After the Broncos dominated the 49ers’ offense to carry the team to an 11-10 victory Sunday, there was plenty of hootin’ and hollerin’ in the home team locker room postgame.
The overriding message: Denver has “the best defense in the NFL.”
Less loud, but equally as urgent, was the promoting being done by Justin Simmons. Moments after Bradley Chubb and his fellow outside linebackers staked their early-season claim as the league’s top unit, Simmons chipped in his two cents on cornerback Pat Surtain II.
“Yeah, PS2 The Great!” the injured safety shouted over Surtain’s press gathering. “They stopped throwing at you after the first quarter!”
Surtain’s performance against San Francisco gave credence to the possibility PS2 just might be the best player on Denver’s stacked defense.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers targeted Surtain six times Sunday, the majority of those coming in the first half, and came up empty each time. With that, Surtain tied for the most targets without a reception allowed in a game since 2021, per Next Gen Stats. The first-round pick has also allowed the fourth-lowest passer rating (59.8) in the NFL since debuting last year.
“I probably wouldn’t throw his way either,” Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett said. “And he’s just going to continue to get better. His natural athletic ability, his ability to not panic is huge. When you take this amazing athlete and this guy who’s so humble, and he’s a guy who wants to be coached and he wants to be great, that’s where you see him continue to grow and get better.”
That could be bad news for the rest of the league.
After recording four interceptions in 16 games (15 starts) as a rookie, including a pick-six in a multi-interception performance against the Chargers, Surtain already came into 2022 with high expectations for Year 2.
His teammates and coaches already see Surtain as an elite NFL cornerback, even if No. 2 won’t admit it out loud. He deflected credit for his big game Sunday, saying defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero “put me in perfect positions to make plays.” And he wants opposing QBs to keep testing him, so he can turn pass deflections into game-changing takeaways.
“It can be a compliment when they don’t look your way (like the 49ers did in the second half),” Surtain said. “But when you only get one ball your way, you’re limited to making plays. But to hear that from Coach Hackett (that he wouldn’t throw my way) means a lot and it goes to show that this team needs me to go out there and make those types of big plays.”
Surtain believes he and Ronald Darby, a veteran who’s in his second year in Denver, can be considered one of the NFL’s top cornerback tandems. The two have combined for four passes defensed this year as the Broncos’ secondary ranks third in passing yards allowed at 170 per game.
“We’re at the top of league when it comes to cornerback tandems,” Surtain said. “We’re definitely in that conversation.”
They’ll get another chance to back Surtain’s sentiment Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, where the combination of Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow pose a significant challenge. Renfrow missed Week 3 with a concussion, but could be back for the divisional showdown against Denver.
Surtain relishes the chance to cover elite wideouts. The Alabama product spent large parts of Week 1 on Seattle’s D.K. Metcalf, then went against Houston’s Brandin Cooks in Week 2 before tweaking his left shoulder while fighting off a blocker in the second quarter.
Surtain said the shoulder held up “great” against San Francisco, including on his one tackle, when he split coverage duties between Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. This week, he will be primarily matched up with Adams when the Broncos are in man coverage.
“I embrace going against great receivers like that, week-in and week-out,” Surtain said. “You just expect (great battles). This week, going against a receiver like (Adams), it comes down to film study and the little details in preparation throughout the week.”
