Denver Broncos author wild win over Cleveland Browns - ESPN

DENVER — In the end, even a coach with a résumé as long as Sean Payton has as an NFL head coach could only voice a quick sigh in the aftermath of the Denver Broncos' wild 41-32 win over the Cleveland Browns Monday night in Empower Field at Mile High.

«Holy cow,» Payton said as he stepped to the podium.

Payton had just seen his Broncos win a game despite surrendering 497 yards passing and four touchdowns to Browns quarterback Jameis Winston to go with 235 yards receiving from former Broncos' first-round pick Jerry Jeudy as Cleveland finished with a staggering 552 yards of offense overall. But in the swirl the Broncos' defense also produced three interceptions — two returned for touchdowns — and Denver moved to 8-5 to keep itself in the No. 7 spot in the AFC's playoff race.

«Some games go in a direction you think they're going to go, obviously that game went in a much different direction, we made enough plays to win,» Payton said. "… We got that next win and that was most important. It wasn't perfect by any means, but we were able to finish."

Said Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix: «Really it's just going on to that next drive, not worrying about the score, not worrying about what happened before.… We just had to put everything together as best as possible and found a way to win a game… a game like you literally have got to score more points, no matter how it happens.»

Jeudy's receiving total was the most the Broncos had given up in franchise history. Winston's passing total was the second highest by an opposing quarterback against the Broncos behind only Tony Romo's 506 yards passing in 2013.

The Broncos had leads of 21-10 and 28-17 in the second half only to see the Browns take a 32-31 lead with 8 minutes, 57 seconds