Game recap

Broncos @ Cardinals

2026 Wk 7 · ARI 16, DEN 30

Bo Nix broke a 62 yard touchdown run and Arizona came away empty at the Denver 1.

FanIQ Research · October 26, 2026 · 6 facts, every one from the play-by-play

Bo Nix's 62 yard touchdown scramble is one of nine quarterback touchdown runs of 60 or more yards since 1999, and the first by a Bronco.

Rare

Every quarterback touchdown run of 60+ yards, 1999 to 2026

Season	Week	Team	Quarterback	Yards	Scramble
2014	16	SF	Colin Kaepernick	90	Yes
2015	13	TEN	Marcus Mariota	87	Yes
2022	2	BAL	Lamar Jackson	79	No
2012	6	WAS	Robert Griffin	76	No
2012	14	CAR	Cam Newton	72	No
2022	10	CHI	Justin Fields	67	No
2011	14	MIN	Joe Webb	65	Yes
2026	7	DEN	Bo Nix	62	Yes
2022	9	CHI	Justin Fields	61	Yes

Longest touchdown runs by a Broncos quarterback since 1999

Season	Quarterback	Yards	Game
2026	Bo Nix	62	at ARI
2010	Tim Tebow	40	at OAK
2021	Drew Lock	23	vs KC
2011	Tim Tebow	20	vs NYJ
2017	Brock Osweiler	18	at IND

Arizona had just tied the game 6 to 6 with a 26 yard field goal. On the second Denver snap after the touchback, Nix scrambled up the middle from his own 38 and went the distance. Denver never trailed or was tied again. The previous longest touchdown run by a Broncos quarterback in this span was Tim Tebow's 40 yarder in 2010.

Why it matters. Nine such runs in 28 seasons means this happens about once every three years across the whole league. It also came at the exact moment Arizona had pulled level, so it was the swing play of the game rather than a late garnish. Nix finished with 73 rushing yards on 7 carries, the same mobility that makes him hard to contain when a called pass breaks down.

Three Denver plays covered 161 of its 379 yards. Its other 51 snaps averaged 4.27 yards.

Split

Denver's three longest plays

Quarter	Play	Yards	EPA	What followed
2	Nix scramble	62	5.48	Touchdown
3	Nix pass to RJ Harvey	52	4.49	Touchdown
3	Nix pass to Marvin Mims Jr.	47	3.23	Dobbins 1 yard TD

Offense in this game, pass and run plays

Group	Plays	Yards	Yds/play	EPA/play	Success%
DEN, all plays	54	379	7.02	0.202	37.0%
DEN, minus top 3	51	218	4.27	-0.045	33.3%
ARI, all plays	75	353	4.71	-0.113	33.3%

Take away the three big gains and Denver's offense was slightly below average, with a success rate no better than Arizona's. Those three snaps produced or set up all 21 of Denver's touchdown points. Mims was pushed out at the Arizona 6 with 47 seconds left in the third quarter, and after an Arizona pass interference flag moved the ball to the 1, J.K. Dobbins scored with 2 seconds left in the quarter.

Why it matters. Success rate measures how often a play stays on schedule; EPA also rewards size. Denver won the EPA battle by a wide margin while matching Arizona on success rate, which says the game turned on a handful of explosive snaps rather than steady control. That profile wins when the big plays come, and it is less repeatable than a high success rate.

Arizona ran 20 snaps inside the Denver 20 and scored one touchdown. Denver ran four.

Comparison

Red zone and third downs, pass and run plays

Team	Snaps inside opp 20	TD	Third downs	Converted
ARI	20	1	17	5
DEN	4	1	11	3

Arizona's trips inside the Denver 20

Trip	Quarter	Closest point	Result
1	1st to 2nd	DEN 8	30 yd FG
2	2nd	DEN 2	26 yd FG
3	3rd	DEN 5	TD, McBride 7 yd pass
4	4th	DEN 16	41 yd FG
5	4th	DEN 1	Turnover on downs

The last trip was the clearest. Arizona had first and goal at the 1 at the two minute warning, trailing by 14. Seven snaps followed, two of them erased by Denver pass interference flags, and the result was a run for no gain, a sack, three incompletions and no points. The second trip also stalled at the 2 before a delay of game pushed the kick back.

Why it matters. Arizona out snapped Denver 75 to 54 and still lost by two scores because its drives kept ending in field goals. Touchdowns on just the two trips that reached the Denver 2 and the Denver 1 would have added 11 points, so this is where the game was decided, not in yardage. Denver needed almost no red zone work because its touchdowns came from 62 and 52 yards out.

Trey McBride's 111 yards gave him nine 100 yard games since 2023, the most by any tight end.

Milestone

Most 100 yard receiving games by a tight end, regular season, 2023 to 2026

Rank	Player	100 yd games
1	Trey McBride	9
2	George Kittle	8
3	Brock Bowers	6
4	Travis Kelce	4
T5	Jonnu Smith	3
T5	Dallas Goedert	3
T5	T.J. Hockenson	3
T5	Dalton Kincaid	3

McBride in this game

Targets	Rec	Yards	TD
13	10	111	1

McBride caught 10 of Jacoby Brissett's 27 completions and scored Arizona's only touchdown on a 7 yard catch. It was his tenth career game with 10 or more catches. No other Cardinal topped 55 receiving yards.

Why it matters. McBride took 13 of Arizona's targets, which shows how much of the passing game runs through one tight end. That volume is why he leads this list ahead of Kittle and Bowers. It also explains the red zone problem: when Denver took McBride away at the goal line late, all three throws to Michael Wilson fell incomplete.

Denver started the day 4 and 2 but outscored by 11. This win made its point differential positive for the first time all season.

Trend

Denver's 2026 results and running point differential

Week	Opponent	Site	Score	Margin	Running
1	KC	Away	10 to 31	-21	-21
2	JAX	Home	20 to 13	+7	-14
3	LA	Home	30 to 26	+4	-10
4	SF	Away	14 to 24	-10	-20
5	LAC	Away	23 to 17	+6	-14
6	SEA	Home	17 to 14	+3	-11
7	ARI	Away	30 to 16	+14	+3

Denver's four earlier wins came by 7, 4, 6 and 3 points. The 14 point margin here is its largest of the season and was enough by itself to wipe out the deficit from the opening loss in Kansas City. The Broncos are now 5 and 2 at plus 3.

Why it matters. A team that wins close games while being outscored is often riding results that point margin does not support. This game moves Denver's record and its scoring margin closer together for the first time. Plus 3 over seven games is still thin for a 5 and 2 team, so the record remains ahead of the margin.

Denver is 7 and 1 against Arizona since 1999, and all eight meetings were decided by 9 points or more.

Milestone

Every Broncos versus Cardinals game since 1999

Season	Week	Result	DEN margin
2001	2	DEN 38, ARI 17	+21
2002	17	ARI 7, DEN 37	+30
2006	15	DEN 37, ARI 20	+17
2010	14	DEN 13, ARI 43	-30
2014	5	ARI 20, DEN 41	+21
2018	7	DEN 45, ARI 10	+35
2022	15	ARI 15, DEN 24	+9
2026	7	DEN 30, ARI 16	+14

The closest game in the series was Denver's 9 point win in 2022. Arizona's only win was the 43 to 13 game in 2010. Denver is 4 and 1 in Arizona over this span.

Why it matters. These teams play once every four years, so the series spans different coaches and rosters, and there is no structural reason for one side to dominate. Even so, not one of the eight games has been close. This result extends the pattern rather than breaking it.

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