Sean Payton Outcoached Mike Macdonald with a Perfect Game Plan

When the Seattle Seahawks came to town on Thursday night, Sean Payton knew it would take some brilliant coaching to win the game.

And that's just what he put together, on a short week, to outcoach Mike Macdonald, the reining Super Bowl winning coach.

Payton's offense outsmarted Macdonald's domineering defense in the first half, and the Broncos defense assaulted Sam Darnold with reckless abandon.

We knew it would be a game decided by turnovers, and the Broncos won the turnover battle 3-0. And they won the game to improve to 4-2.

Denver Broncos Offensive Game Plan was Perfect, Especially Early

Offensively, the Broncos came into this game floundering.

But Sean Payton put together a perfect game plan on a short week to help his quarterback play his best and to beat a fantastic defense of the Seahawks.

The most striking statistic was Bo Nix's time to throw; the 2.54 seconds to throw in the first half was notably the fastest of his career per the broadcast.

I talked about it 10 days ago, how Nix was not only checking the ball down too much but he was also holding it for 2.8 seconds per throw, which was third-longest of anyone in the league.

That's a terrible combination. If you're going to throw the ball short, do it quickly damnit.

That's what they did on Thursday night.

Nix throwing it quickly nullified the Seahawks defensive front which had forced an NFL-high 44.9% pressure rate.

Ironically, Nix's first throw was nearly picked. He stared down Jaylen Waddle and barely threw it outside enough to not get it intercepted.

But after that errant throw, Nix was on fire.

He hit Jaylen Waddle on a comeback for 8 yards, found RJ Harvey on a screen for 16 yards, and on a 3rd and short they went deep to Marvin Mims, which was a great pass from Nix but ultimately incomplete.

That was all part of the plan. Tyler Badie ran it for the first down on 4th; Sean Payton made it clear early the Broncos were going to be aggressive.

Sean Payton was in his bag. And so was Nix, honestly.

Payton called a screen on 2nd down and 8, knowing Mike Macdonald would send a blitz. It worked perfectly as Harvey snaked through the defense to the 4 yard line.

The Broncos marched 74 yards in 16 plays to score the first touchdown in a low-scoring game and burned 8:39 off the clock. Denver converted on a 3rd and 3, 4th and 3, and 3rd and 8 on that drive to ultimately score.

To that point, Nix's air yards per attempt were 8.9, which were 2.9 higher than his NFL-low average (6.0) on the season.

A Second Touchdown in the first half?

Denver wasn't satisfied with the early lead, they drove down for a second touchdown.

J.K. Dobbins' double-cutback run for 16 yards was a thing of beauty.

On the next play, Payton had Nix sprint out to the right and hit Jaylen Waddle for a short gain. It's those type of passes that get a struggling quarterback going.

The run-pass mix was brilliant overall on those first two drives. As was the variety of types of runs; inside, outside, sprints and more. Oh my!

Denver ultimately direct-snapped it to Harvey for a rushing touchdown, going big-on-big and telling the Seahawks, "We are winning this game, homies."

With 5:15 left in the first half, Denver led 14-3.

I thought this was a Second Half Team™️.

And that this would be a low-scoring battle?

14 points before halftime? Is this legal?!

The Broncos offensive prowess was unbelievable not only because the offense had been mostly inept this season, but because it was all coming against the No. 1 defense in total yards allowed, rushing yards, and 8th in scoring.

Plus, the Broncos have been awful in the first half this year.

As Al Michaels said, this was an unusual situation for the Broncos, to be in the lead in the first half.

Then it was the defense's time to shine.

Defensive Play-calling was On Point too

Vance Joseph is a master.

Not only was the offensive game plan great, so was the defensive one.

Joseph knew he sensed blood in the water. Sam Darnold's QBR was worse than Bo Nix's was coming into the game, after all.

The Seahawks were moving the ball with ease on the first drive until Joseph dialed up the corner blitz with Ja'Quan McMillian on 2nd down and then Que Robinson sacked Darnold on back-to-back plays on 3rd down. That forced Seattle to punt it.

If the 'Hawks take the 7-0 lead early, that would've put all the momentum in their favor. Instead, it gave the Broncos a boost.

Fast forward to the end of the first half and Rasheed Shaheed fumbled on an end around. It was a solid tackle and a lucky knee-to-the-ball by Bonitto.

In the first half, Darnold was pressured on 47.1% of his dropbacks. That was his second-highest rate in a game this year.

And at halftime the Broncos led 14-3, then the offense went to sleep. Luckily the defense was still wide awake.

Broncos are Usually A Second Half Team™️ but Went to Sleep 'til Overtime

Denver ran a mere 18 plays after halftime offensively. They only gained a first down once.

They're usually a Second Half Team™️ but they were a First Half Team™️ on Thursday Night.

One thing's for sure, this Broncos group is still learning how to play a complete 4-quarter game.

It's possible and even likely that part of Sean Payton's great game plan was to limit mistakes and rely on that dominant defense after getting up 11 points at halftime.

On Seattle's first drive of the second half, Darnold hit Shaheed on a 42-yard pass but the defense shut that drive down when Jonah Elliss sacked Darnold. Then Jason Myers missed the field goal; he doinked it off the right upright.

Another sack on 3rd down followed on Seattle's next drive, forcing a punt. This time by Zach Allen and Nik Bonitto. And it happened again on the Seahawks next drive; Justin Strnad and Malcolm Roach met at the QB to end that drive without points.

Seattle finally put together a scoring drive late in the fourth quarter; George Holani ran the ball in from the 1-yard line to make it a 3-point game.

The offense, sleeping on the sideline, was sleepwalking on the field and had to punt yet again when Bo Nix was sacked twice. That gave the Seahawks another chance.

But Kris Abrams-Draine jumped a route and picked off a Darnold pass for the Broncos second forced turnover of the day.

That pick should've ended the game. But it didn't. The offense couldn't salt the game away yet again.

Seattle manufactured a drive and Myers made the field goal this time to tie it up and take it to overtime.

It was a perfect game plan, but the offense couldn't execute.

Game Over-time

Seattle had the momentum and took the ball, but Ja'Quan McMillian took it right back.

The Broncos were brilliant at forcing turnovers on Thursday night, taking it away three total times while not giving it away a single time.

The offense could barely manufacture any yards, but they did move Wil Lutz into range to win the game with a 53-yarder.

Sean Payton Made a Statement in the Win

This was the first time Payton and Macdonald went head-to-head since the news of Payton accusing Macdonald of cheating surfaced.

In the interview from this offseason, Macdonald said he and the Seahawks threatened to sue Payton if the Broncos coach made the cheating accusations public. And Macdonald—a beefy fellow—said he domineered over Payton when the two saw one another at the owners' meetings.

Simply, Macdonald made Payton look stupid when his story came out. Payton thought he Seahawks sent a spy to the Broncos training camp in 2024, but Macdonald explained to the interviewer his team found clips posted on X (yet another reason not to be on there).

And then he tried to make Payton look weak with the elevator story at the owners' meetings.

Payton wanted to make a point.

The old ball coach still has it. And he outcoached Macdonald, the young coach currently riding high.

Not only that, Payton wanted to make the point that he could, indeed save the offense.

Don't forget that Payton took over the offensive play-calling last week before the win over the Chargers. And yet the offense looked terrible once again.

People in the media made fun of Payton all week long.

His response was the perfect game plan on Thursday night.

Denver now sits at 4-2. That's better than expected when considering the gauntlet they faced to start the season.

And now there's a real road to winning the AFC West for a second straight year because the Chiefs' schedule is much harder than Denver's from here on out.

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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.