New England and Denver are now in a 4-game race to finish the regular season for the No. 1 playoff seed.

LAS VEGAS — Marvin Mims Jr.’s 48-yard touchdown punt return, and three long scoring drives of 8:54, 9:13 and 10:17 lifted the Denver Broncos past the Las Vegas Raiders 24-17 on Sunday.

The Broncos improved to 11-2 with their 10th consecutive victory.


The win also assured them of owning the tiebreaker over the 11-2 New England Patriots in the heated battle for the No. 1 AFC playoff seed.

“Ten wins is a long time,” Nix said in his postgame press conference. “I don’t think at any stage of football I’ve ever won 10 in a row. I take that back, my junior year (at Oregon) I did (drawing laughter) but we have come a long way. It’s hard to do and guys have battled. We’ve been through a lot of crap and we’ve got to continue to get through the rest of the season. We’ve got a tough road ahead but we’re all ready to go and excited for it.” 

New England and Denver are now in a four-game race to finish the regular season for the No. 1 playoff seed which carries a first-round playoff bye, plus home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs until the Super Bowl.

READ MORE: Mims punt return, two 9-minute TD drives lifts Broncos past Raiders