ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Courtland Sutton’s remarkable footwork-and-snag play could be called, “The Catch,” if that moniker hadn’t already been taken by, first, Willie Mays and then, Dwight Clark.
Perhaps, then, the spectacular Denver Broncos’ touchdown Monday night at Buffalo should be called, “The Throw,” which is mostly wide open. Bo Jackson once made what has gone down as “The Bo Jackson Throw,” in baseball. But simply, “The Throw” is up for grabs.
“An incredible catch and maybe an even better throw in escaping pressure by Russell Wilson,’’ said color analyst Troy Aikman on the Monday Night Football broadcast. “Just phenomenal.”
The Broncos were up 3-0 on the Buffalo Bills midway through the second quarter when Denver coach Sean Payton went for it two different ways on fourth and 2 from the Bills’ 7 yard line. First, he sent in his field goal team with holder Riley Dixon moving up to under center to bark a long cadence in hopes of drawing the Buffalo defense offsides for the first down.
The Bills stayed put so Payton sent Wilson and his offense back out there to go for it.
“If you would have told me, fourth and 2, give me a play you like, we felt like we had one,’’ Payton said Tuesday. “And then if you told, freeze the film midway through that play, I would have kicked the field goal.’’
This was a textbook example of how it’s not the coaches, its the players. Even though there was plenty of time on the play clock, Wilson and his offense hurried up to the line to take a quick snap from under center in hopes of catching the Bills’ defense off-guard.
It didn’t work. Wilson faked a handoff to running back Javonte Williams but when the quarterback turned back to his receivers, Bills’ edge rusher Shaq Lawson was rushing in on him untouched.
Retreating to the 15 yard line, Wilson gave Lawson his patented reverse pivot move and drifted back to the 22 yard line. Moving left, Wilson hurriedly set his feet and lofted a pass – with the perfect loft -- towards the left side of the end zone, about 7 yards in from the goal line, and about a yard out of bounds. Exact measurements are provided because such a precise throw was required.
Sutton had lined up tight right, delayed a split second at the snap, and ran a crossing route right to left in the middle of the end zone. He was nearing the end zone sideline when the arching sphere headed his way. Sutton caught it with his left foot an inch from out of bounds. That inch of blue carpet was evident for all to see.
With his right foot, Sutton dragged his toe for a good 30 inches or so. The ball drifted outside the end zone by about a yard. Sutton caught it fairly easily. The difficult part was securing his toes on the blue carpet as he cradled the ball.
The field judge, though, couldn’t get his eyes to believe Sutton kept his right foot down at the point of the catch. Wilson fell down from his retreating momentum after making his throw and Sutton fell from his momentum of making the leaning catch. The field judge ruled incomplete, but Sutton quickly got up to plead his case.
“I knew I was in,’’ Sutton said after the game Monday night. “I knew it, but they tried to play me like they did in Kansas City. It is what it is. At some point they’re going to start calling them touchdowns and then reviewing them after that.’’
Indeed, in the Broncos’ 19-8 loss at Kansas City in week 6 on Thursday Night Football, Oct. 13, Sutton made an incredible leaping, one arm catch in the end zone, one foot then the other foot touching before he fell, only for the field judge to not trust his eyes and rule incomplete. Payton challenged and the call was reversed on replay. The touchdown moved the Broncos to within, 16-6 with 6 minutes to play.
The Catch in Buffalo gave the Broncos a 9-0 lead.
“Russ did Russ things,’’ Sutton said. “Russ magic. Him buying time, making a play. … Ultimately, Russ gave me a chance and a lot of practice and a lot of confidence and a lot of confidence that he has in myself and I have in him we were able to have a chance to go make a play.”
It is no fluke that Sutton has mastered the art of the toe-tap, contested catch. He works at it.
"There's a lot of practice,'' Sutton said. "You practice it as much as you possibly can so it becomes an unconscious thing. We have great guys around us and we all push each other to make sure we’re not slacking and not getting comfortable with where we are. Continuing to elevate our games so that we can be the best professionals at our position that we can be.
“I appreciate coach Johnny Mo (Morton, the Broncos’ pass-game coordinator) staying on us. He’s always on us about making sure we get extra catches during down times, special teams (periods during practice), whatever may be going on to make sure we get more catches and practicing all types of catches. You never know what type of situation you’ll be in a game.
“That play in the game, you can’t replicate it but you can put your self in a situation so that your body will know what to do.”
Remarkable as The Catch was – apologies to Mays’ over-the-shoulder catch, spin and throw in the 1954 World Series and Clark’s leaping snag of a Joe Montana pass in the right corner of the end zone over Everson Walls in the 1981-season NFC Conference Championship Game -- NFL receivers make similar ones every couple weeks or so.
The Throw under duress by Wilson was a play maybe only two or three quarterbacks can make. It’s the type of throw where Wilson couldn’t duplicate — in the precise spot, with the perfect lofted angle over a couple of Bills defenders, with Lawson bearing down on him — if he tried it 20 more times.
“They played a two-deep coverage, we were expecting a man look,’’ Payton said. “We wanted to be aggressive. Certainly they defended it well and then Russell and Courtland made a fabulous play.’’
Coaches call plays. Players make them. Sutton has been making them on-and-off since he was the Broncos’ second-round draft pick in 2018. His team hasn’t finished a season with a winning record, yet, but there is now hope it can happen this year, even if the Broncos still have plenty of work to do. They are 4-5, but with three straight wins against perennial playoff-contending Packers, Chiefs and Bills, and have home games up next against the quarterback-injured Vikings and Browns.
Was Denver’s dramatic, 24-22 win at Buffalo Sutton’s biggest as a Bronco?
“So far,’’ Sutton said. “I’ll say, so far. I know there’s a lot more big wins to come. … Looking forward to more wins like this. It’s not going to be the only win we have like this. We’re going to have bigger wins and look forward to it.”
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