The Broncos are 2-0 in more than one way

JACKSONVILLE — Nearly a year ago to the day, the Denver Broncos started the season 0-2. The winless record, however, was only part of the disappointing 0-2 start.

Six days before the season began, the Broncos lost Von Miller for the season. Before the final whistle in Week 2, they had lost Courtland Sutton for the year.

Two Pro Bowlers gone for the season before the second loss could even hit the L column.

But 364 days after Sutton went down and Denver dropped their second game of the 2020 season, the Broncos moved to 2-0 in both departments.

“Courtland’s back,” Von stated after the Broncos handled the Jaguars to the tune of a 23-13 win on Sunday.

“He’s back. He’s back,” Vic Fangio said without a doubt in his mind about Sutton’s career game.

Not only did Denver win their second-straight game by double digits to start the season, but the two stars they lost last year displayed they are truly back.

“I knew he was ready for a big game,” Fangio said about Sutton. “I didn’t know if it would be today or next week or the following week, but I knew he was ready for a big game.”

And a boy did he have a day.

After an underwhelming, and concerning season debut in Week 1—in which Sutton only had one catch for 14 yards—the Pro Bowl receiver had the best game of his young career. The 6-foot-4, 216-pound receiver dominated the Jaguars secondary to the tune of nine catches for 159 yards. Both were career highs.

“Court did a great job going out and making plays. He had a career-high today,” Teddy Bridgewater said after the win, in which he targeted Sutton a whopping 12 times. “It was great to see that. We talk about Court an how hard he’s worked and the sacrifices he’s made to get back to this point. He’s a Pro Bowl receiver and you saw just that today why. Hopefully we can just keep building.”

Sutton’s stats were remarkable. But even the incredible numbers were misleading. In fact, Sutton’s day could have easily topped 200 receiving yards on double-digit catches.

On two of the three incompletions that went to Sutton, the officials refrained from calling what appeared to be defensive penalties against the physically imposing receiver. Both would have gone for monster gains. But Courtland didn’t let him weigh him down.

“You’ve got to play through it. If they call it, they call it. If they don’t, it is what it is,” Sutton stated. “It’s not like I can go out there and yell at the ref and they’ll throw the flag two plays later. It is what it is… The ball finds you in crazy ways throughout the game. You can’t dwell on things that happen in the past. You’ve got to snap clear and keep it moving.”

Sutton’s perseverance—throughout the game and over the past year—was greatly rewarded.

Two plays into the second half, as the team looked to build off a three-point halftime lead, Bridgewater once again looked deep to Sutton. This time, Jacksonville did not impede Sutton’s ability to get to the ball and Courtland came up with a 55-yard grab to put Denver instantly in scoring range.

“We needed that one,” Sutton stated about that catch. “I feel like my mindset whenever the ball is in the air is this is Teddy’s giving me an opportunity to make a play for the offense, for the team. When the ball is in the air, we don’t get too many plays in a game. It’s not college where we get 80-90 snaps. You get opportunities and you got to make the most of them as they come to you in a game. I appreciate Teddy giving me an opportunity to go make that play and just continuing to build on that.”

Two plays later, the Broncos found the end zone and began pulling away.

“It was great,” Fangio said of Sutton’s performance. “There’s a lot of big plays in every game, but the catch he made first drive of the second half for the big one was critical. I felt they were outplaying us at the ball both sides of the ball—their DBs against out wideouts and our DBs against their wideouts. We needed to flip that. That was an exclamation point in flipping it.”

Sutton’s previous best game of his career was Week 1 of the 2019 season against the Raiders where his seven catches and 120 yards were both career highs. He blew both out of those out of the water on Sunday.

“Today was the day that Court got to put it all on display,” Bridgewater said with a smile.

On the flip side, for a second-straight week, Von Miller looked like, well, Von Miller.

“It’s fun to watch him go out there and be able to have the success he’s having. He’s Von Miller,” Sutton said about Von, who added a third sack to his season total on Sunday. “He’s still out there being him, making plays. It’s fun to watch.”

After a dominant two-sack performance to kick off the season in Week 1, Miller added another sack on Sunday to go along with two tackles for a loss and a quarterback hit.

Through two games, the Super Bowl 50 MVP is on track to set the NFL record for most sacks in a season at 25.5.

Two weeks into the 2021 season, the Denver Broncos are 2-0 in the record book. They’re also 2-0 in their Pro Bowl players successfully returning to their dominant form after suffering season-ending injuries nearly exactly one year ago to the date.

“To even be able to go out and just practice is a blessing,” Sutton stated after the game. “To be able to go out there and compete in games, it’s just a blessing. I take each play as an opportunity to be me. Just grateful.”