5 significant, noticeable differences from the Broncos without Hackett

4. Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton simultaneously thriving

Alright, what gives here? Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy only combined for 11 receptions and 82 yards in this game against the Kansas City Chiefs, what’s all this “thriving” talk?

I will grant, it may be a bit of hyperbole, but there’s more than meets the eye with the box score in that Broncos-Chiefs Week 17 matchup regarding Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy. First of all, Sutton had a massive play completely wiped out by a bogus penalty call from the officials.

You can see it for yourself…

This is a brutal call, and frankly this kind of thing has happened to Sutton on a couple of occasions this year. Remember when Jets rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner gave Court “the Sauce”? Exactly.

Unfortunately, and for whatever reason, Sutton’s not getting these calls going in his favor and frankly, it has contributed to a down year for him. You can’t help but wonder if some of these plays had stood or at least put the Broncos in better field position how different things might be.

But to the point at hand — we saw Sutton play a great game against the Chiefs and the Broncos did a good job of also creating touches for Jerry Jeudy. Jeudy and Sutton’s usage in the offense helped Albert Okwuegbunam score later in the game, and you can see evidence of that in Tim Jenkins’ great breakdown of the offensive performance (specifically breaking down Russell Wilson).