DENVER — The most bizarre play of the Broncos’ season opener against the Ravens took place with 12:06 remaining when Broncos LB Danny Trevathan picked off a Joe Flacco pass and was running toward the end zone with a seemingly easy pick-six, but his clown-like showboating cost him the touchdown.
Trevathan casually released the ball from his hands almost two yards before crossing the goal line, giving the Ravens the ball back at their own 20 with a touchback. The touchdown would have given the Broncos a 49-17 lead. Instead, the Ravens scored on that freebie possession and cut the Denver lead to 42-24 with 10:28 still remaining in the game.
“It was a dumb play in retrospect,’’ Trevathan said. “It’s not going to happen again. I was just so in the moment, it was selfish of me. I’m growing from it and I’m not going to let nobody stop me from getting better.’’
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The Broncos waited eight long months for their rematch with the Ravens, who ended Denver’s 2012 season with a crushing 38-35 double overtime win in the AFC Divisional playoffs last January at Mile High Stadium.
The stinging memory of that game, the fourth-longest game in NFL history, made Thursday night’s 49-27 rout of the Ravens taste sweeter.
“It added motivation,’’ Broncos coach John Fox said. “We talked about that game forever. It added fire in our belly. I don’t know what you would call it — a pain, a scar — but it is a motivator.’’
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When Broncos CB Chris Harris picked off Joe Flacco in the first half, it ended a streak of 210 consecutive passes without an interception thrown by the Ravens’ quarterback dating back to last season. The last player to intercept Flacco? Harris last Dec. 16.
“They ran the same play that I dropped in the playoffs last year, in overtime, and I just knew if I got the same play I had to make a play on it,’’ Harris said. “I knew [Flacco] didn’t throw an interception in the playoffs, but that’s pretty crazy how I was his last interception and now his first one of 2013.’’
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In the last 11 NFL’s prime-time season openers, the home team has won 10 times. Last year, the visiting 49ers beat the defending Super Bowl champion Giants 16-13 at MetLife Stadium to end a 9-0 streak for the home teams.
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The Broncos are now 34-19-1 all-time record in season openers. Only the Cowboys (35-17-1) are better. … LB Elvis Dumervil, who left the Broncos in a messy fax-machine blunder by his agent in the offseason and was signed by the Ravens, was booed lustily.