LAS VEGAS — Nik Bonitto saw a chance to secure a career milestone and took it with full force.
With the Raiders looking to drive for a game-tying score late in the fourth quarter, the third-year edge rusher pushed back left tackle Kolton Miller before knocking the ball out of backup quarterback Desmond Ridder’s hand. Malcolm Roach pounced on the fumble with 2:21 left in regulation, and the celebration was on.
Bonitto’s strip-sack helped Denver exorcise more than one demon on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium. The clutch defensive stop helped the Broncos secure a 29-19 victory — their first in Las Vegas since the Raiders moved there in 2020. It also pushed Bonitto to 10 sacks on the season, making him the first Bronco to reach that number in a single season since Von Miller (14.5 sacks) and Bradley Chubb (12) in 2018.
“It’s crazy,” Bonitto told The Denver Post. “I never had 10 sacks in a season before.”
Throughout Bonitto’s football career, he’s been close to achieving a double-digit sack season but fell short. As a senior at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Bonitto recorded nine sacks.
He had eight sacks as a sophomore at Oklahoma and seven during his junior campaign. In his second season with the Broncos, he was just two sacks away from reaching that goal.
This year, Bonitto would not be denied. He already had a quick get-off (time it takes for a pass rusher to cross the line of scrimmage after the snap), but he improved as a run defender, giving him more opportunities to be on the field.
Bonitto has enjoyed the fruits of his labor throughout the fall. He recorded a sack in six straight games before the streak ended in Denver’s loss at Baltimore in Week 9. Last week against the Falcons, he recorded two sacks in one of his best performances of the season.
Now that Bonitto has reached 10, his teammates want him to strive for even more.
“I hope he has 20 sacks,” inside linebacker Justin Strnad said. “Get him that bag.”
Said defensive tackle Malcolm Roach: “Nik is one of the best in the league, and he’s so nonchalant about it. The game just comes so easy to him.”
In order for Denver to complete the regular-season sweep of the Raiders, Bonitto and Denver’s defense had to increase the intensity in the second half. After Denver only had one pressure and didn’t record a sack in the first half, the Broncos finished with five sacks and 29 pressures in the final two quarters, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats.
Every player on Denver’s front seven feasted. The Broncos had eight players with at least two pressures, with defensive end John Franklin-Myers recording a team-high six. Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper had five pressures while Bonitto added two.
The Broncos sacked quarterback Gardner Minshew three times before he left on the team’s second-to-last drive with an injury.
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“Their approach was different this game, threw a lot of quick passes and screens. So it was tough to get to them,” Bonitto said. “We just had to pick our spots and get after it.”
Growing up, Bonitto had always been a fan of Miller, who became one of the best edge rushers in NFL history while in Denver. Both players have been linked since Bonitto was drafted in 2022 when Denver used the second-round pick it received from the Rams in the Miller trade to take the former Oklahoma standout.
In the visiting locker room on Sunday, Bonitto once again heard his name mentioned alongside his idol.
“Just being in talks with a guy that I looked up to my whole life, that’s pretty cool,” Bonitto said.
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