Just one stop.
That is what was needed to prevent the Giants from an epic meltdown on defense that left them on the wrong end of a historic loss this past Sunday — a loss that made them feel like digging a hole and burying themselves 5,280 feet into the ground in the Mile High city.
The Broncos had five possessions on offense in the fourth quarter, and they went like this: touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal. It added up to 33 points in the final 14:08, 25 points in the final 5:13 and 10 points in the final 1:51. It added up to the Giants losing, 33-32, and wondering how the heck a defense that pitched a shutout for three quarters completely unraveled in the final 15 minutes.
But it all could have been stopped, multiple times. Let’s take a look at one play (sometimes more) on each of the Broncos’ fourth-quarter scoring drives that the Giants could have made on defense to prevent this catastrophe from happening: