Demaryius Thomas details his memories from his Wild Card-winning touchdown vs. Pittsburgh in 2011

[Miles]

That was one of my best routes on that offense. It was "thimble" to the left. I just remember most of the time when we sent Eddie Royal in motion, the safety would come down because he's thinking we're running the ball, because we did that a lot that season and that game. I remember, I think it was [then-quarterbacks coach] Adam Gase that came up and said, 'We're going to do this the first play. You'll have a chance to make the play and make a big run with it.' I came up with the run — [that was] all I knew I had to do, right off the bat, because I saw the safety come down. I had to beat Ike Taylor, and I beat Ike. … It was at a catchable height. I stayed in stride, caught it on the run. It was perfect. … So, happily, when I caught the ball, it was like my hand was in the perfect position to get him right in the chest with a stiff-arm.


He got me the first time [earlier that game when Thomas tried a stiff-arm]. I remember [then-wide receivers coach] Tyke [Tolbert] saying [as] I was going to the sideline, Tyke said, 'Man, use your speed. Use your speed.' Because sometimes I would forget to use it. I remember on that play I used my stiff-arm and just used my speed and just put my head down and ran. … After that, I just ran into the end zone.


Man, I couldn't hear nothing. It was like it wasn't real. … It was crazy.


The sound [came back] when I ran through the tunnel and in my head, I didn't know the game was over at the time. So I walked back in, and that's when I heard the crowd. I didn't hear the crowd until I turned around and walked back in, because if I knew the game was over, I wouldn't have turned around.


When I saw [Broncos cornerback] Champ [Bailey], he was like, 'The game's over!' and was so excited. That's when I knew the game was over, when Champ came running.


It was insane. If I didn't know no better, I would have thought we won the Super Bowl that game. If I didn't know nothing about the Super Bowl, I would have thought we had won it that game. It was rocking. The fans had the stadium rocking.


It's top three in my football career. In my time playing ball, it's top three for sure. I'd go Super Bowl for number one. This is probably number two. And then 509, three. I'd say it's number two right now. Of course, getting drafted, being able to play football, that comes into play. But this was a big one.