Mile High Meltdown

The Mile High Meltdown was a National Football League (NFL) game between the New York Giants and the Denver Broncos in Week 7 of the 2025 NFL season. The Broncos, having been held scoreless for the first three quarters, mounted a historic comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring 33 points to defeat the Giants 33–32, and winning with a field goal as time expired. It was the largest comeback in NFL history where the team that had been shut out for the first three quarters managed to win.

Background

New York Giants

Coming off a 3–14 season in 2024, the Giants were widely considered one of the worst teams in the NFL heading into 2025. In the 2025 NFL draft, they selected linebacker Abdul Carter out of Penn State and quarterback Jaxson Dart out of Ole Miss with the 3rd and 25th overall picks respectively. They also signed two other quarterbacks in free agency, including Jameis Winston and former Broncos starter Russell Wilson. The Giants initially made Wilson the starter, but after going 0–3 with Wilson, Dart took over the starting job and he led them to a win in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers, and a win in week 6 against their archrival and defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles prior to their week 7 matchup with the Broncos.

Denver Broncos

The Broncos finished 10–7 in 2024 and made the playoffs for the first time since they won the Super Bowl in the 2015 season. In the offseason, the Broncos signed linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga during free agency to boost their defense, which was widely considered one of the best in the league. The Broncos started the year 1–2 before winning three straight games, including a win of their own against the Eagles in week 5. In the pregame ceremonies, the Broncos posthumously inducted former wide receiver Demaryius Thomas into their Ring of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Many of Thomas' Super Bowl 50 teammates were in attendance for the induction and to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their Super Bowl win.

Game summary

Both teams traded punts to start the game before the Giants scored the first touchdown of the game with a Jaxson Dart touchdown pass to Daniel Bellinger near the end of the first quarter. After both teams traded punts once again to start the second quarter, Dart completed a short pass to rookie Cam Skattebo for a touchdown. However, kicker Jude McAtamney missed the extra point, making it 13–0. The Broncos then turned the ball over on downs essentially ending the first half. Both teams traded punts for most of the third quarter before the Giants scored another touchdown at the end of the third quarter. They chose to go for two points but the conversion was unsuccessful, making it 19–0 in favor of the Giants coming into the fourth quarter.

On the Broncos first drive of the fourth quarter, they finally scored with Bo Nix throwing a touchdown pass to Troy Franklin, and the two point conversion was good, making it 19–8. However, the Giants immediately answered, with Dart throwing to Theo Johnson for a touchdown, making it 26–8. On the next drive, the Broncos scored again with Nix running into the end zone for a touchdown, and yet another two point conversion made it 26–16. The Giants got the ball, but Dart threw an interception to Justin Strnad, putting the Broncos back in the game. After the interception, Nix threw his second touchdown pass to RJ Harvey, and the extra point made it 26–23.

The Giants punted on their next possession, and the Broncos scored the go-ahead touchdown on their next drive with Nix scoring his second rushing touchdown of the game, giving the Broncos a 30–26 lead. The Giants got the ball back once again, and with multiple big gains, found themselves in Denver territory with under a minute to play. On 3rd-and-10 from the Denver 40 yard line with 49 seconds left, Dart threw a pass to the end zone intended for Beaux Collins that was broken up and incomplete, but a flag on Riley Moss for defensive pass interference and an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on Sean Payton for coming off the sideline and yelling at the officials set the Giants up at the 1 yard line. Dart then ran it towards the end zone. He was initially ruled short, but the ruling was changed to make it a touchdown. However, McAtamney missed his second extra point of the day, making it 32–30.

After the missed extra point, the Broncos got the ball back with 37 seconds remaining. After Nix threw a deep pass to Marvin Mims, linebacker Brian Burns committed a neutral zone infraction penalty, putting the Broncos at the Giants' 43 yard line. Nix threw another deep pass to Cortland Sutton putting the Broncos in field goal range. Broncos kicker Wil Lutz' kick was good, giving the Broncos the 33–32 comeback win.

Box score

Aftermath

The comeback by the Broncos was the largest fourth-quarter comeback in NFL history in which a team that had not scored for the first three quarters won the game. Nix was stunned after the comeback, stating "I don't even know how we scored 33 points in a quarter, that's kind of insane. It's just whatever we had to get done, we did it ... By any means necessary.'' Meanwhile, Burns stated “There’s no way in hell we are supposed to lose that game. We gave that to them." The miraculous nature of the win was especially poignant due to its timing with the late Thomas' Ring of Fame induction, with both fans and players highlighting the connection. On social media, Broncos defensive tackle D. J. Jones commented "I didn’t know [Thomas] but [he] was in that stadium today." Sutton and offensive tackle Garett Bolles, former teammates of Thomas, also remarked upon the significance of the win. Sutton noted "to be able to put together a fight the way we did and come out with a victory on such a special day celebrating two iconic pieces of this organization, it was amazing.” Bolles, meanwhile, stated that "Watching Court do his thing today just reminds me of so much of [Thomas]. It was a special moment that we shared on the field together, because I always tell him that [Thomas] looks down on both of us, and that's what he did tonight.”. The Broncos went on to win 11 straight games and clinched a playoff spot in Week 15. After winning the AFC West in Week 17, they clinched the AFC's No. 1 seed for the first time since 2015 to close out the regular season.

Conversely, the Giants lost the next eight games, until finally breaking their losing streak against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 17. Following the game, kicker Jude McAtamney was released. Later in October, running back Cam Skattebo suffered a ruptured deltoid ligament, prematurely ending his rookie season after a hot start. The Giants eventually fired Brian Daboll on November 10 after a loss to the Chicago Bears, and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka became the interim head coach. The Giants missed the playoffs for the third straight season following a loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 12, becoming the first NFL team in 2025 to be eliminated from playoff contention.

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