The Best of Demaryius Thomas

Late last night I heard the tragic news that Demaryius Thomas had died, and I immediately thought about the 2011 AFC Wild Card Game. He had an amazing performance, four catches for 204 yards and an 80 yard walk-off TD in overtime to help the Denver Broncos shock the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards, and 204 of them were hauled in by Demaryius Thomas.

Catch #1: 6–0 PIT, 14:56 left in the 2nd quarter, 3rd and 12, DEN 18

After a 20 yard Eric Decker catch was overturned the Broncos had a 3rd and 12 needing a big play. Tebow steps up and throws it deep to Thomas, who gets ahead of of Ike Taylor for a 51 yard gain to the PIT 31. Two plays later Eddie Royal catches a 30 yard touchdown to give the Broncos a 7–6 lead.

Catch #2: 7–6 DEN, 12:15 left in the 2nd quarter, 2nd and 7, DEN 30

On a 2nd and 7 Thomas torches Taylor deep again this time for 58 yards down to the PIT 12. Two plays later Tebow punches it in himself from eight yards out. That makes two catches for 109 yards to set up both Bronco’s TD’s.

Catch #3: 23–16 DEN, 8:25 left in the 4th quarter, 3rd and 7, DEN 33

Thomas was kept quiet by Taylor for over 30 minutes of football, but there was no way Thomas would not be stopped for the rest of the game. This time Thomas gets in front of Taylor and Tebow finds him for a huge 15 yard gain to get Denver near midfield. The good work was undone one the next play by a Willis Mcgahee fumble. This would only set up and absolutely classic ending.

Catch #4: 23–23, 15:00 left in OT, 1st and 10, DEN 20

The Steelers took the ball after the fumble and tied the game on a Jerricho Cotchery 31 yard touchdown from Ben Roethlisberger with 3:48 to play. The game went into overtime and the Broncos won the coin toss. In previous years this would mean the Broncos would only need a field goal to win. Matt Prater’s career long at the time was 59 yards (he would go on to break the NFL record with a 64 yard field goal in 2013 since broken by Justin Tucker). A very makeable 57 yard field goal in the thin air of Denver would have meant the Broncos needed to go 40 yards for the game winning kick. However, the NFL changed the overtime rules for postseason games and now the team getting the ball first needed to get a touchdown to win the game on that possession.

The opening kickoff went for a touchback so the Broncos started at their own 20 (it was changed to the 25 in 2017). Tebow threw it deep to Thomas after he beat Ike Taylor again. Thomas caught the ball, broke a tackle from Taylor and ran past Taylor and Ryan Mundy for a walk-off 80 yard game winning touchdown that sent the Broncos to New England.

The Aftermath

The Broncos would go on to lose to the Patriots 45–10 in the AFC Divisional Round. Thomas would have six catches for 93 yards in that game. Thomas would go on to make four Pro Bowls and win a Super Bowl during a ten year career that included 727 catches for 9763 yards and 63 touchdowns. The overtime touchdown would go on to be the greatest highlight of a great career as well as one of the most famous plays in NFL history. I will always remember Demaryius Thomas for that touchdown above all others. His performance as a whole deserves to be remembered as one of the all time great playoff performances.

#RIPDemaryiusThomas

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