LANDOVER, Md. — Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto had the Broncos' 10th win of the season in his grasp.
Midway through the overtime period on "Sunday Night Football," Bonitto appeared to have Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota pinned for a sack on fourth-and-6, and with the Broncos up 27-20 on their hosts, the turnover on downs would have ended the game. Mariota eluded Bonitto long enough to get off a pass, and a defensive pass interference call kept alive a Washington drive that ended with a Terry McLaurin touchdown.
"I apologized to my teammates on that one," Bonitto said. "[I've] got the club on, but there's no excuses. I've got to find a way to make the sack and grab him and finish [the play]."
Instead of opting for an extra-point attempt to tie the game, the Commanders chose to challenge Denver's elite defense and go for the win. Bonitto erupted off the line, unblocked, and swatted down Mariota's pass attempt with his taped right hand to seal a Broncos win — this time for good.
The 27-26 victory marked the Broncos' first overtime win since 2015 and boosted Denver into a tie for the best record in the NFL at 10-2.
"Obviously, Mariota is very mobile on his feet," cornerback Pat Surtain II said. "We were trying to send pressure at him to make one read, and that's the only read he can get. That's the key thing: we executed at the right time. We made a key play, and that's what it came down to, what it all boiled down to."
Head Coach Sean Payton said after the game that he sensed the Commanders might attempt to go for the game-winning two-point attempt if they scored a touchdown on their overtime possession. That prediction came true after Mariota finished a 65-play drive with a red-zone touchdown pass to McLaurin.
When the Commanders flashed their formation for the final play of the game, the Broncos called a timeout and regrouped on their sideline.
The refresh gave the Broncos two advantages: an opportunity for the Denver defense to catch its breath and refocus on the final play, and what Payton called a "Kodak moment" — a chance for Denver to see the Commanders' initial look and change their own play.
"It was challenging all night for what they were doing," Bonitto said of the Commanders' offense. "They were running no huddle dang near the whole game, so we were having to get in the calls and having to play fast. The timeout kind of helped, it calmed us down a little bit, [to] be able to get into what we were able to get into and get a stop."
Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph changed from one pressure look to another, focusing on inundating the Washington offensive line with pressure and eliminating the threat of Mariota as a rusher.
With the amount of pressure Joseph dialed up, a free Broncos blitzer was inevitable. The play became a matter of which Bronco pass rusher came off the line without a blocker and if that free blitzer could foil Mariota before Washington could strike again.
"We went from one pressure to another," Payton said. "The initial call that we had was a zone call, and we felt like this was going to be a [designed run], so we quick-called a timeout. Vance and his staff did a great job of coming up with the correct call. It's obviously the correct call when it works, but there's going to be a free rusher if you pressure the way we did.
"You don't know who's going to be the free rusher, because of the protection. They left Nik free, and the timing and everything was great."
At the snap, the Commanders' offensive line left Bonitto, the Broncos' leading pass rusher, unblocked. Mariota extended his normal dropback and spotted running back Jeremy McNichols in the flat with separation, but Bonitto executed his pass rush to perfection and swatted the football into the Northwest Stadium grass. Game over.
"[Mariota] kind of drifted back kind of far back, too, so I knew he was kind of buying time," Bonitto said. "So, at that point, it was just trying to make it hard for him to throw the ball — and I ended up knocking it down, and we ended up winning the game."
Bonitto finished the night with three tackles, a sack and the game's most important play on the pass breakup.
In a prime-time game that needed extra time to determine a winner, the Broncos' defense showcased its resilience more than the standard of dominance it has set this season. When the matchup came down to a single play, the unit — and its Pro Bowl pass rusher — owned the moment.
"We've been battle-tested all year," Bonitto said. "There's no situation that we're new to. It was just a matter of just finding another way to win today, and we did that."
