4 hours Ago By Parker Gabriel
Bo Nix didn’t play his best Sunday against Indianapolis. In fact, he played arguably his worst since a rain-soaked, Week 3 outing against the New York Jets in which he had minus-7 yards at halftime. Nix’s 130 yards were fewer than any game since then, as were his 3.
9 yards per attempt. He turned in his worst EPA per dropback (-.48) since that Jets game (-.
76), too. Another commonality between those two games: The Broncos won both. Denver’s defense played a major role, of course, but coaches and teammates say Nix’s demeanor is part of the equation, too.
He acknowledged Sunday after Denver beat the Colts 31-13 that it can be difficult to bounce back from a bad play or a turnover. Head coach Sean Payton said Monday morning, though, that his rookie quarterback is equipped to do it . “Later in that game, when we needed it, man, there’s a maturity and a moxie about him, which I love,” Payton said.
“I think it’s contagious to the team. When you have that at the quarterback position, your team knows that you’re in every game. And when you don’t have it, it’s pretty difficult because deep down in their belly they know that’s not the case.
“That’s something you notice with him this year, especially, and with this team.” That’s the sense players in the locker room had after the game, too, and it’s what they’ve said about the first-round draft pick essentially from the time he arrived here for OTAs back in May. “That’s just who he is,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said Sunday.
“He’s so tough, smart and put together. He’s everything you want. He didn’t even blink in that moment.
He just kept going, kept at it, and it’s a team football game. Our team rallied around us today, and he stepped up when he needed to. He threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter that allowed us to win the game.
It doesn’t matter what happens when you still have a chance to win. “He knows that and works through that every day. I can’t say enough good things.
” Indeed, Nix did throw a pair of touchdowns in a 21-0 fourth-quarter binge for the Broncos. He hit tight end Nate Adkins for a go-ahead score early in the quarter and Courtland Sutton for a put-away touchdown with 5 minutes, 48 seconds remaining. Nix, though, mustered just 130 passing yards on 37 drop-backs overall and authored the first three-turnover game of his NFL career.
“Look, this is a tough league sometimes,” Payton said. “I felt afterward — when something like that happens, with that adversity early on, I get frustrated at myself. Am I giving him the right looks? Am I giving him the right plays?” Perhaps most notable is that Nix also threw two interceptions in a Monday night win against Cleveland before Denver’s bye week.
He’s turned the ball over five times over his past 73 drop-backs after throwing just two picks over 10 games (366 drop-backs) before that. Now it’s a short turnaround to a Los Angeles Chargers team that fully dominated Nix and the Broncos for the first half in Week 5 before the Denver offense put up a bunch of yards and points while trailing by multiple scores in the fourth quarter. Nix has shown a lot of growth since mid-October.
The Broncos have regularly proven they don’t need him to carry the whole load in order to win games. So now the challenge for Nix and the offense is to get back into a rhythm quickly, but without pressing, as the club tries to clinch its first postseason berth since 2015 on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium. Surtain not seriously hurt.
Payton does not usually address injuries on his Monday conference call and he was making no exception for All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II, who is dealing with an ankle injury. The Broncos, though, indicated Surtain was OK later Monday afternoon when they estimated he would have been a full participant in practice. Denver provided estimations because the team didn’t practice Monday.
Surtain hurt his ankle on a low hit from Indianapolis receiver Josh Downs in the fourth quarter after Surtain logged his fourth interception of the season. He returned to the game but went down again and exited late. He was not made available for interviews but walked out of the locker room on his own with only tape around his right ankle.
Several other Broncos players were estimated to be out of practice Monday, including defensive linemen John Franklin-Myers (foot) and D.J. Jones (finger), running back Jaleel McLaughlin (quad) and cornerback Riley Moss (knee).
Week 17 schedule. The Broncos don’t officially know the date of their Week 17 game at Cincinnati yet, but Payton said the team is expecting it to be Saturday, Dec. 27.
The game has long been one of five in the mix to fill three Saturday spots. An official announcement should come by Tuesday. Denver’s Week 18 regular-season finale against Kansas City could also be on Jan.
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