Sean Payton Recognized a Big Browns’ Defensive Weakness on Tape

Sean Payton picked up on something the Denver Broncos could use when studying Cleveland Browns tape.

Russell Wilson’s multiple well-planned quarterback dashes on Sunday startled Sean Payton and the Cleveland Browns. The outcome was spectacular as the Denver Broncos trounced the Browns, who had previously suffered three losses, 29-12.

Upon learning of Payton’s intention to employ a ground-and-pound strategy in Denver’s inaugural season, some pundits questioned if Wilson would develop into a quarterback with the same explosiveness and number of rushes as Taysom Hill.

However, Payton did not have his new quarterback bringing the ball down with a lot of purposeful rushes, either because of Wilson’s age (35 on Wednesday) or a tactical choice. That was altered in Week 12 against the Browns as a result of something Payton noticed when researching his opponent on video.

Regarding Wilson’s rushing output on Monday, Payton remarked, “There have been weeks where he’s had 30 yards or whatnot, and I wouldn’t have guessed whether he would, or he wouldn’t have.”

“There were several excellent zone reads this week, so I would have predicted that he would have a high amount of rushing yards. We kind of thought that package of offensive plays that provided him chances to run were going to be incredibly good, and they were called yesterday, based on how their ends played and how they played defensively.”

The Browns fielded the top defense in terms of yards per game, passing, and third-down efficiency even though they were not among the top 10 teams in the NFL against the run going into Week 12.

Thanks to the preternatural abilities of Myles Garrett, Cleveland ranked sixth in team sacks (he accounts for 13 of the squad’s 33 total sacks).

Nevertheless, Payton understood that the Broncos’ ground game would need to thrive and that he would need to introduce some fresh ideas into the game plan with regard to Wilson’s legs if they were to win.

“This was one of the first games where going into the game, I would’ve said, ‘Hey, he’s going to have a positive impact rushing the football,'” Russ, Payton said.

With 11 rushes for 34 yard-fought yards and a touchdown on Sunday, Wilson finished. With a few shrewd and well-timed read/option plays, Payton gave Wilson the opportunity to capitalize on Cleveland’s edge defenders’ propensity for aggression.

Denver’s collective rush total against Cleveland was 169 yards on an astounding 39 attempts (4.3 average). Both Samaje Perine, the running back, and Russ discovered the end zone.

Wilson’s passing statistics were unremarkable, particularly considering that the NFL’s top aerial defense was facing him. Nevertheless, he completed with a strong 91.9 passer rating, completing 12 of 22 passes for 134 yards and one touchdown. That touchdown was classic Russ since he had to find tight end Adam Trautman as he slid for the ball with one knee (which counts as two feet) inbounds on a crucial third-and-goal from the Browns’ 8-yard line. Russ had to build time and create with his legs.

Wilson did not intercept the ball once more, but he did lose a fumble in the first half after stumbling to get the yards necessary to advance the chains on a crucial fourth-down attempt. Wilson has a very good touchdown-to-interception ratio (20 to 4) for the season.

Wilson’s numbers aren’t spectacular amid Denver’s five-game winning streak, but he is producing big plays when it matters most, particularly in the closing minutes of games.

Against Cleveland, Payton was pleased with what he saw from Russ in the red zone.

“We’ve performed poorly in the red zone. Though we haven’t been, we were yesterday,” Payton remarked. As a team, we were in the lower third of the league. We performed better yesterday. Russell is measured in the same way as our offense. He made some excellent decisions down there, in my opinion. For a score, he made a scrambling throw to Trautman. Perine scores a field goal. Yesterday, Russell scores a touchdown off a zone read. It’s something we need to continuously focus on, work on, and get better at.

In Week 12, the Broncos went 3-for-5 (60%) in the red zone. Of course, Payton is right.

The Broncos had a low red-zone effectiveness rating going into Week 12—they were ranked No. 21 (48.7%), but they have been gradually improving. This is a metric that might get better in the final moments.

That’s one startling feature of the Broncos’ current winning streak: despite finding numerous ways to defeat elite opponents for over a month, Payton’s team hasn’t yet played up to its full potential. For the NFL, that’s a terrifying thought.

There are a lot of areas where the Broncos have struggled, including the passing game, the red zone, third down, sacks, and consistently good tackling. Nevertheless, Denver keeps stacking victories after victories, one after the other.

That’s a credit to Wilson and a testament to Payton’s head-coaching wherewithal.