Two seconds remained in regulation in Denver.One final play to decide the game.
Could one of the wildest Sundays in NFL history have ended any other way? When Denver safety Talanoa Hufanga intercepted Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford in the end zone as time expired to seal a 30-26 comeback win on “Sunday Night Football,” it also capped a day that will be remembered for producing one thriller after another.Call it the Sunday of slim margins.Of the day’s 14-game slate in Week 3, 12 finished as one-score games, the most in any Sunday in NFL history.
Thirteen games were within eight points during the fourth quarter.Six teams won after go-ahead scores within the final three minutes.“It’s tough,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.
“But this is sports.” After watching two weeks of offensive struggles under Denver’s new playcaller, Broncos fans booed their team as they ran off the field after trailing the Rams, 16-0, at halftime.Then Denver scored 16 unanswered points, setting up a fourth quarter where the teams traded momentum swings.
Hufanga intercepted Stafford and ran it back for a touchdown to lead, 23-19.When a Broncos defensive back fell down on the next possession, Stafford found an open receiver for an easy, go-ahead touchdown to lead, 26-23.
Denver came back and moved the ball down the field after a succession of penalties, eventually taking a 30-26 lead and leaving the preseason Super Bowl favorite Rams only 47 seconds with which to try their own rally.It fell short by only a few yards, with no time left to spare — and it might not have even been Sunday’s wildest finish, either.In Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Baltimore got the ball back with 7 seconds to play in regulation after Dallas had tied the score.
Somehow, that was enough time for the Ravens to launch perhaps the latest comeback drive ever — at least since one database began tracking such figures — ending in Baltimore’s walk-off field goal from 56 yards.It was the first...