What the hell was that??
The New York Giants suffered one of the biggest meltdowns in NFL history as they blew a 19-0 fourth quarter lead, only to lose 33-32 as the Denver Broncos came away with a wild, and highly improbable victory on Sunday afternoon at Mile High.
The 33-points Denver scored in the fourth quarter were the most points any team had ever, EVER scored after getting shut out in the first three quarters of a game in regulation. Moreover it snapped a streak of 1,602 games where teams won when leading by 18+ points in the final quarter.
That is some damning history that the Giants never wanted to make. And guess what? They did.
The quarter opened with the Giants and Broncos exchanging scores to give Big Blue a 26-8 lead with 10:14 left in the contest. By all intents and purposes, after Theo Johnson caught a Jaxson Dart fastball on a ricochet and rumbled into the end zone, it looked like this game was over!
But the Broncos came back. Denver came back and score on a Bo Nix touchdown run, plus the two-point conversion to cut the Giants lead to 10, 26-16 with a little over five minutes to go.
Then all hell broke loose.
The Giants got ultra conservative on their next possession. They ran the ball with Cam Skattebo twice on first and second down for no substantial gains. On third down, the Giants decided to then throw the ball and it blew up in their faces, when Jaxson Dart's pass was picked off at the Giants' 40 with 4:56 to go in the game.
Four plays later, and thanks to a huge penalty on Kayvon Thiboudeaux, the Broncos were in the end zone again when Nix hit R.J. Harvey for six to make it 26-23.
Now the pressure was on, and the Giants crawled into a shell.
After another Giants three-and-out, the Broncos needed only 51 seconds to take the lead when Nix breezed by Giant defenders for an 18-yard score to make it 30-26, Denver.
The first lead of the entire day for the Broncos came with 1:51 left in a game they trailed 26-8 with 5:14 to go.
The Giants did answer, but they can thank the refs for a huge assist. The Giants got desperate on their final drive, and instead of taking what the defense gave him, Dart was throwing bombs all the way down field that were getting knocked away by Denver defenders.
On one such play, Dart was able to draw a pass interference call on Denver's Riely Moss, on a play where it looked like Beaux Collins was the one who actually interfered on the play. The refs flagged Moss and the Broncos. Denver Head Coach Sean Payton lost his mind and ran onto the field to argue, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which moved the ball to the Denver 1-yard line.
Dart then took it in himself when he barely cleared the end zone line for the score. Of course the Giants then missed the extra point when kicker Jude McAtamney shanked it. It was the second time in this game that he did so. So New York was chasing points all afternoon.
Of course this came back to bite the Giants as Bo Nix guided Denver on an unlikely game winning field goal drive with two huge passes of 29 and 22-yards to set up the game winner.
What a huge blown opportunity for the Giants.
They looked destined for a win, and a record of 3-4 on the year. Had that happened, they would have been back in the mix in the NFC East, especially after Dallas destroyed Washington on Sunday. Instead it was another blow game on the road for a Giants team that has now suffered three brutal losses away from Metlife Stadium.
This one however was for the books.
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