Wide receiver Courtland Sutton’s first six seasons ended without a chance to make the playoffs in the final week of the regular season, so the 2024 Broncos season was already something new for him.
Sutton helped make sure that he’d experience his first postseason action as well. He had five catches for 98 yards and a touchdown in a 38-0 rout of the Chiefs that earned the Broncos the final spot in the AFC bracket.
The win snapped an even-longer drought for the Broncos franchise as a whole. They have not been to the playoffs since winning Super Bowl 50 and Sutton said that the key to getting through “dark times” was being able to have faith that “the picture is going to get bigger and better in the long haul.” The picture has finally improved and Sutton was savoring the moment on Sunday.
“We’ve been through the ugly,” Sutton said, via the team’s website. “For us to be able to see this other side of it, and to be able to have this opportunity to continue this legacy of this season, man, this is really dope.”
The Broncos’ win earned them a trip to Buffalo next weekend and that will be a significant step up from the Chiefs second-teamers that they smacked around on Sunday, so they’ll have to be more than just happy to be there to turn Sutton’s first playoff trip into his first playoff win.