抖阴ap

When the bravado wore away, the Broncos’ defense was left looking around for answers in an early fight. Just as they did time and time again last season, they punched back and finally delivered the knockout blow.

All week they talked about defying odds and doubters. It ate at them that they were home underdogs to a Carolina team they beat in the Super Bowl by two touchdowns. The defense seems to bathe in the disappointment of their doubters.

So when 5-foot-10, 199-pound cornerback Chris Harris lined up man-to-man against the Panthers top receiver — 6-foot-5, 243 pound Kelvin Benjamin — he was right at home. He timed Panthers quarterback Cam Newton鈥檚 slant pass perfectly and got a hand on it to bat it in the air. He then made the heady play to follow the ball and make a diving interception midway through the fourth quarter to turn the game around.

“It’s not magic, man. We’ve got heart,” Harris said. “We have聽more heart than other teams. It’s plain and simple.”

The game changed when Harris made the pick. Denver soon after took its first lead, 21-17, and was able to hold on in a 21-20 thriller. Getting the lead allowed the defense to put more pressure on Newton than they had all game, and overcome a disappointing first half.

“We didn’t play a game that bad all of last year,” said safety T.J. Ward. “We made a bunch of errors.”

But they did enough to pull the game out.

鈥淵ou play an incredible defense and there鈥檚 always a 鈥榶eah, but.鈥� For these guys, there鈥檚 the 鈥榶ou鈥檝e only did it for one year at this level.鈥� That feeds you,鈥� Broncos Ring of Fame safety John Lynch said at the NFL Kickoff’s Tostitos Cantina earlier in the day. 鈥淲hat will drive this defense is those whispers that, 鈥榊eah, you had a great year, but to be one of the great defenses they have to sustain it over a period and that takes incredible mental toughness and discipline.’ 鈥�

Cornerback Aqib Talib, not be outdone by his fellow all-pro teammate, sifting through traffic on the following drive to notch a terrific pass breakup against receiver Devin Funchess on third-and-5 in the Broncos’ red zone.

“We knew third down they started getting (Funchess)聽behind the tight end and optioning him out,” Talib said. “So I knew if I went inside he was going to break outside so I went inside at first then hurried up and got back outside and I was able to get my hands on it.”

Carolina, trailing 21-17, had to settle for a field goal.

With the Broncos’ offense turning the ball over three times, the turnovers and sacks didn鈥檛 come as plentiful for the defense as they did in the Super Bowl seven months ago. But the result was the same.

And with the game on the line, Panthers right tackle Mike Remmers was on an island against outside linebacker Von Miller. Just like the Super Bowl, Miller won, with a third down sack of Newton that halted another Carolina drive.

“They did a good job of chipping and double-teaming me,” Miller said. “But we knew they couldn’t play a whole game like that and it eventually opened up for us and we were able to get back there.”

The defense’s overaggressive nature almost got the best of them when an illegal contact call against Harris on fourth-and-21 kept the Panthers final drive alive. Carolina moved into field goal territory, but Graham Gano missed left from 50 yards.

It was a completely different story in the first half when they were mired with penalties and struggles to get off the field. The worst of it was a 18-play, 89 yards drive that chewed up over nine minutes and ended in a Newton touchdown was uncharacteristic. After the game, Denver defenders were beating themselves up for their mistakes.

But when it counted, in the second half, the Broncos held Carolina to three points and 123 yards.聽Once again they ran off the field cheering, while Newton had a towel wrapped around his head in defeat.