Sports

Giants allow 33 fourth quarter points, fall to Broncos on Wil Lutz's walk-off field goal

The Giants looked set to be back in the NFC East race, as they were closing in on their third win in their last four games. However, Denver came from 18 points down with six minutes to go and won a wild game that featured three lead changes inside the last two minutes -- Wil Lutz kicked a 39-yard field goal as time expired to give the Broncos the win.

Big Blue struck first midway through the first quarter on Dart’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Bellinger. It was the first touchdown since 2022 for Bellinger, who was wide open downfield due to a blown coverage. They then increased the lead to 13-0 in the second quarter on a screen pass from Dart to Cam Skattebo for a 13-yard touchdown. 

With 2:41 to go in the third quarter, the lead grew to 19-0 on Tyrone Tracy’s 31-yard touchdown burst, but Denver hit back to make it 19-8 early in the fourth quarter. Bo Nix’s pass was deflected, and Troy Franklin made a diving catch for a two-yard touchdown, and then Nix found Courtland Sutton on the two-point conversion with 14:08 to go.

If that was a lucky bounce for Denver, the Giants had an even luckier one on the ensuing possession as Dart’s pass was intended for Wan’Dale Robinson but ricocheted to Theo Johnson, who ran it in for the what looked like being the decisive 41-yard score.

Nix scored on a 7-yard keeper and threw a two-point conversion to Franklin to cut the lead to 26-16 with 5:13 remaining, then Denver got the ball back when Justin Strnad intercepted Dart. This set up another touchdown on a Nix 2-yard pass to RJ Harvey to make it 26-23 with 3:51 to go.

After a three-and-out, Denver got the ball back with under three minutes left and a chance to complete the comeback. Nix drove them down the field and scored on an 18-yard keeper to make it 30-26 to Denver with 1:51 remaining.

Dart drove the Giants downfield and gave them back the lead on a one-yard run after a controversial pass interference penalty on Riley Moss. However, Jude McAtamney’s second missed extra point of the game opened the window for Lutz’s game-winner and Denver drove 51 yards in four plays over the last 31 seconds to set it up.

Here are the key takeaways…

- What was most notable about the Giants’ first two scoring drives was that Dart didn’t rely on his legs to move the chains. He kept his head up well as he avoided pressure on the touchdown to Bellinger and made two good throws on the move to Robinson. In all, Dart played well as he averaged almost 20 yards per completion, but only completed 15 of 33 passes and will wish he could have the Strnad interception back.

- The Broncos offense came out flat, perhaps fatigued from their trip across the Atlantic last weekend. With the long week to prepare, New York had a good gameplan and succeeded in putting Nix under pressure.

- Denver entered the game with a league-high 30 sacks, including nine last week in London. However, with Austin Schlottmann starting for John Michael Schmitz at center, the Giants held up well with just one sack allowed in the first half. Dart had to elude some pressure, though, and was limping slightly after another sack in the third quarter.

- The Giants had a big goal line stand to preserve the 13-point lead late in the second quarter after Denver used up over five minutes on a drive down to the two-yard line. Dane Belton came up big with a big hit on Courtland Sutton at the goal line. New York needed Belton to step up with Jevon Holland injured. They later also lost Paulson Adebo and the undermanned secondary was exploited down the stretch.

- Brian Burns continues to produce, as he had two first half sacks. That made Burns the second Giants player in consecutive seasons with nine sacks in the first seven games of the year after Dexter Lawrence did it in 2024. Remarkably, Lawrence hasn’t registered one since then, but this seems unlikely to be the case for Burns in this kind of form, although he was banged up in the fourth quarter.

- Both teams stopped the run well in the first half with New York gaining 27 yards on 10 carries by their backs and Denver held to 18 on 11 carries. The Broncos had a top five rushing attack two weeks ago but have been less successful since starting left guard Ben Powers went on injured reserve. The Giants found a way to get Skattebo involved as a receiver instead, as he had three catches for 34 yards and a touchdown in the first half. JK Dobbins had a big second half to end up with 81 rushing yards.

- On New York’s scoring drive in the third quarter, Skattebo, Robinson and Tracy all had plays where they battled for every yard before Tracy broke the long run. On that one, he could have walked in as he was totally unblocked following a punishing Andrew Thomas block at the second level.

Game MVP:Broncos QB Bo Nix

Nix struggled for most of the game but ended up with 279 passing yards and accounted for four scores as he completed 17 of his last 26 passes, including clutch downfield throws to Marvin Mims and Sutton to set up the game-winning kick.

What's next

The Giants are on the road again for their rematch with the Eagles next Sunday, with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

Content Original Link:

https://sny.tv/articles/giants-broncos-takeaways-10-19-25