Nov 17, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto (15) celebrates his sack in the second half against the Atlanta Falcons at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn ImagesZac StevensMon, December 1, 2025 at 5:07 AM UTC·5 min readLANDOVER, Md. — It wasn’t pretty, but no Denver Broncos win these days is.
After the Commanders sent the game to overtime on a 32-yard field goal by Jake Moody as time expired in the 4th quarter, the Broncos marched right down the field and scored a quick touchdown thanks to a 41-yard pass by Bo Nix to Evan Engram.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThen, insanity. The Broncos appeared to win the game in OT, but a late pass interference call on Talanoa Hufanga gave the Commanders another life. Then a 30-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota to Terry McLaurin was negated due to a hold. Then, Mariota connected with Deebo Samuel, who beat Riley Moss on a pass that took Washington down to the 2-yard line.
On fourth down and goal from the 3-yard line, Mariota found McLaurin for a touchdown. The Commanders went for 2 and the win, but Nik Bonitto came on a blitz and deflected Mariota’s pass. In the end, it was a 27-26 Broncos victory. The Broncos have now won 9 games in a row and visit the Raiders next week in Las Vegas.
Here’s what stood out throughout the game.
Un-Bo-Lievable
Bo Nix saved his best throw of the season for primetime.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOn Sunday Night Football, while falling down Nix delivered an 11-yard touchdown strike to Courtland Sutton in the end zone. Bo was inches away from touching the ground, but released the pass just in time to give Denver a 13-7 lead before half.
It was certainly a prime candidate for SportsCenter Top 10.
On that drive just before halftime, Nix went 8-of-10.
In the second half, Nix picked up where he left off until he committed a costly mistake. At the start of the fourth quarter, Nix threw a strike straight to Bobby Wagner. Nix’s interception led to three points for the Commanders. Outside of that, Nix sharp and led the Broncos’ offense to the win despite a struggling ground game.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSingleton & Surtain’s prime-time return
Denver’s defense had the Defensive Player of the Year and their signal caller back on Sunday Night Football. Pat Surtain II and Alex Singleton both made their presence felt.
No. 49 nearly had an interception in the first quarter, instead settling for a pass break up. Later in the first half, Singleton had a monster hit to prevent a first down.
Surtain committed illegal contact in the first half, but bounced back in the second half with smothering coverage on Terry McLaurin in the end zone to save a touchdown. Surtain saved another touchdown in the fourth quarter by locking down McLaurin down the right sideline as he entered the end zone. Commanders fans begged for a pass interference penalty, but did not get it.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAt the end of the game, Singleton came up with the defensive play of the game. On 3rd-and-21, Mariota had an open Zach Ertz deep down field. Ertz initially had his hands on the ball, but Singleton flew down the field to punch it out.
Instead of the Commanders being in field goal range down 20-17 late in the fourth quarter, they were forced to punt. All thanks to Singleton.
Riley Moss… benched… and balled
Midway through the second quarter, it appeared Riley Moss was benched in favor of Kris Abrams-Draine.
Instead of No. 31 opposite the Defensive Player of the Year in Vance Joseph‘s defense, it was No. 31. In the first quarter and a half, it was Moss. The next possession, it was Abrams-Draine.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDuring the game, there was no clear indication as to why the Broncos made this move.
Before Moss was taken out for a possession, the Commanders hadn’t scored and Moss had made a big play. On Washington’s first drive, Marcus Mariota tried to pick on Moss. He wasn’t having any of it.
Moss punched the ball right out of Jaylin Lane’s hands to keep the Commanders out of scoring range.
Following two pass interference penalties against the Kansas City Chiefs before the Broncos’ Bye Week, Riley Moss promised he would work on eliminating his penalties.
His idea was to wear boxing gloves during practice to prevent him from grabbing on to receivers when the ball was in the air.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn the Broncos’ first game back, Moss throwing on the boxing gloves appeared to pay off. In fact, it helped in more ways than one.
Not only did Moss not draw a pass interference penalty, he used his boxing skills to make that key pass break up.
Moss returned to the defensive side of the ball in the second half. The Commanders capped off their first drive of the second half by a perfect touchdown catch over Moss in the end zone. No. 21 was in smothering coverage, but Treylon Burks made an even better catch.
With less than a minute left, Moss came up with another major pass break up on the Commanders final drive.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFeed the Traut-man
As expected, Adam Trautman could not be stopped by the Commanders’ defense.
The first pass of the game was complete to Denver’s tight end. A quarter later, Trautman had a 22-yard run and catch, where he evaded multiple defenders, on 4th-and-1. That play not only extended the Broncos’ drive, but it led to a field goal to extend their lead to 6-0.
That sparked Evan Engram to emerge at the end of the first half.
Denver’s tight ends had over 70 combined receiving yards.
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