The Broncos are playoff contenders and they might have a few candidates for end of the year awards. That’s definitely a sentence I didn’t think I would write two months ago after the Broncos were crushed 70–20 by the Dolphins.
But here we are with the Broncos owning the league’s longest winning streak at four games after Russell Wilson orchestrated back-to-back game-winning drives in prime-time matchups against the Bills and Vikings.
Wilson might be a long shot for Comeback Player of the Year, but he’s at least in the conversation. Same with Sean Payton as a candidate for Coach of the Year.
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They’re far from front-runners for the prestigious awards, but the Broncos (5–5) have a realistic chance now at making the playoffs after digging themselves out of a 1–5 start to the season. The Broncos’ defense generating 13 takeaways in the past four games deserves the bulk of the credit for this midseason turnaround. Let’s not overlook, however, what Payton and Wilson have done with the offense, especially in crunch time the past two games.
Payton has developed a safe but productive offense for Wilson to bounce back after a disastrous first season with the Broncos. Wilson is protecting the ball (only four interceptions this season) and making quick throws to his running backs on early downs and turning to Courtland Sutton on money downs. Speaking of awards, Sutton has a strong case for making the Pro Bowl with eight touchdowns this season.
But Payton has allowed Wilson to be a creator in crunch time, flashing his vintage form from his Seahawks days. Payton also showed trust in his offense by opting for a fourth-and-3 from their own 32-yard line with 2:27 left in regulation and trailing 20–15, despite still having all three timeouts and the two-minute warning.
Instead of playing it safe and leaning on his opportunistic defense, Payton allowed Wilson and Sutton to flash their chemistry. The duo connected for a 13-yard completion before Wilson found Sutton again for the eventual game-winning 15-yard touchdown pass.
Payton’s fourth-down call was one of three calls we liked and three calls we questioned from Week 11.
Calls we liked
Browns give DTR another opportunity: Coach Kevin Stefanski could have easily gone back to veteran backup PJ Walker after he posted a 2–1 record earlier in the season.
But after Deshaun Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury, Stefanski opted for higher upside with rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson and overlooked his forgetful starting debut during the Week 4 loss to the Ravens.
Thompson-Robinson received short notice before starting against the Ravens’ standout defense, which forced the 2023 fifth-round pick into three interceptions.
Now with a week’s worth of practice as the starter and learning from his Week 4 mistakes, Thompson-Robinson made the most of his second opportunity, completing four passes on the Browns’ final drive to set up Dustin Hopkins’s game-winning field goal against the Steelers last week.
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Lions get game-saving play from Hutchinson: Occasionally, defensive play-callers get greedy by blitzing young quarterbacks during critical final drives. But Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn didn’t go the risky route to gain a loss of yards when Bears quarterback Justin Fields got the ball with a three-point deficit and 29 seconds left in regulation.
Glenn only sent four pass rushers and trusted them to make the game-saving play. Aidan Hutchinson, the 2022 No. 2 pick, stepped up by bulldozing Bears rookie right tackle Darnell Wright to gain a strip sack and a safety to seal the victory for the Lions.
Calls we questioned
Bears play it safe vs. Lions: Coach Matt Eberflus might be kicking himself for settling for two field goals in the fourth quarter before the Lions erased a 12-point deficit with 4:15 left in regulation to beat Chicago, 31–26.
The Bears declined to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Lions’ 23-yard line and on fourth-and-5 from the Lions’ 21-yard line. With Fields gashing Detroit on the ground, a run-pass option play on at least one of those fourth downs could have sealed the win for Chicago. Fields had a sensational performance with 104 rushing yards and 169 passing yards with one touchdown, but it didn’t matter that he was the best player on the field Sunday because the Bears didn’t finish the job.
Seahawks make critical mistakes vs. Rams: Geno Smith took the blame for Seattle’s disastrous final 30 seconds in the 17–16 upset loss to the Rams.
Smith said he called the head-scratching running play for Zach Charbonnet with the clock going because the headset didn’t work at the time and he couldn’t think of a different play. But the blame should have fallen on the entire team. A shouting coach or even an offensive lineman could have told Smith anything but a running play.
That mistake cost the Seahawks an opportunity to gain more yards before Jason Myers missed a 55-yard field goal attempt. Also, Smith could have thrown the ball once more near the sidelines after he spiked the ball with eight seconds left. Seattle might be looking back at the loss in L.A. after facing the Eagles, Cowboys and 49ers twice in the next four weeks.
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Vikings fail to put the game away: Minnesota left the door open for Denver to complete the comeback after Joshua Dobbs and the offense stalled at the Broncos’ 12-yard line in the final four minutes of regulation.
It’s a bit understandable that Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell passed on a fourth-and-10 and took the three points with a defense that hadn’t allowed a touchdown and only one third-down conversion before Wilson got the ball back with a five-point deficit. But the play-calling was questionable once the Vikings entered the red zone (two no-gain runs and one incomplete pass).
O’Connell prioritized killing the clock too soon and should have been aggressive in finding the end zone. A nine-point lead at the time likely would have been enough for Minnesota to leave Denver with a six-game winning streak.
