In the final game of Week 13, the Denver Broncos play host to the Cleveland Browns on “Monday Night Football.”
Denver has won two in a row and vaulted itself into the thick of the AFC playoff race, and it’s looking to secure its second three-game winning streak of the season. With a bye next week and a stretch-run schedule that includes games against the Chargers, Bengals and Raiders, it’s important to secure this win.
Cleveland, meanwhile, picked up a surprising road win against the Steelers last week in a sloppy, snowy Thursday night game. The Browns are essentially playing out the string on a lost season, but they do have several opportunities to be a spoiler over these final six weeks of the year.
Can the Broncos make it three in a row, or will the Browns stop their streak in its tracks? We’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, here’s a look at how you can watch the game.
Broncos vs. Browns where to watch
Date: Monday, Dec. 2 | Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Location: Empower Field at Mile High (Denver)
Channel: ESPN | Stream: fubo (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App
Betting odds: Broncos -6, O/U 42 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Check out the latest Caesars promo code to get in the game.
When the Browns have the ball
The Jameis Winston-led Browns offense has certainly been more exciting — and more capable — than the Deshaun Watson-led version, but its’s important to remember that that is a very low bar to clear.
Cleveland has still totaled just 77 points in Winston’s four games under center, which only seems impressive because the Browns failed to clear 20 points even once in Watson’s seven starts. Winston has also unsurprisingly racked up turnovers, with four interceptions and two fumbles lost. Winston will also be without one of his top targets in wide receiver Cedric Tillman, who did not clear the concussion protocol in advance of this game. That’ll leave him with a main trio of (former Broncos wideout) Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore and David Njoku.
Denver, meanwhile, has forced multiple opponent turnovers in six of its 12 games this season and has yielded just 5.2 net yards per pass attempt, which ranks second-best in the league. With Tillman absent, it wouldn’t be surprising if Jeudy saw a lot of former teammate Patrick Surtain II, who has solidified himself this season as arguably the best corner in football. The Broncos have been somewhat susceptible to passes to tight ends, allowing 63 catches for 523 yards and three scores to players at the position. Njoku is an outrageous athlete who can both stretch defenses up the seam vertically and make hay after the catch, and the Broncos will need to ensure their second-level tackling is on point so they can contain him before he gets rolling.
Nick Chubb returned to something resembling his usual snap share last week against the Steelers (66%), and he found the end zone twice. But he continued to remarkably inefficient; he’s averaging just 3.0 yards per carry and has topped 3.3 in only one of his five games to date. Considering the strength of Denver’s run defense, (fourth in the NFL in yards allowed per carry), it would be surprising if this were the game that Chubb rediscovered his peak form.
When the Broncos have the ball
Denver’s offense has gotten into a rhythm lately, with Bo Nix going 75-for-105 passing (71.4%) for 795 yards (7.6 per attempt), 8 touchdowns and no interceptions across the team’s past three games. Nix has developed excellent chemistry with Courtland Sutton, in particular, with the big-bodied wideout putting together receiving lines of 8-100-0, 7-122-0, 6-70-1, 7-78-0 and 8-97-2 in the five games since he was not targeted at all against the Saints back in Week 7.
Sutton will likely see a lot of Denzel Ward on Monday night, though Ward has aligned the significant majority of the time on the left side of the defense. (82% of his snaps, via Pro Football Focus.) Given the way Denver’s offense is structured, though, it would not be surprising to see Ward follow Sutton around the formation. Ward has allowed just 23 catches for 375 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception on throws in his direction, according to PFF, yielding a 75.2 opponent passer rating. He has the right combination of size and physicality to match up with Sutton, even if he is a bit on the shorter side.
That would leave DeVaughn Vele and the rest of the down-depth-chart receivers working mostly against Martin Emerson Jr. on the outside and Greg Newsome II in the slot. The Broncos have largely settled on Vele as the No. 2 to Sutton, but Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims Jr. all get snaps behind them. Mims also gets a helping of snaps in the backfield, with head coach Sean Payton seemingly not trusting any of the running backs to play the type of role Darren Sproles had for him in New Orleans.
The Browns depend largely on Myles Garrett to generate pressure up front, with Garrett totaling 52 pressures on his own and the next three players on the defense (not including Za’Darius Smith, who was traded) combining for 57. Garrett mostly aligns as a right-side edge, meaning he’ll be going up against Garett Bolles for most of the night. Bolles has allowed just 13 pressures and one sack on 473 pass-blocking snaps, per PFF, and has earned one of the highest pass-block grades in the league. Garrett can beat anybody at any time, of course, but Bolles has proven difficult to beat so far this year. The Browns might try to move Garrett across the line a bit more often than usual to allow him to take on Mike McGlinchey on occasion.
Denver’s run game is not much to write home about, with the trio of Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime combining for just 907 yards on 224 carries — an average of 4.05 per carry. Cleveland’s run defense hasn’t been great either, though, so it’s possible the Broncos offensive line could have some success clearing lanes for the backs.
Prediction: Broncos 23, Browns 16
Cleveland’s offense has been quite a bit better with Winston under center than it was with Watson, but the Denver defense has shut down better units. And with the way the Broncos have been playing offensively, it seems unlikely that the struggling-until-last-week Browns defense can get enough stops to come away with a win.
Bonus: SportsLine expert Matt Severance, who is on a 23-7 roll on Broncos games, is leaning Under for the “Monday Night Football” matchup, but he sees a lot of value on the spread. To see which side he’s backing, head on over to SportsLine.
