Denver Broncos

#TBT: In 2009, the 'Immaculate Deflection' gave the Broncos a grand opening

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:20 p.m. ET

Barry Werner

As the NFL season opens Thursday night with the Carolina Panthers against the Denver Broncos, it's worth remembering one of the great Week 1 finishes in league history -- involving the very same Broncos.

On September 13, 1999, Brandon Stokley was in the right place at the right time when only a miracle would give Denver a victory.

The Cincinnati Bengals were on the verge of a win at Paul Brown Stadium, having taken a 7-6 lead on a Cedric Benson touchdown with 38 seconds left.

What followed -- with 28 seconds left on 2nd-and-10 from their own 13-yard-line -- was nothing short of a gift from above, unfortunately for the Bengals with an assist from defensive back Leon Hall.

Kyle Orton took the shotgun snap and fired deep for Brandon Marshall, but the pass was deflected by Hall.

Stokley, who was running his route and was in the vicinity, grabbed the ball and took off toward the end zone.

"I stayed around the (yard-line) numbers watching and hoping (Marshall) would make the catch," Stokley told reporters at the time. "So much went through my head. I just thought, 'Get what you can.' My mind was racing, and I felt myself pulling away."

What made an incredible play more remarkable was the presence of mind Stokely displayed as he neared paydirt.

Rather than running directly into the end zone, the 11th-year pro made a right turn and ran parallel to the goal line, completing the play that is known as the "Immaculate Deflection."

He was eating up clock, to make sure Cincinnati did not have time for a miracle of its own.

When Stokley finally crossed the goal line 11 seconds were left -- meaning the actual play had taken 17 ticks off the clock -- and Broncos had a 12-7 lead and subsequent victory.

“I just kind of saw that nobody was behind me chasing me. I saw a guy kind of give up on it. I knew there wasn’t a lot of time left, so I thought why not try to run some time off?” Stokley told the Denver Post in 2012. “And then the next day, I kind of started having nightmares about it: What if I’d have gotten caught? What if I had fumbled? What if somebody would have hit me? I think next time I’ll probably just get in the end zone.

“I just thought it was kind of smart to waste some time. But crazy things happen.”

"I have never seen anything like that," the Bengals' Carson Palmer told the Columbus Dispatch. "I've been playing football since I was 7 or 8 years old. I've seen a Hail Mary caught in the end zone, but that was just a little bit different than a Hail Mary."

Dependability and being in the right spot were a hallmark of Stokley's 15-year career. He caught 397 passes, of which 160 came on third down and 133 for first downs.

It earned him high praise from Peyton Manning.

“I guarantee you every quarterback he’s played with, whether (Trent) Dilfer or (Jay) Cutler, all the guys would tell you how great a teammate and how thankful they were that he was in the slot,” Manning, who played with Stokley in Indianapolis from 2003-06 and again with the Broncos in 2012, told the Denver Post, “because you knew he was going to get open on a critical third down and make that big catch.”

“I think Brandon is the best teammate I’ve ever had,” Manning, added “He’s a guy you want on your team in your corner. Fifteen years as a slot receiver in the NFL, going across the middle, taking hits, it’s almost unheard of.”