The Broncos backed up a powerful defensive very first half with an outpouring of offense inside the second half to defeat Minnesota 35-32. The victory, combined with Oakland's loss, puts the Broncos in 1st place in the AFC West.Tim Tebow Jersey

MINNEAPOLIS -- For your Broncos on Sunday, it was a tale of two halves.

Within the very first half, the defense was dominant at occasions. Inside the second, the offense came alive within a shootout. And inside the end, the Broncos came away having a 35-32 win -- their fifth straight -- against the Minnesota Vikings at Mall of America Area.Von Miller Jersey

"It doesn't matter how we did it," Andre' Goodman said. "Just a great group work these days. The defense sort of held us down in the first half as well as the offense kept us in it inside the 2nd half. Just a very good team win."

Inside the initial half, the Broncos offense could not get anything going. The unit's very first play with the game resulted within a safety. From there, the subsequent 6 drives completed as follows -- punt, fumble, punt, punt, punt, fumble.Aaron Rodgers Jersey

That left the defense around the area for more than 21 minutes with the 30-minute half. Thankfully, that side from the ball was playing lights-out early.

Midway by way of the 1st quarter, Brian Dawkins punched the ball out of Christian Ponder's hands on a run, and Jason Hunter recovered the fumble, returning it to midfield.

The offense went three-and-out.

So on Minnesota's subsequent possession, the Denver defense took issues into its very own hands. On second-and-8, Mario Haggan intercepted a Ponder pass and returned it 16 yards for any touchdown.

Although the unit permitted 13 points in the first half -- Minnesota's other two came by way of a security -- it place up 6 of its personal to keep the Broncos within the game.

"I feel we had 19 plays inside the initial half, we had two turnovers, three or 4 penalties," Eric Decker stated. "You can't do that stuff -- it just kills you. That's one thing we've to genuinely tension and practice and get better at it and obtain a faster begin so we are able to take some stress off the defense, simply because they've been playing great."Charles Woodson Jersey

Since the group went towards the locker space for halftime, down 15-7, Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy spoke towards the offense about finding it together and staying aggressive. It seemed to light a spark in the unit.

"You should look inside the mirror and see how poor you need it," mentioned Tim Tebow, who completed 10-of-15 for 202 yards and two touchdowns -- excellent to get a passer rating of 149.three. "I'm just proud of our guys since the way we came out there inside the second half, you could see a different team stepped onto that area."

On their very first drive of the second half, the Broncos drove 78 yards down the field, capping off the drive using a 21-yard touchdown pass from Tebow to Demaryius Thomas.

Using the score in Minnesota's favor, 15-14, the game turned to offensive fireworks.

Minnesota was up coming to strike, as Ponder hit Percy Harvin for a 52-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

But soon after a 63-yard kickoff return by Quan Cosby, it took the Broncos specifically 1 play to solution. And it was a memorable 1.

Underneath strain, Tebow rolled to his left. Soon after stiff-arming a defender, he looked to become operating out of bounds, but in the last second fired a pass to Thomas, who found himself broad open.

The receiver turned and sprinted upfield, juking past a single defender and dragging one more to the finish zone for his second touchdown from the day, a 41-yarder, to bring the score to 22-21, Vikings.

"It felt great," said Thomas, who completed the game using a career-high 144 yards and two touchdowns. "A couple balls came my way and I made plays on them. It felt just like the old me from school. It felt real good and hopefully it's going to just go up from there."

However the Vikings weren't completed. Midway via the fourth quarter, Ponder identified Harvin once more, this time to get a 48-yard touchdown.

And the moment once again, the Broncos had an quick solution. From his personal 24-yard line, Tebow found Thomas for any 42-yard strike. The 2nd and last play of the drive was a 24-yard touchdown run by Willis McGahee, who eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the sixth time this season.

That brought the score to 29-27, Vikings, and with 8:52 remaining inside the game, the Broncos elected to go for two. Tebow ran within the conversion from 2 yards out, and just like that the game was tied.

"(The offense) had a slow commence inside the 1st half, but they picked it up within the 2nd half," Champ Bailey mentioned. "It was vice-versa since we played excellent within the 1st half after which we started out providing up plays. It goes both approaches. We carry each other and that's the way it's going to have to be."

After a 13-play drive from the Vikings that resulted within a 39-yard area aim by Ryan Longwell to take the lead, the Broncos had the ball at their very own 20 with three:06 remaining.

"Our mentality is that if it's close in the fourth, we're going to find a way to win, regardless of how it gets performed," Decker mentioned.

Tebow and also the offense proceeded to drive 52 yards down the field -- spurred on by a 40-yard catch by Thomas -- for a game-tying, 46-yard field goal by Matt Prater.

So with 1:33 remaining, the defense knew it had to hold robust to force overtime.

"Guys are true confident in their potential to produce plays," Hunter said. "When it's crunch time, playmakers must come out. "

The defense did one particular better. Around the first play from the Vikings' drive, Goodman jumped in front of a Ponder pass and returned it 20 yards for the 15-yard line.

"That was the biggest play from the game," Haggan said. "It pretty a lot sealed it for us."

From there, the Broncos ran five instances and let Prater close out the win with a 23-yard area aim as time expired.

Prater now has three game-winning area goals in overtime or as time expires on the road this season, essentially the most because Carolina's John Kasay achieved the feat in 2003 -- the Panthers' Super Bowl season under Head Coach John Fox.

"When adversity hits and you're not doing excellent, most teams pull apart, they're not around the same page," Tebow stated. "But our group grows closer with each other and we come with each other. There's that encouragement, and that's some thing unique. It's some thing that's extremely thrilling and I'm quite proud to be a component of that."

For that fifth straight week, the Broncos entered the fourth quarter within three points of their opponent. And for your fifth straight week, the Broncos won.

Fox was asked if it feels like he's watching the exact same movie every single week.

"The ending is what I like the most," he smiled. "Thank the Lord for some wonderful, big-hearted guys. They preserve fighting. It didn't begin off true nicely for us. That initial half was just a little sluggish to say the least. They responded. They came back inside a large way. They produced the necessary plays to win a very hard, hard-fought game. We'll take it."

The win, coupled with Oakland's 37-14 loss in Miami, place the Broncos at 7-5 and in 1st location inside the AFC West -- a lengthy way in the club's 1-4 begin.

"Our mentality genuinely is 1 game at a time," Decker stated. "To understand that Oakland lost and we won, and that we're tied in very first location -- we've got an opportunity. That's the most effective issue right this moment. We're playing our best football and playing collectively like a group. Camaraderie is large and we'll see in which it requires us."