By Joe Kay, AP Sports Writer

CINCINNATI — An aggressive defense that had kept Denver out of the end zone all afternoon was closing in for a clinching hit.

Cornerback Leon Hall jumped and swatted the pass away from receiver Brandon Marshall, sending the ball flying end-over-end. Cincinnati Bengals safeties swarmed toward Marshall, ready to take him down if he somehow caught the ball. Nobody thought about going for the carom.

Not even Brandon Stokley.

The Broncos receiver was in the right spot to pull off one of the great finishes in NFL history on Sunday. He caught the deflected pass and outran a linebacker to the end zone, completing an 87-yard touchdown with 11 seconds left. The 12-7 victory is already part of fantastic finish lore.

“Usually when the ball goes up like that, a defensive guy gets it,” Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. “I’ve never seen a play go like that my whole career.”

Nobody had. It was the longest game-winning play from scrimmage in the final minute of the fourth quarter in NFL history, according to the league’s records. It decided a game full of gaffes and glaringly bad offense.

Both teams could have ended it cleanly.

Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton played with a glove on his passing hand, trying to get a better grip with his mangled index finger. His passes were flat or floated, but he moved the offense just enough to set up Matt Prater’s field goals from 48 and 50 yards.

Denver was in range for another one with seven minutes left when Orton made an awful decision, holding the ball and taking a sack that pushed the Broncos out of range for a clinching kick.

“I would say the only stupid thing we did was knocking ourselves out of field goal range on our second-to-last drive,” said Orton, who was 17 of 28 for 243 yards with three sacks.

When Carson Palmer led the Bengals 91 yards for the go-ahead touchdown — Cedric Benson’s 1-yard run with 38 seconds left — it looked like Orton would go down as the guy who cost his team a win. There wasn’t much of a chance to make up for his mistake after Denver took over at its 13-yard line with 34 seconds left.

After an incompletion to the right sideline, Orton called a play that speaks for itself: “All Go.” The receivers took off and Orton threw one to the left sideline, hoping Marshall could pull it down. Hall got in front at the 38-yard-line and slapped at the ball with his left hand, setting up the end-over-end finish.

“I’ve got to knock it to the ground, either that or pick it off,” Hall said.

Instead, he batted it toward Stokley, who was 5 yards upfield and couldn’t have been more surprised.

“I just stayed around the (sideline) watching and hoping he’d make a catch,” Stokley said.

With the ball in hand for his first catch of the game, he turned around and saw no one between him and the goal line. He outran the only Bengal with a chance to catch him, beating linebacker Dhani Jones as the Broncos bench screamed and erupted.

“I kept yelling, ‘Don’t get caught! Don’t get caught!’ because Stokley is not the fastest guy we have on the field,” said coach Josh McDaniels, who got the improbable win in his debut.

It was another unbelievable finish for a Bengals franchise that knows them very well. It will go down among their worst endings, along with a 1987 game when they failed to run out the clock, letting San Francisco’s Joe Montana throw a winning touchdown pass to Jerry Rice as time expired.

“The funniest, weirdest, craziest ending I’ve ever experienced in football,” Benson said.

Jets 24, Texans 7: At Houston, Mark Sanchez, the fifth overall pick, threw for 272 yards and a touchdown in his NFL debut, Thomas Jones scored twice, and the Jets shut down the Texans’ high-powered offense.

Ravens 38, Chiefs 24: At Baltimore, Joe Flacco went 26 for 43 for 307 yards and three touchdowns, all career highs, and the Ravens ruined the head coaching debut of Kansas City’s Todd Haley.

The Ravens amassed a franchise-record 501 yards, yet needed a 31-yard touchdown catch by Mark Clayton with 2:06 left to break a tie. Willis McGahee scored from the 1 with 31 seconds remaining to clinch it.

Colts 14, Jaguars 12: At Indianapolis, Peyton Manning threw for one touchdown, Joseph Addai ran for another and the Colts’ defense stopped Jacksonville twice in the fourth quarter.

Though Manning tied John Unitas’ franchise record for career wins with 118, it was hardly a thing of beauty. Manning lost receiver Anthony Gonzalez late in the first quarter with a right knee injury. Reggie Wayne finished with 10 catches for 162 yards and a TD and Colts coach Jim Caldwell won his NFL head coaching debut.

Interconference

Falcons 19, Dolphins 7: At Atlanta, Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez hauled in a touchdown pass and became the 21st player in NFL history with 11,000 yards receiving.

Linebacker Mike Peterson forced a fumble with a vicious hit and picked off a pass for the Falcons. The matchup between the two most surprising teams of 2008 wasn’t much of a game. The Falcons’ defense came up with four turnovers and thoroughly shut down a team that won the AFC East after going 1-15 two years ago.

Matt Ryan threw a pair of touchdown passes for the Falcons, and Gonzalez hauled in five passes for a team-high 73 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown after Peterson’s pick.