ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- According to the official game record, it was an unassuming play.
B. Nix pass deep left to C. Sutton to NYG 21 for 22 yards (D. Banks).
But that passing play was a testament to trust. As in how much trust Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix has in wide receiver Courtland Sutton, how much coach Sean Payton trusts Sutton and how much Sutton wants to be the player trusted the most.
It was all present with 18 seconds left Sunday as the Broncos trailed the New York Giants 32-30 in what ended up being one of the most improbable comebacks in recent NFL history. Sutton's leaping 22-yard, back-shoulder catch over cornerback Deonte Banks moved the ball to the New York 21-yard line -- inside field-goal range.
Nix to Sutton! The @Broncos are in FG range!
— NFL (@NFL) October 19, 2025
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Nix spiked the ball with two seconds left and Wil Lutz kicked the game-winner for the walk-off 33-32 victory, capping a frenetic fourth quarter in which the Broncos scored 33 points to overcome a 19-0 deficit.
"I knew if I get a one-on-one, the defensive back's back is turned, and Courtland goes up and jumps, I know he's coming down with it," Nix said. "It's a little bit, you know, the vision I had seeing Courtland against man-to-man, just thinking, 'Man, this is going to be a no-brainer. I'm going to put this up. He's going to go up and get it.' As soon as he left the ground, I knew we just had to get up there and spike the ball."
Payton has routinely articulated how good he feels about how well Nix and Sutton work together. In a season when the AFC West-leading Broncos (5-2) have struggled with penalties and the search for offensive continuity, the Nix-Sutton combination has been their most reliable option, one they expect to continue its success when they host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS).
Sunday's pivotal play was a late tweak to the game plan by Payton, a noted tinkerer. He added the play on Saturday morning; the Broncos went through it in that day's walkthrough and ran it once, trusting Sutton to come through with everything in the balance.
As Nix said: "The first live rep we got was what you saw."
"When I hear that term, 'The hay is in the barn,' I cringe," Payton said. "So Saturday you can walk through something like that and put something like that because you're confident enough. You're not talking about splitting the atom here ... I think these guys are sharp enough."
Sutton said Payton called him into his office last week to show him some video, which tipped off that something might be in the works.
"[Payton] was like, 'If we get into this situation in the game, I have a play and it's going to work, just trust me,'" Sutton said. "He's showing me clips of it ... the play that he was showing me wasn't the play that we ran. It was just the concept and idea of what he envisioned. ... He's a mad scientist when it comes to plays and film."
While Sutton's counting numbers (33 receptions for 469 yards and three touchdowns) are impressive, his impact can best be seen in NFL Next Gen Stats data. Tight-window targets -- when the defender is less than a yard from the receiver when a pass arrives -- is a good indicator of which receivers are trusted most in close quarters. Sutton is tied for 22nd in the NFL in percentage of tight-window targets (23.1%). He is the only Bronco among the top 67 players in that category (tight end Evan Engram is 68th) and the only Denver wide receiver among the top 85.
When things are crowded, Nix often searches for Sutton.
"I love playing with a guy like him because there's no prima donna, he works harder than everybody in the locker room." Nix said. "He runs more than anybody else. He trains more than anybody else. He never complains. You never hear a word out of him, and the way he practices is how he plays, and I think that's why it translates.
"I'm just super thankful to play with a teammate like that. They don't make many like him."
Hall of Famer Peyton Manning said he often made throws that would prompt offensive coordinators and coaches to question why he tried a particular pass in a crowd. Manning would say it was because he was targeting Demaryius Thomas. Sutton, who sported a Thomas jersey after Sunday's game -- in which the late receiver was formally inducted into the team's Ring of Fame -- is that player for Nix.
A second-round pick in 2018, Sutton is the second-longest tenured Bronco, joining the team a year after left tackle Garett Bolles. Sutton was a rookie in Thomas' final season with the team and has embraced the leadership role Thomas had when Sutton began his NFL career. That leadership showed Sunday, when Sutton wanted to help the Broncos dig out from a mostly dismal day in which they trailed by 10 points with 5:13 left.
Sutton said: "I told the coaches on the sideline, 'Hey look, things aren't going the way we need them to go? I got us ... If you need me to go in and get blocks to free other people up, if you need me to go make a play on the sideline, if you need me to go make a play across the middle of the field. I got us. Allow some of the pressure to be taken off of Bo, to be taken off some of the rest of the guys on the offense. I'll take it. I'll burden it. Let's go win this game.'"
As Sutton motioned from the right side of the formation into the left slot on what turned out to be the last definitive play of Denver's comeback, he knew he was right where he wanted to be.
"When I motion over and I saw like, I was like, 'Dang, this joint could work,' it was just about going to make a play at that point," Sutton said. "It was dope to watch everyone contribute. It was dope to be able to watch and be a part of such a non-discouraged group of guys that went out there and just laid it out all on the line."