It was unbelievable. When Brandon Stokely grabbed the deflected pass and turned to look up the field, there was no one standing in his way to the end zone.

In just the few seconds it take to sprint down the field, Stokley turned around what would have been a crushing loss for Denver into a historic moment in franchise history. Stokley’s 87 yard touchdown with just left seconds left in game gave the Broncos a 12-7 win over the Bengals, who definitely will need lots of time to recover from this loss.

Carson Palmer, quarterback for the Bengals, said he had never seen anything quite like that before. I’ve been playing football since the age of 7 or 8 and never seen anything like this.

No one has seen this before. According to the NFL, the 87 yard play is the longest game winning play from the line of scrimmage in the last minute of a game in NFL history.

Thirty minutes after the game had ended there was a lone Bengals fan dressed in a Rey Maualuga orange jersey sitting alone in the empty green seats that are in back of the end zone. He sat staring out at the field, attempting to understand what had just taken place.

One strange bounce of the ball had completely changed everything.

Stokley said we needed a miracle and got it. He said when I scored I remember it was really quiet and I felt good.

The Broncos were heartsick when a one yard run by Cedric Benson gave the Bengals a 7-6 lead with just 38 seconds left in the game. There wasn’t anyone on the team who felt worse than Kyle Orton, the quarterback, after his bad judgment had given Cincinnati the opportunity to go ahead in the game.

In desperation, Orton tossed a pass down the sideline that was almost intercepted. On the next play he tried to throw a pass to Brandon Marshall on the sideline, but he was well covered. Leon Hall the corner back cut in front of him and tipped the ball up into the air.

The ball caromed over to Stokely, who headed straight for the end zone after his lucky catch, and ran sideways for a few steps to kill a little time before he finally crossed the goal line.

There was so much going through my mind, Stokely said. He said that his mind was racing and he told himself to get whatever you can, and then could feel myself pulling away.

The play was caused by a high risk coaching decision. It was the result of a poor defensive play. Hall went after the ball instead of knocking it down and the safeties weren’t looking for a deflection.

Hall said he needed to either pick it off or knock the ball to the ground.

But instead the game ended up being left entirely to chance.

Correll Buckhalter, running back for the Broncos, said that he had seen quite a few things in football before but nothing quite like this.

In what was the regular season coaching debut for Josh McDaniels, Orton placed the Broncos in the position for a gut wrenching loss. Orton, who has a dislocated index finger on his right throwing hand, was just able to give the Broncos a lead at 6-0 as the game headed into the final minutes.

He then had a brain freeze and took a sack, which pushed the Broncos out of reach for what could have been Matt Prater’s third and decisive field goal. Prater had earlier connected in the game from 50 and 48 yards out.

The odds still appeared to be in favor of the Broncos. During the second half the Bengals only managed one first down against the Bronco’s overhauled defense. After being shut down all game, Palmer performed flawlessly in the clutch. He completed all six of his passes on the Bengals 91 yard drive, capped off by the touchdown run from Benson.

That turned out to merely be a tease.

Benson said that was the weirdest and craziest ending to a football game that he had ever experienced.

Tell that to the one lonely fan sitting alone in the stands.

Notes
Orton’s stitches were removed from his finger following the game. He is hopeful that he will be able to play in next week’s game without having to wear a glove. Orton completed 17 of 28 passes in the game for 43 yards.

Marshall, who during training camp was suspended for complaining about the fact that he wasn’t traded, led the team with seven catches on 27 yards. He did drop the first pass that was thrown to him.

Cincinnati coaches have a 9-0 regular season debut record, not counting the interim coaches.

Palmer was 21 for 33 with 247 yards after missing the final three games of the preseason with a sprained ankle.

A Bengals field goal attempt was botched on a bad snap.

The Bengals on 4th and 2 ran the wild cat, keeping a drive alive.

There was a crowd of 62,831 at the game, 3,000 less than the stadium’s capacity.