Bo Nix cannot continue to play like this. Not if the Broncos want to win the division. Not if they want to win a playoff game.
Thursday night’s retina-burning offensive performance against the Raiders was not all his fault. But it is time to have a conversation about his regression.
Nix is playing more like Tim Tebow than 2024 Bo. His numbers continue to drop across the board: completion percentage (66.3% to 60.9%), yards per attempt (6.7 to 6.1) and passer rating (93.3 to 85.7).
When he plays like he did Thursday, you wonder if we were wrong about Nix.
How special is he? And does he fit Sean Payton’s offense?
Nix has been good in the aggregate — 55 total touchdowns in 27 games– and in context with the previous 13 starters after Peyton Manning. But winning in the NFL is hard, and it will become incredibly difficult if Nix performs against the Chiefs, Chargers and Packers like he did against the Raiders.
The play-calling of Payton remains irritating and confusing. The drops are alarming (second most in the league).
But Nix shares responsibility for this mess.
Statistics are not needed. Apply the eye test.
His mechanics are out of sync. He looks like he is playing nervous, tentative, until the fourth quarter, when he has nothing to lose. Nix is known for his even keel personality. His default setting is BoBot. However, his game Thursday was akin to a temper tantrum. You want players to show emotion, but not be emotional.
He chunked check-down throws. Then he overreacted and fired balls up for grabs into double coverage. This is not Nix. At least not the player we watched over the final 12 weeks last season.
Nix is struggling, and Payton is failing him.
He continues to ask too much of his second-year quarterback. Nix is trying to please his coach by absorbing the mental workload, but it is affecting him physically. He is losing his instincts, if not his way.
And calls like Payton’s bizarre third-and-1 trick play involving Courtland Sutton — a double pass that never came to be — aren’t helping.
How many times have we heard that Nix makes a few suggestions about the game plan during the week, but typically defers to whatever Payton wants? Payton needs to return the favor. Time for him to fit the offense around Nix. Not the other way around.
This is his handpicked quarterback. Payton has to make this work.
There are chapters in this season’s story that have yet to be written.
But, it is becoming abundantly clear, the Broncos will not win anything of significance with Nix playing like this.
Running scared: Remember when CU coach Deion Sanders loved the bright lights, craved the attention? Now, he comes across as afraid when he fails to mention that he demoted offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and makes no players available for news conferences after bad losses. These media events are how the program communicates with fans and boosters. Not a great look for a school that has lost by 14 points or more six times in its last 12 games and continues to lack physicality. And therein lies the bigger issue. For everyone who says Sanders can fix this mess in the portal, his upcoming recruiting class is currently lacking, and there is no evidence that the Buffs will be able to bulk up their offensive and defensive lines.
All Hail Cale: The Avs can’t win an overtime game, and could have a goalie controversy bubbling, but they entered Friday with an NHL-best 21 points. Why? Cale Makar has been brilliant. It is time for him to enter the MVP conversation. Not the Norris. The Hart. Chris Pronger is the last defenseman to win MVP honors in the 1999-2000 season. Makar has more than a puncher’s chance.
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