The 61,155 in attendance at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday were treated to a firework show before kickoff that sadly neither offense was able to replicate as the Denver Broncos squeezed past the New York Jets 13-11 in the second of London’s 2025 International Series games.

The stars of the show were undoubtedly the Broncos defense, who held the Jets to just 82 yards on offense while sacking Jets quarterback Justin Fields nine times, including a 12-yard loss on fourth down with just 1:14 remaining in the game to seal the victory.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton called his defense ‘outstanding’ and felt that the unit ‘kept (Fields) in the spot that we wanted him’, adding that ‘it’s hard to contain an athlete like that’. Star cornerback Patrick Surtain was quick to credit Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph for his gameplan, ‘giving (Fields) different looks, different coverages’.

“I feel like, when you generate that much pressure, we have the ability to be open and do new coverages, try new disguises,” Surtain explained.

Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto, one of the best defensive players in the league this season, registered a sack to give him 9.0 for the year and clearly enjoyed his day out at Spurs: “I love the way we were rushing today. Loved the way we were blitzing, how everybody is doing their part on the defense (the nine sacks were shared between eight different players) and making plays, and I’m happy we were able to do that.”

Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, still looking for his first win as a head coach as his team fell to 0–6, acknowledged the performance of the opposition defense, noting they did ‘a really good job of pressuring (Fields)’. But while he wasn’t prepared to give his battered QB a free pass — Glenn agreed that Fields has ‘played a role’ in his sides offensive struggles of late — the coach was quick to dismiss calls that he would be considering a change under center.

“C’mon man, what kind of question is that?” he retorted during the postgame press availability. “There’s guys that have bad games, [but] that doesn’t mean you just bench them. I’m not looking at this as just ‘Man, he played a bad game, I’m going to bench him’. I don’t see it that way.”

Fields himself was brutally honest about the Jets offensive display, saying ‘It wasn’t good enough and that starts with me’.

“I probably could have got the ball out (quicker) on some plays… [but] we have to play complementary football,” he admitted. “[The Jets defense] had a hell of a game today. Offense has to do a better job complementing that.”

Sacks have been a problem for Fields throughout his NFL career. Before Sunday, he led all quarterbacks with an 11.62 percent sack rate since entering the league in 2021 (and with a minimum of 20 games played), but the nine sacks taken on Sunday tied a career-high for Fields, who also absorbed nine as a member of the Chicago Bears in a 26-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns back in 2021. Fields is now one of just five quarterbacks with two or more games with at least nine sacks since 1970, joining Matt Ryan, Bobby Hoying, Dave Wilson (two each) and Randall Cunningham (three) in that club. Fields has taken multiple sacks in 46 games in his career, including each of his last four for the Jets.

There is no respite for either side as both return for home games in Week 7, the Jets hosting a Carolina Panthers side fresh off victory over Dallas, while Denver entertain the New York Giants as they look to maintain momentum from Thursday night’s shock win over the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.