DENVER — Don't be afraid to think it. The Broncos are not just a hot team, they are a good team.
The Broncos whipped the Cleveland Browns, 29-12 on a chilly Sunday afternoon at Empower Field at Mile High in a game that could eventually carry AFC playoff tiebreaker implications.
This is not a Broncos team experiencing the magic of Tebow or lucky to be getting all those turnovers. This was a business-like win where even head coach Sean Payton seemed pleased.
The Broncos have won fifth in a row to move their record to 6-5. The Browns had their three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 7-4. The Indianapolis Colts currently hold the final AFC wild-card spot with a 6-5 record and the tie-breaker on the Broncos because of a better conference record.
But the Broncos have six games to catch up, starting with a three-game road trip at Houston next Sunday, then at the Los Angeles Chargers and at the Detriot Lions. All winnable for a good team like the Broncos.
"This isn't fake,'' said Broncos' tight end Adam Trautman, who made the catch of the day against the Browns. "This is who we are. You win so many games in a row you gain confidence. You do it over and over and over again you have no choice but to have confidence. That's where we're at right now.
"When we were 1-5? We weren't shaken. We were like, let's just get one. Let's get one and we can start this thing. And that's what we did. And that's why we've won five straight now."
Hard to believe but it's the first 29-12 score in NFL history. Such a rarity is called a scorigami.
"You're saying there's never been a score, 29-12,'' Payton said as he absorbed the trivia piece delivered by a media member.
Nor 70-20, the media man said of the Broncos' week 3 loss at Miami. Payton seemed both slightly miffed and amused.
"I like the second scorigami better,'' he said.
The Broncos' running back duo of Javonte Williams and Samaje Perine did most of the damage, but it was a terrific off-schedule pass by quarterback Russell Wilson and a remarkable sliding catch by Trautman for an 8-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter that allowed the crowd of 67,181 to exhale.
"The line did a great job of protecting, giving enough time to scramble and step up, slide, backpedal and move right again,'' Wilson said. "I think Trautman did a tremendous job of getting his knee down which is considered two feet. Just a heckuva catch. As soon as I threw it I knew he was going to catch it."
It was a particularly good game for Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles who held the NFL's sack leader Garrett Myles with no sacks. The scheme had much to do with it. Can't sack a QB when the Broncos are running the ball. Still, there were times when Wilson had time to throw deep to Sutton.
"To beat Myles Garrett, to beat a juggernaut like that, first of all he’s a freak of nature, so my shout out to him,'' Bolles said. "I think he’s one of the best – not one of the best I think he is the best defensive player in the NFL, especially as a pass rusher.''
For good measure, defensive end Zach Allen and outside linebacker Nik Bonitto finished off an impressive Denver defensive effort by sacking Cleveland's No. 3 quarterback P.J. Walker in the final minutes for a safety.
In one of the greatest in-season defensive transformations in Broncos history, Denver has allowed just 16.5 points per game in their last six games after surrendering 36.2 points in their first five games.
The Broncos were credited with three more takeaways -- the first were unforced fumbles and Locke stripped sacked Walker on a fourth-and-14 -- giving them 15 in their past four games.
The 1989 Broncos were the last to have as many as 15 takeaways in a four-game set. That team went to the Super Bowl. This Broncos' team isn't counting that out. If it can bounce back from 70-20, what can't it do?
It was cold -- 40 degrees at kickoff but dropping as the early-setting, late-November sun sent shadows across Empower Field at Mile High. And it was Thanksgiving break, which helps explain the 9,080 no-shows.
Williams had 18 carries for 65 yards while Perine added 55 yards on seven carries with a touchdown, plus an 11-yard catch. Wilson added 37 yards on eight carries, all in the first half, before he took three knees for minus-4 yards to wind down all but 30 of the final seconds. As a team, the Broncos rushed for 169 yards while Wilson only passed for 134.
"I just finished telling the team, we felt like this was going to be a pretty physical game,'' Payton said. "We felt like the rushing numbers were going to be real important when this game ended and credit to our players on defense, Vance (Joseph) and his staff, we went to some heavier fronts to try and take away their (rushing) strengths. ... There were a lot of things we did today that I was pleased with and we feel like we beat a good football team."
The Broncos went up, 14-0 early in the second quarter on two, 80-yard touchdown drives but the Browns closed to 14-12 by late in the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, a Browns fumble off an errant double-reverse pitch miscue was recovered by Denver defensive lineman D.J. Jones and the Broncos had the ball at the Cleveland 20.
On third and goal from the 8, Wilson scrambled for several seconds behind the line before drifting right and firing a laser to the front side of the end zone near the right end line. Trautman dropped down to his fanny to make the catch. The play was initially, and incorrectly, ruled incomplete because Trautman looked to be out of bounds.
But Courtland Sutton isn't the only Broncos' pass catcher who knows how to make falling catches a sliver inside the end zone.
"We have a funny saying that we need to have skinny feet when we're getting to the edge,'' Trautman said. "A skinny knee in my case but it worked out for me."
Review overturned the call and the Trautman touchdown gave Denver a 24-12 lead that seemed insurmountable against the quarterback-challenged Browns.
"I didn't know I was in until the second replay because I missed to first won on the (video) board,'' Trautman said. "But clearly I was in. I was very happy when I saw it on the board."
The Broncos dominated the Browns on both sides of the ball in the first quarter while taking a 7-0 lead. The score came on an 80-yard drive that was aided by a questionable 34-yard pass interference call on Brown’s cornerback Greg Newsome II that converted a third-and-10. Sutton drew the pass interference penalty. Two plays later on third-and-8, Sutton broke open on a crossing route. Wilson hit him in stride for a 31-yard gain.
(Later in the second quarter, there was a questionable offensive pass interference call on Sutton after he made a splendid catch for a 37-yard gain over Newsome that was nullified.)
It was first-and-goal at the 3. Perine Samaje'd his way in for the touchdown despite getting initially hit in the backfield.
It was 7-0 Broncos with 8:14 left in the first quarter.
Vance Joseph’s Denver defense, meanwhile, had a smart plan to stop the quarterback-challenged Browns. Employing heavy, 7- and 8-man boxes and a single safety on the early downs against the Browns’ No. 3-ranked running game, the Browns tried to counter by having fifth-round rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson throw the ball around. Thompson-Robinson completed some short passes but the Browns struggled to move the sticks.
Wilson fumbled the ball away on the Browns’ 42, but the defense got it right back and on their third series, the Broncos went 80 yards again. Wilson finished off the drive with a 2-yard read-option keeper for a touchdown and the Broncos were up, 14-0 with 11:11 left in the first half.
The Browns started playing better at that point as Thompson-Robinson directed two drives to the Denver red zone, only to settle for two Dustin Hopkins field goals.
The Browns took advantage of an unnecessary roughness penalty on safety P.J. Locke to convert a third-and-long midway through the third quarter when it appeared the Broncos appeared to have another red zone stop. Instead, the penalty set up first and goal, and Thompson-Robinson converted a fourth down with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Bryant. But Amari Cooper dropped a low, but catchable, 2-point conversion pass from Thompson-Robinson and the Broncos remained ahead, 14-12.
The Broncos answered with a 70-yard drive that bogged down inside the Browns' 5-yard line and settled for a 23-yard field goal by Wil Lutz for a 17-12 lead.
Wilson was only 13 of 22 for 134 yards but made 'em count. Sutton had three catches for 61 yards and rookie Marvin Mims added two catches for 24 yards, plus an 11-yard rush.
Thompson-Robinson was 14 of 29 for 134 yards when he was knocked out of the game with a concussion on a penalized hit by Broncos' edge rusher Baron Browning. However, the Browns fumbled the ball away on that reverse where running back Pierre Strong Jr. couldn't handle the pitch, giving the Broncos the ball at the Cleveland 20-yard line.
P.J. Walker replaced Thompson-Robinson for the rest of the game. The Denver defense started frothing at its collective mouths as it sacked Walker four times -- 1.5 by Nik Bonitto and the strip sack by Locke.
The schedule now gets daunting as the Broncos embark on a three-game road trip starting next Sunday at Houston to take on another rookie quarterback in C.J. Stroud and the 6-5 Texans. Then it's at the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 10 and at the 7-3 Detroit Lions on Dec. 17.
As of the final game of November, the Broncos are a good team. We may know for certain by the time they return for a Christmas Eve night game against the 2-9 Patriots.
“It is exciting, but we can’t look that far in the future,'' Perine said. "We have to take it one game at a time. Our next opponent, Houston, is a great team who is going to give us everything they have. They have been great this year. It is going to be a battle week-in and week-out. We play them in Houston, so it is not going to be a cake walk.''
Spoken like a veteran player who has been on good teams before.
Bronco Bits
The Broncos played rookie linebacker Drew Sanders on the outside edge for a few snaps in the first half. He was in on two tackles. ...
Denver defensive backs wore “Free KJack” T-shirts during pregame warmups. Broncos safety Kareem Jackson is serving a four-game suspension for repeated unnecessary roughness penalties, his second suspension of the season. ...
P.J. Locke replaced Jackson as he returned from an ankle injury that knocked him out of last week’s game against the Vikings. Locke was second on the team with 7 tackles and his fourth quarter strip sack on Browns' backup quarterback P.J. Walker was the defensive play of the game. ...
Inside linebacker Alex Singleton led the Broncos with 10 tackles, giving him 110 on the season -- with six games remaining. ...
Between the first and second quarters, the Broncos paid video tribute to former defensive lineman Harald Hasselbach, who died Thanksgiving morning of cancer at age 56. Hasselbach started on the Broncos’ 1998 Super Bowl championship team and was a part-time starter for seven seasons from 1994-2000.
Cleveland Browns at Denver Broncos
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