The Lead
Courtland Sutton didn't demand the ball.
In the first half of Sunday's 29-19 win over the Raiders, the Broncos moved the ball but settled for three fields goals — and Sutton was limited to one catch for 17 yards.
But as the Broncos looked to kick their offense into gear, Sutton wasn't demonstrative toward rookie quarterback Bo Nix on the sideline.
"I'm the last person to go over to him," Sutton said. "He has 1,000 things on his mind and I'm not [going] to go over there and say, 'Hey, give me the ball.'"
Instead, he simply reminded Nix that he was there for him as the Raiders played Cover 0 and brought pressure.
"Hey, I got you, my boy," Sutton remembered telling Nix.
And he did.
In a torrid third quarter, Sutton caught all six of his targets, notched three third-down conversions, recorded 78 yards and high-pointed the go-ahead touchdown.
"Their defense was doing some things really well to kind of take us off of the rhythm of what we expected going into the game plan," Sutton said. "It just became one of those things, man, [where] they're going to give us chances. We've just got to go man on man, and our guy's going to be better than their guy. I feel like we were able to find that rhythm there for a split second and even a little bit later on in the game. Sometimes, you know, you've got to just [say], 'My guy's going to be better than your guy.' I appreciate him giving me those opportunities."
Added Nix: "He's just reliable. He's just always there where you need him. He's smart. He's savvy. He makes plays when the ball's in the air. You can trust him. When it's up in the air, it's his or nobody's. It's not going to be a pick."
Sutton added another touchdown in the fourth quarter and finished the game with eight catches for 97 yards. The veteran receiver posted his first multi-receiving touchdown game since 2019, and only two players have scored receiving touchdowns in more games since the start of 2023.
"Courtland played tremendous," Head Coach Sean Payton said after the game.
Sutton has posted at least six catches for 70 yards in each of the Broncos' last five games, and he would need to average a tick over 50 yards per contest in the final weeks of the season to post the second 1,000-yard campaign of his career.
As Sutton continues to build his connection with Nix, the receiver believes there is still plenty more to come.
"It's not perfect and it's not there yet, but it's getting closer, and I think that the beautiful thing is that through time, we continue to find those connections and continue to find what works best for both of us," Sutton said. "It's going to be something special. We've been able to do some things, and I think that we're scratching the surface of it. It's not all the way there yet, which is an exciting thing. It's why I keep smiling about it, because we're not all the way there yet, and we're already starting to be able to see some success with the connection."
