The Denver Broncos beat the Los Angeles Rams in dramatic fashion in Week 3, because of course they did. The team now moves to 2-1 on the season with three winnable games in front of them.
Denver failed to sustain offensive success throughout the game, but did find a way to do enough in the end. The Broncos play the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers in Weeks 4 and 5 before turning home to face the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6.
Before we get there, though, let's dive into our winners and losers from the thriller.
Denver Broncos winners and losers after massive SNF comeback win
Winner: Talanoa Hufanga
Talanoa Hufanga dropped countless interceptions during his first year with the Broncos in the 2025 NFL Season, but he managed to haul in two interceptions in Week 3, one that turned into a pick-six, and the other that sealed the deal.
What's hilarious is that Hufanga's first interceptions with the team could not have come at a better time. It was downright frustrating to watch the many almost-interceptions last year, and you just felt like he was going to get his hands on one.
The Broncos needed every one of the plays that the defense made in Week 3. Hufanga coming up big twice makes him a top winner.
Winner: Bo Nix
Bo Nix did have a tipped interception in Week 3, but outside of that, he played reasonably well in the second half. Nix totaled three touchdowns, including two touchdown passes and a game-winning rushing touchdown on what was a quarterback sneak.
Nix showed up in late-game moments, as he has done time and time again for this football team. You almost run out of words to describe just how outrageous this is to witness, but it keeps happening. Nix and the Broncos are now a healthy 16-4 since the start of the 2025 season.
Loser: Jaylen Waddle
Jaylen Waddle did have a rush for 14 yards, but he only managed two receptions for 10 yards. He was targeted seven times. After a breakout game in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Waddle was virtually non-existent in this one.
Now, yes, just because Waddle does not come down with a reception in a given play, doesn't mean he didn't have an impact. Opposing defenses do respect his speed, so that does open up other windows for his teammates, but having 128 fewer receiving yards from Week 2 into Week 3 is probably just not what he expected.
Winner: Sean Payton
For the first time in the Sean Payton era, the Broncos end the month of September with a winning record. This team was 2-2 in September in 2025, 2-2 in 2024, and 0-3 in 2023. Denver is now positioning themselves nicely to not have to dig out of an early-season hole, which has been the case these past couple of seasons.
Payton's Broncos finally cracked this tough code and got out of the first month of football with a win, and those wins coming against Los Angeles and Jacksonville are huge, as both of those teams are obviously quite good and far from an easy opponent.
Loser: Wil Lutz
Wil Lutz missed a field goal in this one, and it was one that 'doinked' off the upright. Lutz seems to have these lapses in kicking from time to time. He's largely been a very efficient player for the Broncos during his career, but these short-ish misses just can't continue to happen.
His missed kick almost proved to be the deciding factor in this one, so he's probably thanking the rest of the team that his three points weren't needed. Lutz is someone who isn't going to consistently hit kicks from a long distance, but he's got the short-range accuracy to continue to make you confident that he'll do his job at a reasonably high level.
He just so happened to miss a kick in Week 3.
Winner: The Broncos continued late-game heroics
The Broncos got shut out in the first half. Zero points. They ended the game with 30 points.
The late-game heroics just don't stop with this team, especially at home. The Broncos turning that switch on late in games is a big winner here, obviously. As we saw last year, the Broncos needed every single one of their 14 wins to earn that top playoff seed, and there is a chance that the Broncos need every single one of however many wins they finish with to earn whatever seed they fall into.
These big wins are awesome in the moment, but they also have long-term impact. This was an outstanding win and once again displayed the clutch gene that this team has that others across the league simply do not.
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