Manti Te'o just gave Sean Payton the blueprint for Broncos to beat the Patriots

The Denver Broncos have a tough task ahead of them in the AFC Championship Game, and this has a chance to be Sean Payton's most impressive task to date. Payton has been a quarterback guru for his entire career and has a chance to perform his most impressive coaching task yet. He is now tasked with leading his backup quarterback through an AFC Championship Game and hopefully a playoff berth.

Payton has employed Jarrett Stidham as his backup for the last three years, but hasn't needed him to step in since he started in place of Russell Wilson in 2023. The Broncos were already eliminated from playoff competition, and Stidham started over Wilson in his final days as a Bronco. Since Bo Nix took over as the franchise quarterback in 2024, Stidham has come in for kneel-downs. He hasn't attempted a pass since 2023.

This presents itself as Payton's best opportunity to demonstrate his exceptional coaching abilities. He has had success with backups before, such as Teddy Bridgewater and Jameis Winston, but both had extensive starting experience before stepping in. With Stidham now his man, he can cement his legacy as one of the best offensive coaches of all time. To do that, he'll need his best game plan of the season on Sunday.

Manti Te'o gave Sean Payton the perfect blueprint for Sunday's game plan

Former Saint Manti Te'o is a regular on NFL Network's Good Morning Football program and is never afraid to talk about his time under Payton. Te'o spent three years with Payton in New Orleans and knows all about how Payton game plans for defenses. This morning on his program, he made it very clear that Payton will look to exploit certain Patriots defenders.

Te'o pointed out that Payton is game planning for specific players as opposed to specific schemes, which many tend to believe that the Broncos do. In this week's matchup specifically, the Broncos are facing one of the more complete defenses in football, but there is one glaring issue that the Broncos might look to pick on.

Patriots inside linebacker Robert Spillane is one of the best in football, but faces one flaw that could be fatal: Spillane is incredibly slow-footed. The Broncos have their share of passing catching threats that can match up on a linebacker, such as RJ Harvey and Evan Engram. If Payton focuses his game plan on forcing the Patriots to help Spillane with Harvey and Engram, it could help them open up the deep passing game, a strength of Stidham.

If the Broncos scheme this game correctly, and their defense upholds their end of the bargain, they could find themselves Santa Clara-bound.