DENVER — Courtland Sutton is too big, too strong, too athletic and too determined to be stopped in the end zone.
Russell Wilson is too athletic, too clutch and throws with so much touch in the red zone. The red-hot Wilson-to-Sutton duo did it again Sunday night at stands-rattling, suite-shaking, deck-thumping Empower Field at Mile High.
Trailing almost the entire game, the Broncos rallied to beat the Minnesota Vikings, 21-20 when Wilson connected with Sutton on a 15-yard touchdown pass with 1:03 remaining, sending the sellout crowd at Empower Field at Mile High into a frenzy.
"The play to Courtland, we ended up checking to a different play in the middle of that,'' Wilson said. "Coach Payton made a great call, and we ended up checking it to the other part of the play and just read it out.
"I tried to step up and the line did a good job of making a big enough pocket where I could step up and slide up in the pocket and give Courtland a chance. This guy has been lights out every day. ... I just tried to put it in only a place that he could get it and sure enough—I think my head was kind of turned to the side, and I heard the crowd go crazy and I knew he caught it.
"We just believe in each other. We knew that we were going to win this game. That’s how we felt.”
It was Sutton's 8th touchdown of the season -- a league-leading 8th TD in the red zone -- and Wilson's 19th touchdown pass, which ranks among the league's top 3.
More importantly, Wilson engineered his league-most fourth, fourth-quarter comeback of the season. The Broncos, once 1-5 and embarrased by the Dolphins and to a lesser extent the Jets, have now beat the Packers (19-17), Chiefs (24-9), Bills (24-22) and Vikings (21-20) in succession.
Energy is always ignited by a primetime start. The stadium was rocking and purposefully dark. There were two teams who came into their matchup with impressive winning streaks.
Empower Field at Mile High was the Sunday night event in downtown Denver.
The Broncos were trailing, 20-15 when they got the ball with 3:17 remaining before 74,505 (only 2,343 no-shows) on a comfortable mid-November Sunday night.
On third and 10 from the 25 and 3:07 remaining, Payton surprisingly called for a run and backup running back Samaje Perine picked up 7 seven yards. It was fourth and 3 and the Broncos' 32 and the clock was clicking to inside 2:30 when Payton went for it.
Wilson moved up and lofted a touch pass to Sutton, who caught it one-handed while drawing an interference penalty for a first down.
Wilson continued to move the offense through dump off passses to Perine, who caught four passes for 40 yards on the final drive.
Then Wilson on first down at the 15, lofted a pass to the deep left part of the end zone. The pass was thrown right to where Vikings' cornerback Mekhi Blackmon was positioned. But Sutton maneuvered his muscular, 6-foot-4 frame, leaped up and snagged the ball away from Blackmon and came down with it for the go-ahead score.
"Strong hands in traffic,'' Payton said of Sutton.
Indeed, for all of Sutton's red-zone attributes, hand strength may be No. 1.
"That's part of it,'' Sutton said as he walked out of the locker room after a job well-done. "It's confidence from catching as many passes as possible. The receivers and I have been on each other, we make sure we hold each other accountable to catch as many passes as we can, before practice, after practice, off day we come in and get catches in.''
The Denver defense forced three more takeaways -- giving the unit 12 in its last three games -- but the offense couldn't convert them into touchdowns. Wil Lutz kicked five field goals for the Broncos, including a 52-yarder as time expired in the first half.
"Points are a premium in this league and we will take them any way we can get them,'' Lutz said.
Still, in the end, those 9 points were crucial so those three turnovers were perhaps the biggest factor in victory.
"Third-down numbers were poor, but the one thing we did—we took the ball away three times and we didn’t turn it over,'' Payton said. "So that kind of becomes a little bit of the trump card in a game like this. Give credit to (the Vikings), though. They had a good plan coming in, and we were fortunate to win. I’m proud of our fight. There’s still obviously a lot we have to clean up, but the turnovers and the takeaways can kind of do that for you when you’re not playing just how you want to."
Vikings' quarterback Josh Dobbs -- the best story in the NFL in recent weeks -- threw for one touchdown and passed for another, the fourth straight game he has accomplished TD-TD double. He was an Arizona Cardinal until Oct. 31 and five days later was leading the Vikings to a final-second victory.
The Vikings had their five-game winning streak snapped and are 6-5 despite 175 yards rushing on 36 carries.
“That was obviously a tough loss on the road,'' Dobbs said. "Hats off to the [Denver] Broncos for pulling it out in the end. It came down to turnovers. We talked about it going into the week. This is a team that thrives off turnovers, and we lost the turnover battle three to zero. At the end of the day, it is hard in this league to go on the road and win. It is even harder when you do not take care of the football like you are supposed to.''
The Broncos, 5-5 have won four in a row after almost exclusively going through the air as they have just 14 carries for 47 yards.
Russell Wilson was 27 of 35 for 256 yards. It was a struggle most of the game as the Broncos' offense was 0 for 7 on third downs until Wilson converted a third-and-1 on the final play of the third quarter with a quarterback sneak.
"They threw everything in the playbook at us,'' Wilson said. "We waited it out. We stayed poised. We had too many third-and-longs. That’s the thing. We have to be better on first and second down. I think that will help us on third down. I think what really matters about this game and winning this game on Sunday Night Football and everything else is, this shows who we can be and who we are.
"To be a great team, you have to be able to win the games you should win and you also have to win the games that have been tough throughout the whole day. The games that look dark for a little bit and come through with it.
During the pregame buildup, the Broncos pulled out all the stops. They turned the lights out in the stadium. The fans were given electronic, colored wristbands while the paratroopers flew in with glow-in-the-dark orange parachutes.
The lights came back on for a minute or two, then went out again for the introductions of the Broncos’ starting lineups with each offensive player running out accompanied by a military personnel carrying the American flag. The energy was palpable.
Then the game began and the Broncos’ offense and Denver run defense was less inspiring.
Denver’s takeaway streak – 9 in its previous two games, both wins, against Kansas City and Buffalo -- continued on the first series as on a third-and-1, the Vikings had tight end T.J. Hockenson take the snap and pitch to Dobbs, who dropped to the tailback position. Broncos’ safety Kareem Jackson, out of the penalty box after serving a two-game suspension for huge hits near the head area, came up to deliver another blast on Dobbs while outside linebacker Baron Browning stripped the ball loose.
Afterwards, Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said he thought Jackson's hit was illegal as he led with his helmet. It's possible Jackson will be fined yet again. He has been fined four times, ejected twice and suspended for two games for what the league deemed as unnecessary roughness infractions.
Nickelback Ja’Quan McMillian recovered and the Broncos were in business starting at the Minnesota 30. McMillian came up with an interception in the fourth quarter to set up first and goal. Both times, the Broncos settled for a short Lutz field goal.
It was their second drive that the Vikings started attacking the Denver run defense. There was a stretch when coordinator Vance Joseph’s defense improved against the run but it started to leak last Monday night at Buffalo. The Vikings running back duo of Alexander Mattison and Ty Chandler – coached by former Broncos’ running backs coach Curtis Modkins and following the offensive line coached by former Bronco player and coach Chris Kuper – ran through gaping holes and missed tackles against the Denver D in a drive that ended the first quarter with Minnesota having third and 1 and the Denver 3.
O’Connell then called on Dobbs, who scrambled right, shrugged off a sack attempt by Jonathon Cooper, and threw to tight end Josh Oliver, who had maneuvered free in the front area of the end zone for a touchdown.
It was 7-3 Vikings one play into the second quarter.
The next time Minnesota got the ball Dobbs hit his other tight end, T.J. Hockenson, for a 29-yard gain to set up a short Greg Joseph field goal. Hockenson was wide open on the play but Dobbs was under pressure and did good to fling it out there. It was 10-3 Vikings with 8:09 left in the first half.
The Broncos’ offense, which had been outgained 167 yards to 32 at that point, put together a drive through the air. The big plays were Wilson connecting with Jerry Jeudy for 19 yards down the right side and then lofting a 33-yard completion down the left sideline to Sutton. But again, on fourth and 2 from the Vikings’ 12 yard line, Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton made the old-school decision to take another 31 yard field goal by Lutz.
It was 10-6 Vikings with 4:08 left in the first half.
Wilson finished the half with consecutive completions for 19 and 14 yards to tight end Adam Trautman and Lutz came through with his 52-yard boot to narrow the score to 10-9 and send both teams into the halftime locker rooms.
The lights went out again for the halftime entertainment.
In the second half, the Broncos' offense essentially went four and out -- a penalty wiped out a first down screen pass to Marvin Mims Jr. -- and the Vikings stepped up with an impressive drive that was aided by a Pat Surtain II pass interference penalty -- which wiped out a Surtain interception.
The Vikings finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run by Dobbs to go up 17-9 midway through the third quarter.
The Broncos woke up at that point. The defense stiffened -- although special teams surrendered a faked punt, 22-yard with 7 minutes remaining that led to a final Vikings field goal. Lutz added two more field goals to set up the final 3 minutes of tension.
The Broncos play again next Sunday afternoon against the 7-3 Cleveland Browns at Empower Field.
Scenes from the Vikings-Broncos game
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