Seattle Seahawks @ Denver Broncos
Broncos beat the Seahawks 17-14 in OT on Ja'Quan McMillian's pick, Wil Lutz's 53-yarder
DENVER -- — Ja'Quan McMillian intercepted Sam Darnold's pass in overtime and Wil Lutz kicked a 53-yard field goal that gave the Denver Broncos a 17-14 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night.
The Broncos emerged from a tough six-week season-opening stretch with a 4-2 record despite an injury-riddled roster and a shaky offense, and the Seahawks (3-3) lost for the second time in five days. They also matched their loss total from last season, when they won their second Super Bowl title.
McMillian intercepted a pass intended for Rashid Shaheed at the Denver 43, the second pick of the night by Darnold, who completed 27 of 51 passes for 278 yards without a touchdown.
Those stats were better than Bo Nix's. He threw for just 107 yards on 17-of-27 passing after throwing for 123 last week in a win over the Chargers.
Jason Myers' 34-yard field goal tied it at 14-all with 3 seconds left in regulation and capped an 11-0 Seattle run over the final 5 1/2 minutes. The Seahawks started their game-tying drive at midfield after a 31-yard punt return by Shaheed following a sixth three-and-out by the Broncos.
“No moral victories in the league,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “It’s a bottom-line business, production business. But I’m proud of our effort. I’m proud of the resolve of the team. I’m proud of our connectedness of our team.
“However, there’s things that we need to get better at quickly, and we know those things; they’re within our control, and that’s what we do. We find solutions, and we get things figured out, we move forward, and we evolve.”
Denver appeared to have victory in hand when Kris Abrams-Draine intercepted Darnold's pass at the Denver 30 with 1:25 left in regulation, but the Broncos burned just 15 seconds of clock before punting.
After scoring just three points on their first eight drives, the Seahawks put together an 11-play, 67-yard masterpiece that ended with running back George Holani scoring from a yard out. Darnold’s 2-point pass to Shaheed pulled Seattle within 14-11 with 5:41 left.
Nix led the Broncos on two long first-half scoring drives, and Denver's depleted defense sacked Darnold five times and hit him 17 times.
“Defensively, we were magnificent,” said Broncos coach Sean Payton, who acknowledged, “I'm a little bit of a realist to know that 4-2 could easily be 2-4.”
Denver’s all-or-nothing offense produced two long drives to go with two three-and-outs before running out the clock on the first half with a 14-3 lead.
J.K. Dobbins’ 4-yard touchdown run capped a 16-play, 74-yard drive that chewed up nearly nine minutes and put Denver ahead 7-3. Running back R.J. Harvey took a direct snap and scored from a yard out on Denver’s next drive.
The Broncos sacked Darnold on back-to-back plays to thwart Seattle’s opening drive, but Denver went three-and-out on its own opening drive for the fourth time this season and the Seahawks capitalized on their good field position to take a 3-0 lead on Myers’ 55-yard field goal. He missed from 47 yards in the third quarter.
The Broncos have recorded multiple sacks in 20 consecutive home games. That’s the longest such streak in team history and the longest current streak in the NFL.
The Seahawks’ most promising first-half drive ended at the Denver 34 when Nik Bonitto punched the ball from Shaheed’s grasp and inside linebacker Justin Strnad recovered.
The Seahawks franchise fell to 19-30-1 in overtime and the Broncos improved to 33-23-2. That's second-best in the NFL.
“It was a good win,” Payton said, “but we've got a lot of work to do.”
Seahawks TE Elijah Arroyo left late in the first half with an apparent right shoulder injury sustained while diving for a fumbled ball.
The Broncos were without star CB Patrick Surtain II and starting safety Talanoa Hufanga, both out with ankle injuries. RB Tyler Badie injured a thumb in the second quarter.
Seahawks: Host the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 25.
Broncos: Host the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 25.
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