On Sunday, the Denver Broncos opened up their regular season with a loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Thanks to defensive and special teams play early in the game, at times it looked like the Broncos were set to embarrass the Seahawks. But with a stagnant offense, and a rookie quarterback struggling in his NFL regular season debut, the Broncos were unable to secure the win.
Sean Payton defends rookie quarterback Bo Nix following disappointing debut
After a rather promising preseason, fans expected Bo Nix to come out of the gates firing on all cylinders in his regular-season debut. Unfortunately, Nix struggled to find his footing, and struggled mightily throughout the game.
Nix completed 26 of 42 passes for 138 yards. He would have no passing touchdowns, but threw two interceptions. Ironically, Nix would look his best late in the fourth quarter when the game was virtually over. He would score the Broncos’ lone touchdown on a 4-yard scramble. Needless to say, Nix looked like a rookie playing his first NFL game.
Following the loss, head coach Sean Payton would divert some of the negative attention Nix was receiving. In fact, he would divert some of the blame on the team surrounding Nix.
“We’ll watch the tape, but he gave us a chance,” Payton said of Nix. “Our protection was average at best and I believe this. At one point in the game, I came to the bench and talked to the receivers and said look, let’s go, you know? I don’t know how many drops we had, but, man, let’s help this guy.”
Nix was far from the only Broncos player to struggle against the Seahawks. As Payton mentioned, the Broncos’ receivers struggled to get separation all day. Wide receiver Josh Reynolds would be the Broncos leading receiver on the day, but would finish with only 5 receptions for 45 yards. To make matters worse, the Broncos’ run game was nowhere to be found as well. Nix would end up being the Broncos leading rusher with 5 carries for 35 yards and one touchdown.
Nix being the leading rusher certainly didn’t sit well with Payton. He emphasized the run game as something that needs improvement going forward.
“I don’t know how many balls we dropped, and so I’ve said that before, for any quarterback playing, we’ve got to be more effective running the football,” Payton said. “If (you) take away his scrambling yards, I think we’re like somewhere (around) 60 yards rushing to their 140, so not nearly good enough.”
Despite a rollercoaster of a game, Nix still didn’t seem to be rattled. Right now he’s going through the growing pains of transitioning from college ball to the NFL. Should the team choose to play better around him, likely Nix will start playing better as well.
“I think part of being a young player is he’s a fairly confident. I don’t want to say kid, but, yeah, I felt the whole time, he was into it, competing,” Payton said of Nix. “We just got to be better around him and that’s my impressions from just watching it without looking at the tape.”