Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton came up clutch on Sunday, hauling in six receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown, his fifth score of the season. Sutton is now the first Bronco since Julius Thomas (9) and the late Demaryius Thomas (6) in 2014 to have at least five touchdown catches through the first seven games of a season.
“He’s a big target,” coach Sean Payton said of Sutton. “The touchdown he has is on third down, I believe. There’s a lot of confidence in his catch radius, and there are some matchups that get created when he’s on the field. Proud of him and he played extremely well.”
Payton schemed up a perfect play to get Sutton wide open for a score against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
A touchdown by #Broncos WR Courtland Sutton give them a 16-3 lead over the #Packerspic.twitter.com/hMbGDCDYsS
— MileHighReport (@MileHighReport) October 22, 2023
“It’s a man-to-man beater, so Courtland, I believe, went in motion,” Payton explained after the game. “If you get man-to-man you leave it on, if you don’t get man-to-man you kill it to something that attacks zone. So when he traveled and [No.] 29 was – [Rasul] Douglas was following him — when Douglas went with Courtland, you knew it was man [coverage], because typically, he plays zone to our left. It’s kind of an either-or. A man-beater versus a zone-beater. Then you get into bunch, you get into a climb, a hezi — that was part of the plan: create the wash. But it’s only a man play.”
The play worked to perfection as Sutton scored, marking his 19th career touchdown catch as a Bronco. He’ll be looking for No. 20 when the Broncos host the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8.
