DENVER — This time, the Broncos‘ prolific fourth-quarter offense didn’t show up.

No matter, Denver’s defense most certainly did.

The Broncos scraped and scrimped, struggled and staggered, but in the end, they somehow came away with a 10-7 win against Las Vegas at Empower Field on Thursday night.

This team has won seven straight games, the longest winning streak since the Super Bowl 50 champs opened the 2015 campaign 7-0.

No. 7 for this team won’t be hung in the Denver Art Museum.

The Broncos’ offense failed to generate a first down on eight of its first 11 possessions. They took two third-quarter possessions that started in scoring territory, generated minus-8 total yards and came away with just three points.

For much of the game, they had more penalties than first downs.

But, as the adage goes, they don’t ask how. They only ask how many.

In this game, it’d be fair to wonder how.

How did the Broncos get away with going three-and-out eight times? How did they get away with yet another lackluster offensive performance and yet another set of special teams maladies?

How is this team rolling into a long weekend and mini bye at 8-2, which is guaranteed to survive the weekend, at minimum, tied for the best record in the conference?

How should its chances against Kansas City in 10 days be considered, given the group’s entire lack of offensive consistency outside two games against terrible defenses?

All of those questions matter in the larger scheme of the 2025 season, and none of them mattered Thursday night.

If anybody had all the answers on a windy night at Empower Field, it was Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and his unit.

They sacked Raiders quarterback Geno Smith six times. Five of them came on third or fourth down. They got an interception from outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman, his second of the season. They held Las Vegas to 10 first downs, including three in the second half.

They did it all without reigning defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II.

Funny enough, Thursday night games tend toward randomness, but this one featured all of the Broncos’ typical first-half hallmarks.

The offense, prone to slow starts, put forth one of its slowest.

Bo Nix and company went three-and-out three straight times to begin the game, didn’t record a first down until the 5:50 mark of the second quarter and in all engineered just four first downs before halftime.

J.K. Dobbins carried the ball on the first three snaps of the game and then ran it just once more until the third quarter.

The Broncos committed seven first-half penalties and then had two more to open the third quarter before a play had officially been run. They finished with 11 for 78 yards overall.

When Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty powered into the end zone late in the first quarter, Las Vegas became the ninth team in 10 games to score first against the Broncos. Denver got it back with a five-play, 63-yard drive in the second quarter that ended with Nix finding Troy Franklin across the middle for a 7-yard touchdown — the offense's only end zone visit the entire game.

Broncos coach Sean Payton finally found a rhythm running the football in the third quarter — the Broncos ran the ball six times in the second half and then seven times on their second drive of the quarter alone — but then went away from it on third-and-1 when he dialed up a trick play.

Instead of a big hit, though, Courtland Sutton wisely did not throw the ball and instead took a loss that preceded a woefully short 59-yard field goal attempt by Wil Lutz.

Darren Rizzi’s special teams units, maligned much of the year and subjected early in Thursday’s game to a bout of punting yips from rookie Jeremy Crawshaw — he hit three punts of 38 yards or less in the first half including one off his ankle — at long last made a game-altering play to the positive late in the third quarter when safety JL Skinner blocked an AJ Cole punt with his facemask.

That set the Denver offense up at the Las Vegas 12-yard line, which proved at least to be too good of field position for Nix and company to entirely squander.

They went backward 2 yards over three plays, but Lutz’s 32-yard field goal delivered the Broncos to the fourth quarter with a smoke-and-mirrors 10-7 lead.

No matter in the end. Payton’s team polished off its NFL-best 10th straight win at home to head into a long weekend.

Long weekends after wins are great, no matter what the 60 minutes actually looked like.

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