Denver won, but the Broncos Bo Nix was terrible against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

The Broncos defeated the Titans 20-12, and a win is a win in the NFL. But the home team only did it with a lot of help from their defense, the Titans committing 13 penalties, and Tennessee receivers dropping a lot of passes.

Denver Broncos Bo Nix was terrible against Titans, needs to step up

Nix, the sophomore signal caller for the Broncos, was simply not good enough on Sunday. In the NFL, the fate of a team rests on the shoulders of their quarterback. He was so bad, fans booed him in Week 1.

Wait, were they saying “boo” or “Bo”? It was definitely the former.

Some might have been surprised by the cold reception from Denver die-hards, but remember they used to boo John Elway, Jake Plummer, and even Peyton Manning got the treatment in his final year. Broncos fans demand excellence from their quarterback.

After an offseason of hype surrounding Nix, he played very much like a rookie on Sunday. His final stat line was nothing to write home about: He went 25-40 for 176 yards, 4.4 YPC, 1 TD, 2 INT, 8 Carries for 18 yards.

And the biggest issue was his three turnovers and how they happened.

Turnovers

On both interceptions, Nix forced the ball downfield. The first one he tossed up for anyone to grab. Courtland Sutton is a great high-point receiver, but even he couldn’t snag it away from Roger McCreary. That happened in the first quarter and stopped the momentum the defense gained by forcing a punt.

The second interception came on a throw which Nix forced into a double-covered Troy Franklin. It was even more frustrating because of when it occurred; only two plays out of the half. Plus, the QB fumbled in the middle of those two picks, in the second quarter.

“Both times I thought I had decent vision, just was a 50-50 that didn’t go our way,” Nix said of his picks. “[I] probably shouldn’t have thrown both of them. You live and you learn. Sometimes you can be a little too aggressive, and I was too aggressive. I just ultimately have to be smarter than that and take care of the football.”

Undoubtedly, the most-important thing a QB can do is protect the ball. Which he failed to do.

“Four turnovers is egregious, and that has to stop,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said after the win. The Broncos also fumbled a punt. “Thank God we have the defense we do.”

Attitude

Another crucial aspect of good quarterbacking is strong leadership and a positive attitude. Nix is a fiery player, and that competitive spirit is great. But, he let the emotions of the season’s kickoff get away from him.

Early on, he screamed at coaches for not getting a play in on time, resulting in a timeout. Later in the game he was seen yelling at tight end Lance Krull to “Stop! Stop! Stop!” in the zone, berating him in front of the entire team and national television.

Better QBs have a more even-keeled demeanor on the field. For instance, Josh Allen–who played in that masterpiece of a game on Sunday Night Football–simply put his head down when a receiver dropped a catchable ball.

Use of his Legs

Simply, Nix didn’t use his legs enough in the game. Last year, when things broke down, he took off and used his athletic ability to gain a first down. On Sunday, Nix ran only eight times for 18 yards, a 2.3 YPC average. His YPC in 2024 was double that (4.7 YPC).

Similarly, he used his legs to break the pocket too often on Sunday and ran around in a panic. That made him look like an inexperienced rookie again.

Ultimately, some of the issues can be pinned on it being a Week 1 game. The Broncos starters basically played one half of football in preseason, and the first few weeks are now glorified preseason in the NFL. But some of it is definitely on Nix.

Advanced analytics show Nix played poorly overall

It’s not just that his typical stats were bad, but so were the advance analytics of Nix’s Week 1 game.

His QBR was 19.2 (0-100 scale), which was the 3rd-lowest of his career. Similarly, his 60.0 passer rating was the 3rd-worst of his career. The good news? The two lower passer ratings came in Weeks 1 and 2 last year, and he did bounce back after that.

But let’s break down the numbers a bit further. These, from ESPN’s Next Gen Stats:

Intended Air Yards: 6, ranked 24th of 30 QBs (Monday Night Football hasn’t been played yet). What the stat means is he averaged only six yards per throw, which isn’t going to help him shake the “check down merchant” nickname some call him. It should be noted that a small IAY number doesn’t necessarily mean a bad game, as Aaron Rodgers’ numbers show.

Aggressive throws: 10%, 23/30. Ironically, Nix said he was too aggressive on the interceptions, and yet his aggressive throw percentage was among the lowest in the league on Sunday. He was right that he shouldn’t have forced those throws on the picks.

Air Yards to the Sticks: -3.2, 23/30. This stat means on average, his throws came up 3.2 yards short of the line to gain. In essence, he’s asking his receivers to gain yards after the catch for the Broncos to earn a first down.

EPA+CPOE: 0.016, 25/30. This stat comes from rbsdm.com and combines Expected Points Added (EPA) and Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE).

Adjusted EPA/Play: -0.179, 27/30. Expected Points Added is what it sounds like: How well a player does and how many points per play he’s expected to add due to that play.

What did head coach Sean Payton think of Nix’s play?

“Well, we won, that’s the first thing,” Payton said. “I thought he hung in there, he battled. Made some critical plays for us in the second half. Obviously, he’ll be disappointed with the turnovers, but it was a gutsy performance.”

All he can do is move forward from here and focus on not continuing to make the same mistakes with turnovers and forcing the ball.

Nix and the 1-0 Broncos head to Indianapolis on Sunday (2:05 p.m. MT) to face the 1-0 Colts who came out red hot on offense in Week 1. Indy’s defense also forced three turnovers, putting further emphasis on Denver protecting the ball this week.