DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Broncos played a particularly strange game Sunday in London.
They came off with a 13-11 win over the New York Jets, holding the Jets to 82 total yards, which included -10 net yards, the lowest total ever recorded against the Broncos in history, and the second-lowest in the NFL since 1990, According to the Associated Press.
This was also the mark for the Jets’ worst net passing yards.
Somehow, the Broncos found themselves losing until the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Statistics that would indicate a blowout without knowing the final outcome were actually a narrow victory. The Jets nearly walked away with the win. How does their historically poor near-victory rating stack up compared to other net negative games?
Here are the three worst net passing games in NFL history: According to Pro Football Reference:
No. 3: Atlanta Falcons vs. San Francisco 49ers, 1976
In this game, the Falcons’ quarterbacks threw for -39 yards.
In sports, substitutions happen all the time. It’s simple really – when someone is struggling with performance, you can put someone else there to pick up the pace. This works in theory, except when the alternative ends up worse than the beginning.
The substitute’s performance is often worse than the starting player’s performance, but in 99.9% of cases, players do not combine to perform historically poorly.
Kim McQuilkin and Scott Hunter were victims of one of those days. The quarterbacks were only able to go 8-29 for 46 yards. Not great, but even worse when you include two interceptions and eight sacks for -85 yards.
The Falcons were also the beneficiary of a closer-than-think score, 0-15, during the day of that nightmarish duo.
No. 2: Cincinnati Bengals vs. Houston Oilers, 1971
This is largely because one of the teams no longer officially exists in the NFL.
Halloween Game – Ghouls, dwarves and witches weren’t the scariest things that day – it was a 52-yard touchdown drive from the Bengals.
This was another game where two quarterbacks couldn’t save each other, and the combined stench of the game led to another worst game in the NFL.
Ken Anderson and Dave Lewis threw 6-20 and could only squeeze 16 yards. Furthermore, they were sacked nine times for a loss of 68 yards.
Sure enough, when they returned home after the game, they lived in fear that the Oilers’ defense would secretly be coming for sack No. 10 at every knock on the door.
Again, the score did little to show the disparity in yardage, as the Oilers won just 10-6.
No. 1: Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders, 1967
Not the name Broncos fans wanted to see – sorry.
The Broncos have their worst net passing game ever, which could go down as their worst performance ever.
There is not a single stat you can pull from this game that will make anything better.
Would you look at that? Another double-double quarterback disaster.
This particular season, the Raiders’ defense was known as the “11 Angry Men,” and they were every bit as scary as they sound. The team succeeded in attracting midfielders 67 times that season, and a good percentage of them were in this match.
Steve Tensey and Scottie Glacken were lucky if they caught a pass, and even luckier if they completed it. They caught just two passes, went 2-16, and racked up 17 yards.
They were sacked seven times for a total loss of 70 yards.
That resulted in the worst net passing yards of -53 in the NFL.
Other games kept the score close, but this was an absolutely frustrating shutout loss, 0-51 for the Broncos.
More than half a century later, the Broncos had to be on the right side of one of these lopsided games against the Jets. The team had a total of nine sacks, seven tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hits and did not give up a touchdown.
The Jets threw for -10 net yards, and the Broncos’ stout defense prevented a loss that shouldn’t have been close.
Now 4-2 on the season and joint top of the AFC West with the Los Angeles Chargers, the team is back stateside and will need to shake off jet lag before taking on the New York Giants in Week 7.