The Broncos played the final three-plus quarters of Sunday night’s crushing 26-23 loss to New England without their best weapon in wide receiver Courtland Sutton.

Sutton, in the midst of a resurgent season, was knocked out of the game in the second quarter and later was diagnosed with a concussion.

That puts him in the league’s mandated protocol for such brain injuries, meaning he’ll have to show no symptoms and clear through several steps in order to return to the playing field down the stretch for the Broncos.

Sutton’s final play of the night was Javonte Williams’ short touchdown run late in the first quarter. Sutton put his hands on his helmet momentarily, then celebrated the touchdown by throwing his arms in the air.

After that, though, he didn’t return to the game and Brandon Johnson took most of his snaps.

“Any time you lose a good player like that — it happened early in the game — there’s a couple adjustments we make and then we go play,” head coach Sean Payton said. “Knock on wood we’ve been healthy. It’s the first time something like that’s happened. Brandon came in and his pitch count went up. … You adjust on the fly.”

Rooke receiver Marvin Mims, Jr. had the only catch of the first half by a receiver for nine yards and the group overall struggled without Sutton until catching fire in the fourth quarter.

“It was a huge adjustment and we had to move some guys to different spots,” Mims said. “It ended up being an opportunity for other guys and I feel like, as a group, we performed well without Court out there.”

Sutton didn’t have a catch in the early going. For the season, he’s got 58 catches for 770 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Mims’ up-and-down night. Mims himself started the night out with a bang, setting up the Broncos’ first touchdown drive with a 52-yard punt return.

The speedster out of Oklahoma has been a difference-maker all year on special teams and showed the dynamic ability again on his longest return of the year.

He also, however, made a critical error in the third quarter when he muffed a kickoff return, picked it up, then fumbled and saw the loose ball returned for a touchdown.

In the blink of an eye, New England went from leading 9-7 to leading 23-7.

“I feel like, personally, I blew it,” he said after the game. “That’s a 14-point swing and it cost us at the end. I’ve got to do better. I know that.

“I made some things happen, but I’ve got to be better.”

Mims said he had no qualms about the initial decision to bring the ball out from a couple yards deep in the end zone.

“For sure, no doubt about it. Two or three yards deep, I’m taking it out. We have one heck of a blocking unit and the coaches draw it up good. But I dropped it. Then I picked it up and fumbled and they scored on it. That’s a huge personal mistake by me. …

“I definitely re-secured (the ball), but I knew the timing piece of the blocking was off after I dropped it. It’s just a personal mistake.”

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