Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix experienced his first trial-by-fire moment in his debut last Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks. It wasn’t the type of debut or performance he was hoping for, or the fanbase was hoping for, but his determination to learn from it is something that will be fun to watch.
However, it doesn’t get easier this week with the Pittsburgh Steelers and T.J. Watt coming to town.
Denver Broncos’ Bo Nix eager to learn from debut
Being a quarterback in the NFL is never easy, but being a first-round QB comes with massive expectations and Nix is navigating the ups and downs early on after his Week 1 debut.
Nix struggled against the Seahawks, but there were a lot of takeaways from the film that showcase a lot of correctable things from a mechanics standpoint, but more importantly things that are fixable from the operations side of the offense.
Denver wasn’t effective on early downs consistently throughout the day in Week 1, and often found themselves facing a third and long. The Broncos offense finished 5-of-18 on third down against Seattle, but if their operation on first and second down were more efficient, it could have changed the story of the game, particularly in the red zone.
“I think just—kind of like the rest of the field, you [have] to do well on first and second down in the red zone,” Nix said. “Cut down your third and manageables, third and shorts, and then when they’re there in the red zone, you just have to hit them. Sometimes it’s running it in, sometimes it’s making a play, it’s extending plays, and sometimes you get a good schemed up pass, and you hit it in the endzone. Those are the things we’re going to continue to work on because at the end of the day, the teams are separated are those that score in the red zone.”
There were a lot of missed opportunities, but Sunday’s Week 2 matchup against the Steelers is another opportunity to go out there and make some changes, especially against an elite level defense.
“Well, it’s definitely a challenge,” Nix said. “They have great players. They’ve been a great defense for a long time. I [have] a lot of respect for them. [It’s] going to be fun playing them for the first time and seeing what it’s like.”
His top target, Courtland Sutton, thinks Nix handled his first start well and believes he’ll bounce back.
“I think each game that we get to go out there and play, there’s a lot of stuff you can learn from,” Sutton said. “A lot of stuff you can watch the film and say, ‘I really like this, and I didn’t like this. I want to work on this and go into the week and get better from.’ I think that Bo is a student of the game. I’m sure that he has his things that he took from the game that he wants back and things that he thought he did well that he wants to continue to progress on. I think he did a lot of things really well. I told him after the game that he composed himself and handled the flow of the game well. The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but in terms of the way he came in and handled his very first game in a hostile environment, there’s a lot of hope and promise moving forward.”
It will be Nix’s home debut in the regular season and the stakes will be even higher for the Denver Broncos as they hope to avoid an 0-2 start.