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For the fourth time in the past five games, the Denver Broncos rallied to win in the fourth quarter. On Sunday, the Broncos scored 11 points in the final period for an 18-15 victory over the Houston Texans. When the Denver offense took possession at its 39-yard line with 1:19 left in the third quarter at NRG Stadium, the Broncos trailed 15-7 and quarterback Bo Nix had completed 7-of-19 passes for 82 yards with one touchdown and one interception against the NFL’s No. 1 defense. But on that series, Nix completed 5-of-6 passes for 59 yards as Denver moved 61 yards in eight plays. The former Pinson Valley High School and Auburn QB capped the series with a 27-yard touchdown pass to running back RJ Harvey, then tied the score with a 2-point conversion pass to 12:28 to play. FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE Playing with Davis Mills at quarterback after C.J. Stroud left to be evaluated for a concussion, Houston got one first down on four possessions with the score at 15-15. But the Broncos had managed only two first downs on their previous three possessions when Denver got the football at its 36-yard line with 50 seconds to play. After a pass to Harvey produced 3 yards, Nix scrambled for a 25-yard gain. The quarterback had one rushing attempt for 2 yards in the game before he took off to the Houston 36-yard line. “It’s one where we wanted to move the pocket, get a new launch point, change up the pace for those edge guys,” Nix said. “We got out on the end and felt like everybody was running over there for the pass. There just ended up being a good lane. Finally got to use my legs there at the end. They did a good job of closing lanes, rushing, keeping me in the pocket for a while. But finally that movement, I think, caused a little bit of a lane in the defense, and then it was just all about getting all you could. And at that point we were in field-goal range.” Running back JK Dobbins picked up 11 more yards on two carries before Nix swept around the left end for a 9-yard gain with three seconds to play. Wil Lutz broke the tie with a 34-yard field goal on the final snap of the game. Lutz has now kicked a field goal on the final play to win two of the Broncos’ past three games. “We knew it was going to be a patient game,” Nix said. “They don’t lead the league in yards and points (on defense) for no reason. They’re a good team; it’s not by a fluke. So we knew it was going to be tough sledding, but I thought we did a good job managing the situations. We played a little bit of a field position battle right there at the end. We knew it was a matter of time till there was a drive and we went down and scored. Had a big one in the first half, a big one in the second half and led to the field goal there at the end, so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But we also knew our defense was going to play really well, and they did.” With its sixth consecutive victory, Denver improved to 7-2, but it’s been a high-wire act. On Oct. 5, the Broncos trailed the Philadelphia Eagles 17-3 entering the fourth quarter but came away with a 21-17 road win. On Oct. 12, Denver trailed the New York Jets 11-10 entering the fourth quarter but took a 13-11 victory. On Oct. 19, the Broncos trailed the New York Giants 19-0 entering the fourth quarter but took a record-setting 33-32 victory with Lutz making a 39-yard field goal on the final snap. The Broncos beat the Dallas Cowboys 44-24 in a breather last week. “We are at the point to where we expect to give ourselves a chance to win every game,” Nix said. “The expectations are that we’re going to compete and find a way however it looks. We’ve had good-looking games; we’ve had bad-looking games. I’ve never, obviously, been on many teams, but this is a good win streak, and we’ve won in many different forms and fashions. “I do think the expectations are different. I think we understand what it feels like to have confidence that we can go in there and win against a good team in a tough environment on the road in the league. It’s hard to win on the road in this league, and it’s hard to do it continuously. But we’re just finding ways to do it, and we found another way today. And so it’s just good for the character and the continued development of the team.” For the game on Sunday, Nix completed 18-of-37 passes for 173 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His first touchdown came on a 30-yard throw to wide receiver Courtland Sutton with 4:52 left in the first half as Denver took a 7-6 lead. More stories on the NFL Mac Jones’ perfect first-half passing paces 49ers past Giants Former Alabama All-American gets his first NFL interception Xavier McKinney sacks, intercepts former Alabama QB in span of 3 snaps Denver returns to AFC West play for its next game. The Broncos face the Las Vegas Raiders at 7:15 p.m. CDT Thursday at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.
