The Denver Broncos are winning, but they aren't winning very easy. Their Thursday Night Football win over the Seattle Seahawks was brutal proof of being able to win ugly, despite a heroic performance courtesy of the Denver defense.
The offense struggled in a big way, with just 57 plays on the field, and 168 total yards overall. The numbers paint an ugly picture of how the Broncos played; they only had three drives longer than five plays the entire game, and wight punts overall. Nix failed to hit a pass over seven yards. Even though the time of possession was within five minutes for both teams, the Broncos had a 28 second drive ahead of the 2-minute warning in the fourth quarter when they had a chance to seal the game.
Broncos averaged 2.95 yards/play for fewest in any game this season.
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) October 16, 2026
Teams were 1-63 since start of 2016 season when averaging fewer than 3 yards per play and no defensive or special teams TDs. Only other win was Bengals 17-16 vs Browns in Week 1 last season (2.88/play)
The 168 yards was the fewest amount of yards a team had, and won in overtime with, and the fewest yards in an overtime victory since the 2004 Chicago Bears. It highlights a stretch of games where Nix alone hasn't hit 200 yards passing, and the rushing attack has yet to have an individual player break 100 yards this season, and only have broken it once as a unit.
The Broncos' 168 total yards of offense is the lowest yardage total in an overtime victory in NFL history pic.twitter.com/f14gCsv3Sh
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) October 16, 2026
Yet, a win is still a win for the Broncos, who now stand at 4-2 and are currently in the sixth seed position in playoff standings. Despite Nix's passing slump, Nix has a phenomenal record when passing for six yards or less per attempt, blowing current veteran quarterbacks like Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes and even Aaron Rodgers out of the water.
Bo Nix has the best career record in NFL history in games with 6.0 yds/att or less (13-3, .813 win pct).
— Doug Clawson (@doug_clawson) October 16, 2026
All other active QBs have a .283 win pct in starts with 6.0 yds/att or less pic.twitter.com/u6afWFP9NI
Now, the Broncos certainly don't want to win every game like this, but they are hoping that better times are on the horizon. They hope it all starts with their Week 7 game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Broncos’ win on ‘TNF’ was historic (in a very ugly way)