LANDOVER, Md. — From his vantage point, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix could see that the Denver defense — specifically its best pass rusher, Nik Bonitto — might be in position to preserve an overtime win before the Washington Commanders snapped the ball.
It turns out Nix was right. Bonitto swatted away Marcus Mariota‘s pass on a 2-point conversion attempt to secure a 27-26 Broncos victory in overtime Sunday night.
“I knew what defense we were in, and I kind of figured out the play, so I knew what was happening,” Nix said of watching the game’s final play unfold from the Broncos’ bench. “I think the guy might have been open, but Nik did a great job of making that play.”
In a back-and-forth game that Washington tied on the last play of regulation, the Commanders answered the Broncos’ touchdown drive to open overtime with an 11-play, 65-yard TD drive, as wide receiver Terry McLaurin caught a 3-yard scoring pass from Mariota on fourth-and-3.
As the Commanders lined up for the 2-point conversion, the Broncos looked at the offense’s alignment and called timeout. It was during that timeout, coach Sean Payton said, that Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph tweaked the defensive call in the hopes Bonitto would have an opportunity to make a play.
“We call it a Kodak situation where you have a timeout, the game’s going to end, so call the timeout, regroup, collect your thoughts,” Payton said. “The challenge in those plays are designed QB runs, which we were concerned with … we went from one pressure to another.
“But there’s going to be a free rusher if you pressure the way we did it. And you don’t know who’s going to be the free rusher because the protection … and so they left Nik free and the timing and everything was great.”
The Broncos were tightly bunched before the snap, with all 11 defenders within 4 yards of the line of scrimmage. Bonitto was lined up well outside the left shoulder of Commanders left tackle Laremy Tunsil.
As the Commanders tried to sort out the six rushers running at Mariota, Bonitto was left unblocked. He closed quickly on Mariota, leaped as Mariota threw and knocked away the pass with his right hand, which has been in a cast since Week 3.
It looked like McLaurin had broken free as Mariota set to throw.
“The DC, Vance, was doing a good job mixing up zero and showing zero [blitzes] and dropping out,” Mariota said. “And then on the 2 point, he brought zero — I knew I had to try to get some depth and give our guy a chance. He made a play on it, and that’s the way it goes.”
“I knew he was buying time,” Bonitto said. “At that point, I was just trying to make it hard for him to throw the ball, and I ended up knocking it down and we ended up winning the game.”
Bonitto also said the timeout “kind of helped calm us down a little bit, be able to get into what we were able to get into and get a stop.”
The Broncos, especially Payton, believed they had preserved the win nine snaps earlier — on a fourth-and-6 from the Denver 41-yard line. Safety Brandon Jones had intercepted a deflected pass, but the play was nullified because of a pass interference penalty on safety Talanoa Hufanga.
Payton, because he thought the game was over, pulled off his headset he uses to communicate with Nix.
“[That’s] the first time for me in I don’t know how many years as a head coach where I took [off] the quarterback to helmet [radio],” Payton said. “We didn’t get the sack, interference was called — it’s never happened before.”
The Broncos won their ninth straight, their longest win streak since they won 11 in a row to close out the 2012 regular season. It was also the sixth game they’ve played this season that was decided on the last play; they are 4-2 in those games.
ESPN’s John Keim contributed to this report.
