Broncos star Pat Surtain II breaks down a cornerback’s ‘perfect’ game

Pat Surtain II was about as close to perfection as any cornerback could be in the Denver Broncos’ 20-12 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. He did not allow a single reception when he was the closest defender, and was only targeted once all afternoon as he had one side of the field locked down at all times.

Pat Surtain II did not allow a catch as the nearest defender on his 34 coverage snaps for the eighth time in his career. He was targeted only once, breaking up his lone target.

Surtain lined up against Calvin Ridley on 27 of his 32 routes (84%).#TENvsDEN | #BroncosCountry

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 8, 2025

Surtain quickly quieted the critics who questioned whether or not he deserved his Defensive Player of the Year award last year.

WHAT DEFINES A PERFECT GAME FOR A CORNER?

Was that a perfect game in his eyes? The fifth-year cornerback has put together a handful of stellar performances throughout his young career, some of which could classify as ‘perfect’ in the eyes of many people watching the game, and this very well could have been one of those performances.

“Shoot, maybe like three picks and three touchdowns or something like that. (Laughs) A crazy stat line. It’s crazy because I feel like great corners you don’t often see them fill a stat sheet up. A lot of people tend to look at highlights and stats, but I feel like, as a cornerback, the main job for you to do is to eliminate opposing receivers from getting yards and getting completions. I feel like when you’re doing your job in that part, it speaks louder than a highlight reel,” Surtain said after Broncos practice on Wednesday.

Obviously, that is a single-game performance that one could only dream of. The record for most pick-sixes in a game is two, which 28 players have achieved in their career. It’s only happened twice in the last decade, and just nine times this century.

For any great cornerback, their stats are not going to look great, as Surtain alluded to. Quarterbacks should be hesitant to target the best player in the opposing secondary, as throwing that way is generally a riskier play than throwing towards the cornerback on the other side who’s more of an average player. Especially for a rookie quarterback in Cam Ward who doesn’t have the most talented receivers at his disposal, the chances of him moving the ball down the field decrease if he throws the ball at Surtain (the chances of moving the ball were next to zero no matter what, as seen throughout the game).

THE CHALLENGES OF NOT BEING TARGETED

Going snap after snap, drive after drive, without being targeted can’t be the most exciting thing in the world. Some would see it as that picture of Squidward looking out the window all sad as he watches SpongeBob and Patrick play outside, or the one of famous rapper DJ Khaled saying “suffering from success.” Even though Surtain doesn’t see as many targets as his fellow defensive backs, he still prepares like the ball is coming his way every single play.

“I never go in with the mindset that I will never get tested. When those opportunities come, I know that I have to make a play because the few amount of times that they tested me, I realized it’s all or nothing right here because I may not see a throw throughout the rest of the game. I think it’s all about being sharp, being locked in and understanding your assignment,” Surtain said.

Even though he said that he’s still prepared to see some action on every single snap, he did acknowledge that it’s tough getting a limited amount of targets, but it makes his life less stressful at the end of the day.

“I think it is tough throughout the game, you always think that every play that they are going to throw your way. You are never going to go through a play and be lax and think like, ‘OK, they’re going to avoid me, this and that.’ I feel like as long as I’m doing my job the right way and causing pressure on the offense and locking down my side, I think that makes my job easier in a way,” he said.

It’s difficult for anyone to be perfect in sports. Perfect games in baseball are rare. Shooting 50% from 3-point range in basketball is considered elite, which is far from perfect. There have only been 81 instances of a quarterback posting a perfect passer rating (158.3) in nearly 18,000 NFL games that have been played since 1920. For Surtain and all the other cornerbacks around the league, being perfect is less about the stats, and more about doing the little things to keep quarterbacks from testing them.

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