Have we had enough time to overreact to the Denver Broncos impressive defensive battle and win over the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks? I feel like I have…
The commentary out there continues to be centered around Bo Nix and the offense and for good reason. We all had incredibly high expectations for this offense coming into the season and they have really come up short. As bad as its been at times, there are some signs of life — just no consistency to go with it.
One of those signs came through a 25 play stretch of dominance over back-to-back drives that the Broncos scored their only two touchdowns of the game during the second quarter. Nix was asked about if he felt the offense was close to finding its identity and he pointed to those two drives as evidence of that.
“I think you can take the first half probably, really the second quarter, and that was a good example of what we could be,” Nix said after the game. “Running the football, getting to manageable spots, completing third downs, and competing on third downs and managing those drives and scoring with touchdowns. The game would have been different obviously had we settled for a field goal or two in those red zones, which they do a really good job keeping you out of the red zone. It was good to score when we did, and then our defense just held on. I do think there are some ways that we obviously will continue to improve. At the end of the day, the win is the most important.”
That 16-play, 74 yard drive and 9-play, 79 yard drive showed a bit of everything we hoped to see this season. From successful screen passes to consistent rushing attacks and Bo checking out of a run to take an end zone shot that resulted in a defensive pass interference call. It was fun and raised our expectations for the game.
They then had six three-and-outs and needed the defense to generate turnovers to get the game-winning field goal in overtime. Not ideal…
Then came a question about letting it rip more and Nix was shockingly frank about how it went down and admitted he doesn’t know why they can’t push the ball vertically right now.
“I thought I saw the field really well, especially early when we were given opportunities to sort of be aggressive,” Nix said. “Then as the game went on, it felt a little bit like just third downs were the key. Then every once in a while, we had an opportunity to throw it deep again. Then they were in a short Cover-2 shell, covering it deep and we had outlets with 10 yards of space. So it’s just… I don’t understand why we can’t really push the ball vertically right now. Defenses are just sitting back there hanging out. We’re just going to keep running the football. Hopefully you have to find ways to get more out of it.”
If the tape matches, then its just Bo taking care of the football and not putting throws in danger of being intercepted. It’ll be interesting to see how Tim Jenkins breaks this game down. What are you thoughts on Bo Nix and the Broncos offense right now?
