What a game for the Cleveland Browns, who absolutely delivered against Sean Payton’s Broncos, but still ended up losing. A shoutout to Jameis Winston and Jerry Jeudy, who delivered a performance of the season. Safe to say that the spark in the Cleveland Browns hasn’t died down despite a bad start to the season and fringe playoff hopes.

The game has implored Sean Payton to re-evaluate certain things. The Broncos’ defense was bad tonight. They allowed the Browns QB to throw for nearly 500 yards and four touchdowns. Payton didn’t mince his words when he took the podium after the game. He called out the defense, saying, “Obviously there are things we will clean up defensively.”

If there’s one guy on the defense who’s playing tough football, it’s Ja’Quan McMillian, who returned a pick-six for a 44-yard touchdown. Jameis Winston, who had the best game of his career, would have had a legitimate shot at beating the Denver Broncos. But despite that, Payton had other qualms about their defense.

Per Zac Stevens of DNVR Sports, “Sean Payton said it’s too easy for teams to move WRs away from Pat Surtain when lining up,” and that “the coaches need to look at that and fix it.” Interestingly, Stevens’s post caught the attention of Bo Nix, who explained what went wrong in the game.

The Denver QB thinks that the defense faltered because the Broncos missed players like Riley Moss. “It’s easy to fix,” Nix commented on Stevens’ post.  “And it didn’t happen earlier in the season, had a lot to do with Riley Moss being out limiting their ability to play man under like they have all year.”

The Denver defense gave away 497 passing yards and 77 rushing yards, and this might have been their worst game defensively this season. But again, Nik Bonitto, Ja’Quan McMillan, and Cody Barton, each recorded an interception so that has to count for something. On that note, let’s leave the defense talk aside and talk about the offense, Jerry Jeudy in particular.

Jerry Jeudy had a personal vendetta to carry out

“It just wasn’t a fit for me,” Jerry Jeudy said when he was asked about leaving the Broncos for the Browns. After all, his under-utility in the Denver franchise forced his hand to depart. In four seasons, Jeudy had 211 catches, 3053 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Clearly, he wasn’t used enough and sought a change of scenery. So, he landed in Cleveland last year.

He had a point to prove: Denver made a huge mistake underplaying him. Even Steve Smith Sr., who called out Jerry Jeudy as Just Another Guy, might have seen what he’s capable of. Clearly, 235 yards and a touchdown in the game say he’s not. People are going to regret underestimating this guy. And it looks like he finally found his groove with Sean Payton and the Broncos.

Jeudy has 45 receptions over 645 yards and counts against two touchdowns this season. The Browns will be playing against their divisional rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers once again. And you know what happened in the ‘Snow Globe Game.’ Hopefully, Jameis Winston will be ready for the battle in the next few days.