Wil Lutz earns another Special Teams Player of the Week award

For Wil Lutz, this is getting to be routine.

The NFL named the Denver Broncos placekicker as its AFC special-teams player of the week on Wednesday, marking the second time this season he has received the honor. Lutz earned his previous award after Week 3 against Tampa Bay when he kicked four field goals in the Broncos’ 26-7 win.

Last Sunday in a 29-19 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Lutz went one better, going 5-for-5 on field goals, along with hitting both extra-point attempts. Two of Lutz’s field goals came from beyond 50 yards.

For Lutz and the special-teams unit, the award comes two weeks after a blocked field goal at the final gun cost the Broncos a chance for a stunning upset over division leaders Kansas City. In the wake of that defeat, special-teams coordinator Ben Kotwica made a tweak to the place-kick protection unit, flipping Matt Peart and Alex Forsyth on the left side. The operation has been smooth ever since.

“Well, first of all, credit to [Forsyth],” Luts zaid. “I never got to speak on the situation a couple weeks ago, man, he is — the whole time I’ve been here, he’s just, ‘Hey, what can I do for the team? What can I be better at it?; He’s always walked in with a helping hand. So, grateful for him that he’s kind of not let anything affect his play.

“And, you know, credit to Kotwica for finding a way to make our protection better. And I think that obviously paid dividends [Sunday in Las Vegas]. So, yeah, huge. Huge.”

This is also the fifth weekly honor earned by a Broncos player this season. Bo Nix was AFC Offensive Player of the Week last week. Cornerback Pat Surtain II and linebacker Cody Barton earned the awards in Weeks 5 and 7, respectively, for games in which each had a return touchdown.

The Broncos had just two such weekly honors last season: then-safety Justin Simmons (Week 8 vs. Kansas City) and wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. for his work on punt returns (Week 10 at Buffalo). Their five AFC weekly awards are the most in a single season since 2015, when they won Super Bowl 50.

Wil Lutz also became just the fourth Bronco to win two AFC special-teams weekly honors in one season, joining returner Glyn Milburn in 1995, returner Vaughn Hebron in 1998 and kicker Brandon McManus in 2020.

Kickers Jason Elam and Matt Prater hold the franchise record for AFC special-teams player-of-the-week plaudits with five apiece.