The first play set an ominous tone.
During the Denver Broncos’ 41-32 victory against the Cleveland Browns on “Monday Night Football” in Week 13, wide receiver Jerry Jeudy lined up on the left side of Cleveland’s formation to begin the team’s first offensive series. At the snap, the former Broncos receiver ran 5 yards up the field, cut to the middle and found himself wide open between layers in Denver’s defense. Browns quarterback Jameis Winston easily hit Jeudy with a crisp pass, turning an apparent breakdown in Denver’s coverage into an immediate 44-yard gain.
Jeudy ended the night with 235 receiving yards, the most ever for a player against a former team. The 475 passing yards the Broncos surrendered were the most by the team in a game since at least 2000, according to TruMedia. The 557 total yards the Broncos surrendered were the most since their historically ghastly performance against the Miami Dolphins early in the 2023 season.
The Broncos sealed the game with Ja’Quan McMillian’s pick six late in the fourth quarter — one of three interceptions and two touchdowns by Denver’s defense — but the overall performance was disappointing for a unit that was one of the NFL’s best by most measures entering the game. The win made the bye week easier to stomach, but the Broncos also didn’t just casually brush the defensive failings aside.
“Obviously, there are things, when the game ends, that you look back on and say, ‘We would’ve done this differently,’” coach Sean Payton said.
As the Broncos (8-5) enter the finishing kick of their season, beginning with a critical matchup with the Indianapolis Colts (6-7) in Denver on Sunday, they are eager to prove the struggles against the Browns were an aberration. The group has shown an ability to respond this season. The Broncos gave up 41 points in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9, unable to impact Lamar Jackson as he threw his way to a perfect passer rating. The following week in Kansas City, the Broncos sacked Patrick Mahomes four times, limited the Chiefs to one touchdown and were a blocked field goal away from authoring a watershed victory.
Defensive end Zach Allen, who gushed about how the team approached the aftermath of the loss in Baltimore, said he saw similar accountability when it came time to take stock of the performance against the Browns.
“Guys came in with a really good mindset of how to improve on it,” Allen said. “Give Cleveland credit. Obviously, they had a really good plan against us. A lot of it, too, was us not executing fully. We talked about it, and I think we made the right adjustments. Jameis is a good quarterback, and that team was a playoff team last year, and they’re playing like one right now. So the fact that we were able to get out of there with a win is a positive.”
The performance against the Browns should have little bearing on the Broncos’ matchup with the Colts, who offer an entirely different look and a new set of challenges. Second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson is among the league’s least efficient passers. He is completing just 44.6 percent of throws that travel beyond the line of scrimmage, and his 47.4 percent completion rate overall is the lowest in the league by a large margin. The difference in efficiency between Richardson and the No. 33 quarterback, Bryce Young (58.7 percent), is roughly the same as the distance between Young and the No. 3 quarterback, Baker Mayfield (70.2).
But teams don’t scout opponents based solely on a stat sheet. Coaches find ways to show their teams how a player can hurt them if execution is lacking. And Richardson, for all his lack of efficiency at times, has unique ways to put opponents into a bind.
“(It’s) how big he is, man,” safety P.J. Locke said of Richardson. “At the end of the day, what is he — 6-6, 6-5, 250 (pounds)? And he has a cannon for an arm. … I think he has generational talent, and he’s just putting everything together. I don’t think we’re dealing with a slouch, by any means. I don’t care what their record says. I don’t care what his numbers have said in the past. No one is going to take him lightly because he’s that talented.”
Richardson’s speed and physicality as a runner are impactful in a vacuum. They can create even more problems when paired with running back Jonathan Taylor (fifth in the NFL in rushing at 80.4 yards per game). In the three weeks since Richardson returned from a two-game, midseason benching, Indianapolis is third in the NFL in designed rush rate at 49.4 percent — and the quarterback has at least nine carries in each of those games (2-1).
“It brings a lot of challenges,” Payton said of what Richardson’s usage as a runner does for the Colts. “You kind of get your 11th man back (as an offense). There are zone schemes. There are gap schemes. There’s a number of things that can stress you. We had the benefit of that a little bit (in New Orleans) with Taysom Hill, the same way. He has great arm strength down the field. A big part of their run game is both he and (Taylor). It presents a completely different type of challenge than weeks prior.”
The big question for the Broncos — which might not be answered until Sunday — is who will be in the secondary to combat Richardson’s dual-threat capabilities. Cornerback Riley Moss, who suffered an MCL injury against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12, did not practice Wednesday as the team returned from its bye. Safety Brandon Jones, who left the game against the Browns with an abdomen injury, participated on a limited basis.
If Moss can’t play Sunday, the Broncos will have to turn to rookie Kris Abrams-Draine, third-year player Damarri Mathis or veteran Levi Wallace, who had a miserable night against Jeudy and was benched late in the fourth quarter. Wallace admirably took accountability Wednesday as multiple reporters beat a path to his locker. He has experience in playoff-type games during past stops with the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers. But the Broncos might be inclined to turn elsewhere as they combat a Colts passing offense that includes a major deep threat in Alec Pierce (22.2 yards per reception).
“It’s been our experience, all throughout the locker room, of next man up,” Locke said. “There’s no confidence lost. I’ve got confidence in anybody who is going to take that spot.”
The Broncos had an extra week to stew on their defensive failings against the Browns, but they needed far less time than that. Cornerback Pat Surtain II said after he put the film to bed the next day, he had his “feet up, chilling,” as he enjoyed the break after 13 straight weeks of games. Now, the reigning AFC defensive player of the month and the Broncos are eager to get back to work.
“We know we can play better,” Surtain said. “The bye week helped a lot to refresh our minds, get off our feet. We played a lot of games before the bye week, so it was good to refocus, reset and restart.”
(Top photo: Perry Knotts / Getty Images)
