HOUSTON — For the Broncos, numbers can only tell you but so much.
But some will tell you the story. Some can reveal just how effective this team is when in high-leverage moments, when pressure threatens to swell an internal organ or two.
Like this: Nobody in the NFL has more fourth-quarter touchdowns than the Broncos. Or that no quarterback has more fourth-quarter touchdown passes this season than Bo Nix. Or that 60 percent of their points since the start of October have come in the fourth quarter.
Sure, you’d LIKE more of their production to come in the first 75 percent of games, but there’s something to be said for getting it done when it matters most
Or perhaps as simple as this:
The team that had lost six-consecutive games decided by seven points or fewer dating back to last season — and had gone 2-10 in those types of games dating back to their last previous trip to Houston in December 2023 — has now won four such games in succession.
All of them went down to the last 90 seconds; three of them were in doubt until the final snap.
Losses yesterday. Wins today.
“We saw it last year at Kansas City; that’s what the good teams do,” defensive end Zach Allen said.
“… I felt like last year we were just trying to find ways to lose close games.”
And for the Broncos, that makes all the difference.
BRONCOS NEVER SEEMED TO DOUBT THEY’D GET IT DONE
Sean Payton has uttered the phrase “confidence comes from demonstrated ability” so often that he’s got the media that covers the team repeating it in its sleep. But it sticks with you the more you hear it.
Still, it doesn’t have the same resonance as actions. He can speak of confidence. But the “demonstrated ability” could only arise from actual success in close games — which has now become this team’s hallmark.
“It’s funny. Your team grows and evolves into something,” Payton said. “I don’t think there was a person in that locker room that felt like we were losing this game.
“Now, we all felt like we needed to do certain things better. But I think there was a lot of confidence coming into the second half.”
And that confidence didn’t ebb in the third quarter, when the Broncos’ first three series ended in punts and just a single first down. But by the end of the quarter, the drive to their second touchdown of the game was already under way; two plays into the fourth quarter, he hit Pat Bryant for the Broncos’ first third-down conversion of the second half.
That finally unclogged the Broncos’ offense; four plays later, Nix hit RJ Harvey out of the backfield for the 30-yard touchdown that — along with the two-point conversion — knotted the score at 15-apiece.
Given the Texans’ offensive inefficiency, the game was in Denver’s hands at that point. All the Broncos needed to do was avoid the type of miscues that defined their first three quarters — a Nix interception, Michael Bandy’s muffed punt, the blocked field-goal attempt, the 45-yard punt return at Denver’s expense.
That collection of mishaps put the game in Houston’s hands, but Denver’s defense prevented the Texans from ever getting a grip on their opportunities.
“We haven’t played our best ball yet, you know, all three phases,” Allen said, “So definitely we could be a lot better.
But in the meantime, the Broncos have developed a trait that every championship team possesses: the ability to succeed in the clutch.
Now, that alone doesn’t make the Broncos a championship team; without being better and more complete, they won’t get there. If C.J. Stroud does not succumb to a second-quarter concussion, the Broncos are likely a second-place team heading into Thursday Night Football.
That could be the difference between being a wild-card team and one that sits a game out in front in the AFC West, tied with the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots for the distinction of having the best record in the NFL.
But on this Sunday, it was enough.
Nix delivered late, but misfired for much of the day; he failed to complete 50 percent of his passes — the second such game in his last four contests.
That the Broncos won both is testament to their defense, which held its opponents without a touchdown in both games — against the Jets in Week 6 and Sunday in Houston.
But you can’t count on winning games like that. The Broncos drew Justin Fields and Davis Mills in those games, and their defense did what you’d expect, shredding each of them. Mills and the Texans failed to convert their last nine third-down attempts.
They’ll have to be better than this.
But if they can, they’ve already figured out how to deliver in crunch time. And that’s something many potential contenders never learn. These Broncos have that.
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