Bo Nix ran 62 yards for the longest touchdown of his career, RJ Harvey turned a screen pass into a 52-yard score, and the Denver Broncos beat the Arizona Cardinals 30-16 on Sunday, October 25, at State Farm Stadium.
Denver improves to 5-2 and has won three straight. Arizona falls to 2-5 and is 0-3 at home this season; the Cardinals have now lost 10 straight home games, a streak that goes back 406 days. Arizona ran more plays and held the ball longer but scored only one touchdown in five trips inside the 20.
Field goals and flags
The first quarter had 10 penalties, five on each team, and only field goals. Wil Lutz made kicks of 48 and 43 yards for a 6-0 Denver lead. Arizona answered early in the second quarter after Bam Knight dropped a potential touchdown pass in the end zone on third down, and Chad Ryland kicked a 30-yarder.
The Cardinals then put together their best drive of the half: 14 plays, 65 yards and 7:55 off the clock. Jacoby Brissett converted a fourth-and-1 at the Denver 20 with a quarterback sneak, but a delay-of-game penalty on fourth-and-goal from the 2 pushed Arizona back, and Ryland tied it 6-6 with a 26-yard field goal with 4:30 left in the half.
Nix proves a point
Denver needed two plays to take the lead back. On the second, Nix dropped back, stepped up in the pocket and found nobody in front of him. He ran untouched for most of 62 yards, sidestepped a tackle near the goal line and tumbled in for a 13-6 lead with 3:43 left in the half. Nix had only 37 rushing yards in his first six games, and he has spent months insisting his right ankle, hurt in last season’s playoffs, is healthy. “You believe me now?” he asked afterward.
The Broncos struck again early in the third quarter. On the third play of a drive that started at their own 38, Nix flipped a short screen to Harvey, who got a wall of blockers and ran 52 yards untouched for a 20-6 lead. “I think it answers our question, ‘Can he still run?'” Sean Payton said of his quarterback. “He’s our guy and it’s good to see him play well.”
Arizona got back within a touchdown on a 10-play, 68-yard drive, finished by Brissett’s 7-yard pass to Trey McBride with 3:50 left in the third. Denver answered immediately. Nix hit Marvin Mims Jr. for 47 yards, and J.K. Dobbins scored from the 1 on the last play of the quarter; replay confirmed he broke the plane. It was 27-13.
Arizona’s red-zone problem returns
The Cardinals turned the ball over on downs at the Denver 40 early in the fourth quarter, and Lutz made a 31-yard field goal for a 30-13 lead with 8:39 left. Ryland’s 41-yarder cut it to 30-16. Arizona’s last drive went 13 plays and reached the Denver 1, but Alex Singleton sacked Brissett back to the 5 on second-and-goal, and Malcolm Roach broke up the fourth-down pass with 56 seconds left.
Before the game, Mike LaFleur said a team that keeps settling for field goals will not win often. His team kicked three field goals and went 1 for 5 in the red zone. “We’ve got to play better,” he said. “We had too many penalties, we had opportunities to make plays and we didn’t.”
The numbers
- Bo Nix: 15 of 29 for 222 yards and a touchdown, no interceptions, plus seven carries for 73 yards and a touchdown.
- Broncos playmakers: Harvey had two catches for 54 yards and a touchdown, Mims two for 53, Jaylen Waddle four for 48 and Courtland Sutton three for 45. Rookie Jonah Coleman ran nine times for 54 yards.
- Wil Lutz: 3 of 3 on field goals (48, 43 and 31 yards) and 3 of 3 on extra points.
- Jacoby Brissett: 27 of 48 for 272 yards and a touchdown, sacked three times.
- Cardinals receivers: McBride caught 10 of 13 targets for 111 yards and a touchdown. Michael Wilson had four catches for 55 yards. Knight ran seven times for 48 yards.
- Defense: Singleton had 19 tackles, a sack and two quarterback hits for Denver, which finished with 12 quarterback hits, six tackles for loss and three sacks. Ja’Quan McMillian broke up three passes.
Denver gained 377 yards on only 56 plays, an average of 6.7 a snap, and ran for 159 yards. The Broncos were penalized 11 times for 114 yards, and they converted only three of 11 third downs, but they did not turn the ball over. Arizona ran 75 plays and held the ball for 33:18, but it went 5 for 17 on third down.
Fitzgerald honored, and the injuries
Larry Fitzgerald was inducted into the Cardinals’ Ring of Honor at halftime, a few months after his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. He finished his career with 17,492 receiving yards and 121 touchdowns.
Denver came in with a long injury report, and it added a few more worries. Waddle was hurt in the fourth quarter while recovering a Nix fumble. Roach was checked for a concussion but returned, and Zach Allen was shaken up late but said afterward he was fine. Arizona rookie running back Jeremiyah Love missed a second straight game with an ankle injury, and receiver Jalen Brooks, who had a 35-yard catch, said on Monday that his season is over after emergency wrist surgery.
What comes next
Denver hosts the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, November 1, at 4:25 p.m. ET. Arizona visits the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, November 1, at 1 p.m. ET.
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