Before the Broncos even knew they’d be playing Buffalo in the AFC divisional round, Sean Payton decided to pull a play off the shelf and put it into Denver’s postseason plans.
During the team’s OTA-style practices on Jan. 9 and 10, Payton emphasized good-on-good work.
The No. 1 offense worked against the No. 1 defense. No contact, of course, but Payton and his staff put as much as possible into making the situations competitive.
During one of those practices, receiver Marvin Mims Jr. ran a double-move against reigning defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II and, as Payton tells it, roasted him.
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“We just hadn’t called that play in a while and it looked so good in our joint practice, I was like, ‘Man, that’s got to go to the call sheet,’” Payton said Sunday morning after the Broncos beat Buffalo, 33-30 in overtime, to advance to the AFC Championship Game.
Part of the Broncos’ normal team meeting the night before a game is to go through what Payton calls the touchdown reel. It’s a compilation of the plays he thinks players have a chance to score on the next day.
Payton had a message for Mims.
“When we did our video the night before and I put the practice clip up, I said, ‘You’re beating the No. 1 corner in the world,’” Payton recalled. “‘I don’t care who they put over there in the game tomorrow. We’re running this play.’”
The moment arrived in the final 61 seconds of regulation.
Mims motioned from the right slot to outside on the left.
He closed the gap to Buffalo corner Dane Jackson, stuttered and took off up the field. Jackson did a fairly good job sticking with him, but Mims pulled away by just enough and left space to allow Nix to put the ball to his outside along the sideline.
The 26-yard touchdown put the Broncos momentarily in front with 55 seconds to go.
“There’s a few times I’ll say to the (coaches) in the booth, ‘guys, we can’t finish this game with me not having called that play,’” Payton said. “That was one of those plays. We cannot finish this game with me not having called that play.”
Josh Allen engineered a field goal drive in the final minute, then overtime brought more twists and turns. Different from many games this year, though, Mims was on the field for most of them.
Mims played 47 of Denver’s 72 offensive snaps, a 65% rate that checks in as the second-highest usage of his three-year career. Coincidentally, the most Mims had ever played was 69.3% of snaps in a 2023 Monday Night Football win at Buffalo.
Mims averaged 37% usage during the regular season and really only saw the uptick in work Saturday because rookie Pat Bryant (concussion) left the game after three plays and Troy Franklin played just 13 before injuring his hamstring early in the second quarter.
Mims took full advantage, catching all eight of his targets for 93 yards — his most since 103 and two touchdowns on Dec. 28, 2024 at Cincinnati — and also drew a game-sealing, 30-yard pass interference penalty in overtime that set up Wil Lutz’s walk-off field goal.
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