Broncos' defense saves the day by sacking Justin Fields nine times in gritty win over Jets

Coming back to Colorado at 4-2 with a share of the AFC West lead made for an enjoyable return flight, too.

“It doesn’t have to be aesthetically pleasing,” coach Sean Payton said.

One has to go back to Oct. 19, 1969, to find a time the Broncos had more sacks. They had 10 that day against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Broncos limited the Jets to 2 of 15 on third downs, their league-leading fourth game this season in which they allowed two or fewer third-down conversions.

And the Jets finished with minus-10 yards passing.

“That's pretty funny,” said league sacks leader Nik Bonitto, who was in on two takedowns of Fields.

The Broncos needed that kind of performance from their best unit because the offense sputtered once again, with Bo Nix throwing for 174 yards and J.K. Dobbins leading a scuffling ground game with 40 yards on 14 carries.

Asked about a defense having his back — one that collected nine sacks and surrendered just nine completions — Nix said: “It’s almost, you know, impossible what they did. It was impressive. Unfortunately, it’s one of those things where I don’t get to watch a whole lot of it. I wish I could. They’d be a fun defense to watch, probably an awful defense to play against. I know that kind of from practice. But they turned it on.”

Payton called it “a gritty performance by our defense,” and he was quick to add, “We’ll look at the film and there will be a number of things in the kicking game and offensively we want to clean up.”

In their victories over Philadelphia and New York on their extended road trip, the Broncos punted a whopping 14 times in 23 drives excluding kneel-downs. They had a seven-series stretch Sunday that produced six punts and a safety.

Winning ugly is still winning, though.

What’s working

Denver's defense hasn't allowed a touchdown in three of the Broncos' six games. OLB Jonathon Cooper's two sacks gave him 28 for his career. That's the most by any seventh-round draft choice in their first 70 NFL games since the league switched to a seven-round draft format in 1994.

What needs help

The offense is stuck in neutral way too often and special teams keeps allowing big play after big play like the 72-yard kickoff return in the first half.

Stock up

TE Evan Engram. After a slow start, Engram is working his way into Nix's comfort zone. He has been targeted 19 times over the last three games with 13 receptions. Of his team-best five receptions Sunday, four resulted in a first down.

Stock down

LG Matt Peart was whistled for three infractions in his first start in place of Ben Powers, who will miss a couple of months with a torn chest muscle. After a false start, Peart's holding call negated a 13-yard catch by Courtland Sutton, and another flag wiped out a 24-yard catch-and-run by Troy Franklin to the New York 19 on third-and-5, resulting in a punt.

“We’ll go back and look at the tape, but it wasn’t — listen, it wasn’t just him,” Payton said. “We had a number of errors that there will be a lot of us that want to clean some stuff up.”

Injuries

LB Garret Wallow was ruled out early in the fourth quarter with an unspecified injury.

Key stats

Justin Fields completed 9 of 17 passes for 45 yards. He lost 55 yards on the nine sacks, for a minus-10 net passing yards. That's the fewest yards the Broncos have allowed in their franchise history and second fewest in the NFL since 1990.

Wil Lutz's 57-yard field goal in the first quarter was his longest since joining the Broncos in 2023. Lutz has the two longest field goals in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium history, also making a 60-yard field goal in 2022 with the Saints.

Next steps

The Broncos face the well-rested New York Giants (2-4), who defeated the Eagles on Thursday night before getting the weekend off while the Broncos were overseas.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl