Broncos Rookie CB Pat Surtain Jr. Celebrates following his 1st of 2 Interceptions against the Chargers (Photo: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images
Broncos rookie cornerback Pat Surtain II was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week following his 2 interception performance against Justin Herbert and the Chargers in Sunday's 28-13 win at Empower Field at Mile High.
The Broncos top pick had his first takeaway early in the 4th quarter, as he outplayed tight end Jared Cook for a ball in the end zone. That was just his 2nd interception of his young career, and 1st since week 2 in Jacksonville. The second snag came on a ball that Colorado native running back Austin Ekeler couldn't catch and Surtain snatched it out of the air and took it back 70 yards for the first score of his career.
Surtain becomes just the 4th Broncos rookie all-time to win the honor joining teammate Dre'Mont Jones(2019), former teammate Von Miller(2011) and D.J. Williams. 30 different Broncos defenders have received the award on 36 occasions since the league first started recognizing it in 1984.
In addition to the 2 interceptions, Surtain also had 5 tackles and 2 Pass Breakups against L.A. on Sunday, and his play has certainly been noticed by his teammates and coaches alike. "First off, Pat [Surtain II] has great hands and great ball anticipation, and both of them came in handy right there," Head Coach Vic Fangio said of the rookie's 2 INT's. "Those are big plays. The first one probably saves the three points. They probably would kick a field goal there, although they could’ve went for it on fourth down. The next one, they’re in field goal range again, and it becomes seven points for us. Those are two big swings in the game and big, big plays."
Surtain's interceptions against the Chargers had a little something special added to each of them, following the first one, he handed the ball to his dad, Patrick Surtain Sr., and he said postgame that he already had planned to do that, after keeping the 1st one of his career.
The second interception, which was the first "pick-6" for the younger Surtain came 19 years following his father's final interception return for a score in the same building, when as a member of the Dolphins, the elder Surtain intercepted then Broncos QB Brian Griese a took it to the house.
Also, NextGen Stats pointed out that the rate of speed which Surtain was traveling at Sunday during the return was the fastest by any defensive player with the ball in their hand had run in the last 5 seasons.
Broncos safety Justin Simmons has certainly been impressed with the rookie, who was the 2nd cornerback taken when Denver selected him 9th overall in April's draft, "I mean, I was excited." Simmons said Sunday when asked about his reaction to Surtain being drafted by the Broncos. "Selfishly, there's nothing better than getting to play in the backend with guys like Pat. I say as a fan of watching college 'ball' (football), you watch guys all the time. You don't really think about 'Ah, I hope this guy's my teammate' or this, that, and the other, but you admire some guys from afar and [CB] Pat [Surtain II] was one of those guys. We've said it all year long -- he's special, man. There's something special about the way he carries himself, character-wise, that you knew he would transition really well into the league. I thought up front we played great. We did a good job stopping the run. Of course, [there were] a lot of passing situations and we were able to get our hands on a few balls today. Pat just did such a good job, man. That's what we expect from him week in and week out. He's playing really good ball right now."
As for the speed he displayed on that interception return, it wasn't much of a surprise to Surtain Jr., "I've always known I was fast, it’s just a question of whether or not I’ll showcase it. I used to run track so that track background helped me a lot."