a season since 1978.

With 20 carries for 79 yards and one touchdown in the win over Philadelphia, RB J.K. Dobbins has totaled 402 total rushing yards through five games. That is the fifth most by a Bronco in the first five games of a season since RB Travis Henry in 2007.

Holding their own with six sacks in the game, the Broncos’ defense was led by Nik Bonitto with seven sacks on the season, most in the NFL. Bonitto was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week by the NFL for his performance against the Eagles. The award is the first Defensive Player of the Week selection of Bonitto’s career. He recorded 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, and four total tackles in the win over Philadelphia. The fourth-year player helped Denver shut down a last-minute Philadelphia drive with one of his sacks.

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