Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton met with local media on Monday morning as he usually does, ahead of Denver’s Week 8 matchup at home against the Carolina Panthers. He addressed several key coaching points on Bo Nix’s footwork.
Denver Broncos HC Sean Payton gives insight on Bo Nix’s footwork
Much of the conversation surrounding the Denver Broncos and rookie quarterback Bo Nix following Thursday night’s big win on the road against the New Orleans Saints has been related to his footwork. There were a couple of passing plays on Thursday that ended up being missed opportunities, and a lot of them were related to his footwork being sporadic at times. While there were some clear misses, there were also a handful of examples where Nix had good footwork and made good plays in the pocket.
“I think you’ve got to be careful you’re not overcoaching it,” Payton said. “There are some things he does very well out of the pocket or climbing up in the pocket. I think we start with the focus on timing of the route, depth of the route in the gun or under center, is it three, five, or seven? And we work on the rhythm of the play so that his feet marry up to the depth of the route. And then the times where he’s climbing in the pocket or moving in the pocket, we’re pretty smart about how much we say or how much we try to fix.”
For the most part, Nix’s footwork is pretty clean out of shotgun. It’s been sporadic at times when there’s been pressure, or he’s felt a sense of pressure, which at times isn’t always true. Nix and the coaching staff are very cognizant of the things they all need to work on, and simulating footwork in live-fire situations is hard to do in practice, which is why Payton addressed how they coach it up daily against air. It requires more reps in the games, and that will come naturally.
The good thing is that Nix has avoided making bad decisions on a consistent basis. He’ll still make some as he goes on, but that’s all part of the process of playing the position and playing in games where defenses throw different looks at you every week.