Strike 2: There was a lot to digest in the aftermath of the Broncos indescribable 33-32 win over the New York Giants last Sunday. You’re forgiven if you’re still processing what you watched.

The game as a whole was pretty lousy, with the apparently jet-lagged Broncos committing dumb penalties, dropping balls and generally playing with a malaise that we hadn’t seen much of under Sean Payton.

Then there was the fourth quarter. One for the ages, and one that showed some of what the Broncos offense in particular can be.

We know what head coach Sean Payton wants the Broncos offense to look like. He’s trying to recreate his 2009 Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints offense, led by Hall of Famer Drew Brees. But he doesn’t have Brees or the other weapons that team had. In Denver, he’s trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. Hopefully someone he will listen to can point this out to him.

Ever since Payton drafted Bo Nix, the head coach has done nothing to tamp down the comparisons between Nix and Brees. But by this point, it’s apparent that Nix lacks Brees’ arm talent, especially when trying to throw the ball deep. Sure, the second-year pro has completed some long throws during desperation time, throwing up jump balls he wouldn’t try earlier in the game. During a frantic comeback attempt, no one gets chastised for throwing an interception. But when the game was still close during the first half and into the third quarter, Nix’s passing was pretty lousy.

Then, with Denver trailing big in the fourth, Nix didn’t turn into Brees. Instead, he channeled his inner Tim Tebow.

Tebow’s tenure as the Broncos QB is not remembered too fondly around here, even after we all re-watched his legendary playoff OT touchdown pass to the late great Demaryius Thomas all week. About 95% of the time, Tebow was a rotten downfield passer, plain and simple. But like Nix did on Sunday, he found ways to beat teams with his legs, and provided more than a few late game heroics, even when it wasn’t pretty.

Sunday vs the New York Giants wasn’t pretty. Instead, it was Tebow-esque gritty. Nix did much of his best work in the miracle comeback win with his legs, Tebow-style.

When Tebow was first named the Broncos starting quarterback during the 2011 season, head coach John Fox and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy revamped the Denver offense. They installed a college-style zone read/option attack that ended up with the Broncos leading the NFL in rushing yards. Between Tebow – who was a bull-dozing runner in college and the NFL – and Pro Bowl running back Willis McGahee, who tallied more than 1,000 yards for the season, they became a nightmare for opposing NFL defenses. Denver went 7-5 after Tebow took over as the starter and won the mediocre AFC West before beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in that memorable playoff game.

So it wasn’t all bad.

This is not to suggest that Payton scrap his offense and have Nix run the same zone-read system he excelled at in college at Oregon. But maybe, after watching Nix score two critical four quarter touchdowns on designed runs, more of that should be implemented into the weekly Denver game plan, instead of only turning to it in desperation?

Why not let Nix do what he does best? At this stage of his career, he’s more like Tebow than he is like Brees. Maybe that will change as he grows into the job, but right now, Payton should be playing to his QB’s strengths and not trying to force him into doing things he’s not great at. After all, if Nix could be any sort of run threat like Tebow, at some point defenses are going to have to change their schemes, which open things up and would make throwing the ball downfield that much easier for the second year pro. Even Payton would enjoy that part.

Great coaches adapt to their players, not the other way around. Let’s see how great Sean Payton can be.