It was never pretty, but the Denver Broncos escaped Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London with a 13-11 victory over the New York Jets in Sunday’s AFC showdown.
Denver improved to 4-2 on the season with its third straight victory, and it can thank its defense for the latest win. It sacked Justin Fields nine times and held the Jets to an ugly 82 total yards of offense.
Bo Nix and the offense didn’t do much, and Will Lutz’s fourth-quarter field goal proved to be the game winner.
As for New York, it dropped to 0-6 in what is shaping up to be a season to forget.
Unsurprisingly, social media didn’t hold back when assessing both offensive performances:
Fans in England are accustomed to watching kicking given their love of soccer, but even they couldn’t have been thrilled with a game that featured 13 punts and five field goals instead of offensive fireworks and touchdowns.
Neither team is going to feel good about its offensive display.
For the Jets, Denver’s pass rush swarmed Fields seemingly whenever he dropped back to throw. There also weren’t enough running lanes for Breece Hall, and Fields’ propensity to hold onto the ball for way too long resulted in the nine sacks.
It didn’t help the aerial attack establish anything resembling a rhythm that Pat Surtain II shadowed top receiver Garrett Wilson for much of the game. Wilson also turned heads right before the end of the first half thanks to what appeared to be something of a heated exchange with head coach Aaron Glenn.
New York got the ball with three minutes and 22 seconds remaining in the first half but used 10 plays and the entire clock to go just 31 yards. Rather than attempt a Hail Mary near midfield on one final play, the Jets chose to let the clock expire in a display of poor game management and perhaps distrust in Fields.
Wilson was not happy in a sequence that largely summed up the team’s showing.
It wasn’t much better for Denver, which initially seemed to be on the way to a solid showing with 10 points in the first quarter behind a Nate Adkins touchdown catch. However, the AFC West team didn’t score in the second or third quarters and then stalled for a field goal to take a 13-11 lead inside the Jets’ 10-yard line in the fourth quarter.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Jets actually scored when the Broncos offense was on the field thanks to a holding in the end zone in the third quarter that gave New York the lead with a safety.
New York plugged holes against running back J.K. Dobbins and frustrated Nix and the passing attack, which surely wasn’t what the Broncos had in mind entering a contest against a winless team.
Perhaps they will be better in their next contest when they host the Big Apple’s other team in the New York Giants.
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