The Denver Broncos had one for the ages in Week 7.
Denver Broncos Week 7 winners, losers following unforgettable victory over Giants originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Denver Broncos achieved one of the wildest victories in franchise history on Sunday.
The New York Giants seemed like the more aggressive, physical and frankly, better football team for three quarters on Sunday. Then the fourth quarter changed and it looked like we were watching a completely different football game.
The Broncos came into the fourth quarter down 19-0 and left with an improbable 33-32 victory that you had to see to believe and even if you did, you still may not have.
It was a roller-coaster of emotions for Broncos Country on Sunday as fans lamented the team's decisions throughout the first three quarters, were able to pause for a tremendous ceremony at halftime that honored the team that won Super Bowl 50 along with an induction into the Ring of Fame for former wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, and then a fourth quarter that will be talked about forever.
From there, we pulled some winners and losers from this one.
Denver Broncos Week 7 winners and losers
Winner: Bo Nix, QB
If someone told you that Bo Nix would land in the winner's circle during the first three quarters of this one, you would have laughed. But he put himself into the NFL record book with an incredible fourth quarter while finishing with 279 yards passing and four total touchdowns.
Winner: Marvin Mims Jr., WR
Marvin Mims caught six passes for 85 yards in this game, but two catches in particular are the reason he was one of this game's biggest winners, both of which came in the fourth quarter.
With the Broncos trailing 26-23 and facing a huge 3rd-and-11, Nix found Mims down the sideline for 31 yards. The defender had good position but Mims made a great play on the ball to keep the team's hopes alive.
On the game's final drive, with only 33 seconds to play and no timeouts left, the Broncos needed some big plays to even get a chance to win. The first of those came when Nix threw the ball towards midfield on a pass that looked like it was intended for Courtland Sutton, but Mims came down with it for a gain of 29 yards.
Marvin Mims Jr. with a HUGE catch!
— Denver Sports 104.3 (@DenSports1043) October 19, 2025
pic.twitter.com/2dwZr8qzDV
If either of these catches doesn't happen, the Broncos likely lose this game.
Winner: Justin Strnad, LB
The Broncos definitely don't win this game without Justin Strnad's interception of Jaxson Dart with around four minutes left to play. It was the biggest play in a game that was chalk-full of big plays.
Loser: Penalties
The Broncos came into this game as one of the league's most penalized teams, and that continued on Sunday. The team was flagged 12 times in this game for 127 yards, and a pair of bad penalties on the Giants' drive nearly cost them the game when Riley Moss was called for a highly questionable pass interference penalty, which Sean Payton then ran on the field to furiously challenge the referee over, leading to an unsportsmanlike penalty called against him.
The Broncos are going to have to get the penalty problem cleaned up. That should be the team's top priority heading into Week 8.
Loser: Timid play-calling
Sean Payton was definitely going to be asked ad nauseam about playcalling if this game had turned out the way it was looking like it was going to through three quarters. The miraculous win allows him to dodge that. But Payton has to know that some changes need to be made, mainly in terms of aggression.
Payton seems to be holding back with his play calls in an effort to minimize mistakes. His approach seems too "safe," and that is something that must be addressed. The team exploded for 33 points in the fourth quarter of this game because he finally opened the playbook a little further and put more confidence in his quarterback.
READ:Broncos' 2024 draft pick already looking for a new team
He should get those kinds of calls into the game much quicker after this experience.
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