TAMPA, Fla. – When Broncos coach Sean Payton’s decision came to light after the coin flip Sunday, wide receiver Courtland Sutton was momentarily confused.

Denver won the toss before the game against Tampa Bay at Raymond James Stadium, and certainly Payton would defer to the second half, right? After all, that’s what he usually does.

Instead, Payton called for his team to receive.

“I guess he had whispered to (linebacker) Alex (Singleton) and (kicker) Wil (Lutz) that he wanted to receive the ball,’’ said Sutton, referring to fellow captains. “I’m out there (for the coin flip) but it still kind of caught me off guard. But I was all excited because I knew what the first play was.”

On the first play, rookie quarterback Bo Nix completed a 22-yard pass to Sutton to the Buccaneers 48, and Denver was on its way. The Broncos (1-2), playing much more aggressive than in their first two games, walloped the Buccaneers 26-7 for their first win of the season.

“I ain’t going to say we’ve been conservative, but we haven’t taken all the shots that we needed to,’’ said wide receiver Josh Reynolds. “So, I think taking them early backed that defense up a little bit.”

Yes, the Broncos were conservative in losses of 26-20 at Seattle and 13-6 at home to Pittsburgh to begin the season. Nix, appearing in his first two NFL games, threw mostly short passes.

But Nix on Sunday completed 25 of 36 passes for 216 yards and ran nine times for 47 yards. On the Broncos’ first drive, he completed all four of his passes for 70 yards and they took the lead for good at 7-0 on Nix’s 3-yard touchdown run.

“I typically, like most coaches, will defer,’’ Payton said. “Then every once in a while, you send a little message. We felt like we had a good set of openers.”

For Nix, it marked his first NFL win. And it sure felt good coming on the road against the Buccaneers (2-1), who were a rival in the NFC South when Payton previously coached the New Orleans Saints for 15 seasons.

“You only get this moment one time and it’s not easy winning games in this league,’’ Nix said. “But our guys deserve this. Our guys have earned this. We have a great team. … Just to do what we were able to do today, against a really good football team, it gives us a little bit of confidence moving forward. It’s still a long season. But you’ve got to enjoy these wins when they’re here. And it’s a great first win.”

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers’ ship took on water early. Quarterback Baker Mayfield was off his game all day, completing 25 of 33 passes for 163 yards and being sacked seven times. Nix wasn’t sacked at all.

Leading Denver’s sack parade was outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman, who was signed off the practice squad Wednesday and had two. Also getting sacks were defensive linemen Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers, outside linebackers Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto and safety Devon Key.

“I think we made them hold it some and that’s a credit to coverage,’’ Payton said.

Franklin-Myers had his first sack of the season after being lost in the first quarter against the Steelers with a minor concussion. But he was cleared to play on Friday.

“Ain’t nothing going to hold me down,’’ Franklin-Myers said. “When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. That’s what I get paid to do and trying to help the team.”

Some of the Broncos’ highest-paid players stepped up as they were determined not to start the season 0-3 with another road game staring at them next Sunday at the New York Jets. Cornerback Pat Surtain II played a key role while following Tampa Bay star receiver Mike Evans, who had just two catches for 17 yards.

On offense, the high-priced Sutton had seven catches for 68 yards. He called getting the win pivotal.

“We have a really young team, and they didn’t understand how hard it is to win in this league. … I told them to lock this memory in and how this feels,’’ Sutton said. “This feeling is thousand times better than it is to come up short

Sutton had three catches, two for first downs, on a drive late in the third quarter and two plays into the third quarter that took up 15 plays for 79 yards. It culminated on a 33-yard field goal by Lutz that put the Broncos up 23-7.

Lutz made four field goals and is now 9 of 9 for the season. Denver’s other points came on a nifty 1-yard touchdown run around right end by Jaleel McLaughlin on fourth-and-goal late in the first quarter that put Denver up 14-0.

The Broncos’ running game wasn’t that effective in the first three quarters before it came to life in the fourth. Denver had just 45 yards on the ground at halftime and 71 through three quarters before having 65 in the fourth quarter to finish with 136.

Most of the credit goes to Tyler Badie, elevated Saturday off the practice squad. He had a 43-yard run in the fourth quarter and 63 yards in the quarter to finish the game with nine attempts for 70 yards.

But the tone had been set by the Broncos long before they were running out the clock late in the game.

“Sean’s obviously not afraid to rip it so it was awesome and it’s a huge confidence builder,’’ tight end Adam Trautman said of the win. “It was impressive. It shows we game planned them extremely well. Obviously, Sean has a lot of experience and our whole offensive staff because they came from New Orleans. He knows how to game plan this defense and I thought we had answers to pretty much everything they were doing.”

It was no wonder Payton couldn’t wait to get the ball at the start of the game.