As the Broncos prepared to face the Los Angeles Chargers on the road late last season, Sean Payton and his coaching staff identified a look they could exploit if they pulled it out at just the right time.
They had found a misdirection run play the Jacksonville Jaguars had used during late in the fourth quarter in the prior season and built the same look into the game plan for their own matchup with the Chargers. With the Broncos facing a critical third-and-1 as they tried to put the game away, Payton called the play — with a twist. The Broncos sold the same run the Jaguars had made to the outside with Travis Etienne, only to have Russell Wilson boot out the other way and loft a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide-open tight end Adam Trautman.
Wide. Open.
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/zQtmNWNoC5
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 11, 2023
“I don’t want to sound shallow, but there’s nothing better,” Payton said when asked how it felt to scheme up a play that produces a perfect result. “You’re seeing something on film from a playoff game a year ago. Sometimes, it might be a clip you see two years prior, and you’re counting on human behavior, and you’re counting on them seeing something and reacting in a way in which you think they’re going to. … To answer your question, it’s addictive.”
It’s a different feeling when it’s the opponent who spots the weakness to exploit. That was the case on the final play of the Broncos’ 16-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal and several of his teammates burst through the left side of Denver’s field-goal protection unit. The penetration resulted in a block of Wil Lutz’s 35-yard field goal attempt by Chenal, who bulldozed over center Alex Forsyth in the process.
IT’S BLOCKED! @CHIEFS WIN! STILL UNDEFEATED! pic.twitter.com/hMLhAgbRpf
— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024
The Chiefs afterward said they had discovered a weak point in Denver’s protection alignment, with Chenal telling Pro Football Talk, “the guy who I was rushing, he was kind of light on his toes a little bit.” It wasn’t a diagnosis Chenal and the Chiefs had made on film as much as it was an in-game discovery that came after their field-goal block unit toppled the left side of Denver’s protection unit during the point-after attempt following the Broncos’ second touchdown. The Chiefs didn’t block the PAT, but their effort planted a seed.
“We’re constantly, each week, making corrections,” Payton said. “Not just on the field goal unit; with the offense, with certain protections, with a certain coverage. Look, when something like that happens — it could be a trick play — it’s pretty common for the team to have success with it to say, ‘Hey, we saw (something).’ Credit them with that. They exploited an area that we obviously felt was fixed and stronger, and yet not fixed enough. … That’s tough to lose a game that way.”
GO DEEPER
‘We were right there’: Broncos heartbroken by blocked field goal loss to Chiefs
Ultimately, Payton said, it was on him and the coaching staff to cover up weaknesses in the operation that could be exploited in that critical moment. Just as it was on the Chargers not to leave themselves vulnerable to the Broncos’ aforementioned red-zone play last season. It’s the cat-and-mouse game coaches and their staffs play, and the Broncos were on the wrong end of it Sunday in Kansas City.
“This isn’t on the player,” Payton said. “This is on all of us and us as coaches. We’ve got to continue to look at, ‘Hey, are we big enough, stature-wise for that, and understanding how the rush is coming?’ It’s disappointing, and yet it’s not something that’s new when a big play is made at the end of the game.”
Payton reiterated that there were other missed chances for the Broncos to add points before the final field-goal attempt. The coach mentioned a “disappointing” missed read during Denver’s two-minute drive at the end of the second quarter that ultimately came up empty. There was also an offensive offsides penalty on that drive called on wide receiver Courtland Sutton.
“We played that team better than we have in the past offensively with what they do,” Payton said. “We had some scoring opportunities, certainly at the end of the (first) half, that we didn’t take a good enough advantage of.”
Still, it was the final play that stung most. The Broncos had done enough to beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium for the first time since 2015, only to have victory washed away by a brutal breakdown. It was a gutting way to end the game, and Payton said after the game that the hurt of that game could linger longer than most.
By Monday, though, Payton had recalibrated.
“There’s a lot ahead, obviously,” he said. “We’ve got (seven) games left. This team has been resilient. The sky isn’t falling relative to our season and the schedule. We’re sitting here at 5-5. Obviously, we’d love to have been 6-4 with a win yesterday, but the focus shifts quickly to the next game. I like the leadership of this team. It’s an entirely different team than a year ago. It’s tough mentally and physically. We’ve got to have a good week of practice coming up for Atlanta.”
The Broncos woke up Monday still in playoff position in the AFC. Denver holds the No. 7 spot, one game ahead of the Bengals and Colts — both of which are ahead on Denver’s schedule. There is opportunity ahead. Plenty of work, too. As the Broncos hunt for weaknesses to exploit in their opponent, they’re painfully aware it’s just as important to find ways to better cover up their own.
“We have to find a way to make a play when they don’t, make a play that wins it,” quarterback Bo Nix said. “In this league, that’s the line between playoff teams, and teams that win championships, and all the other guys.”
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(Photo: Sam Lutz / Associated Press)
