As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare for this Sunday’s big divisional matchup against the Denver Broncos, the Chiefs’ coaches and players understand that the Broncos’ second-year quarterback Bo Nix isn’t the same player they saw last season.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo sees a player with confidence.
“[Nix] looks like he has full command of what to do at the line of scrimmage,” Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “You could see that last year. As the year went on, he got better and better at that.
I think the coaches obviously have confidence in him now with changing plays — and he’s another athletic quarterback. Those guys are always a little bit of a headache, because even when you’re right in what you’re doing, [they] can make you look bad by making you miss.”
With a record of 8-2, Denver leads the AFC West behind an offense built on taking what’s available — an efficient approach that mirrors Nix’s style. While his 60.9% completion rate (and 6.1 yards per attempt) may rank low among his peers, he’s ranked fifth in total completions (213) and second in pass attempts (350). While these are not flashy numbers, he’s thrown for 2,126 yards and 18 touchdowns through 10 games — with only eight interceptions.
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid also sees the Broncos’ quarterback following a positive developmental curve under head coach Sean Payton.
“He’s picking up what Sean is asking him to do,” he Reid, “then executing it and doing a good job of that. That’s a primary responsibility of the quarterback. You’re going to be given a scheme. Then you’ve got to become the master of it — and then make everybody around you better. He’s done a nice job of that.”
The threat of Nix’s passing complements Denver’s real strength: its running game. The Broncos claim the league’s ninth spot in rushing yards, averaging 128.6 per game. This opens up play-action passes for the Broncos’ offense. Spagnuolo believes that will be one of the biggest challenges his unit will face on Sunday.
“I call [them] movement passes,” explained the coordinator, “whether it’s a boot or just play-action. They block it up — and they’re really good at that.
“Now, [it’s] not always easy to get them out of rhythm on those because they’ve got a lot of people packed in there, so a part of it comes back to tight coverage and getting them to hold on to the ball a little bit. Then we always talk about [how] somebody’s got to punch a hole in the protection.”
Kansas City’s star defensive tackle Chris Jones believes the defense’s challenge will be to win early downs, disrupting Denver’s run-first rhythm. But if it can’t — allowing the Broncos to get in third-and-manageable situations — the defense will be facing a far more dangerous version of the offense it faced last season.
“Nix makes the game very easy for them,” he explained. “They slow the game down for him [with] play-action passing and running the ball. When you can run the ball as efficiently as they’ve been running, then it opens up for the quarterback with play-action passes.
“They’ve been doing a really, really good job — and they have a head coach who I respect the heck out of. [I saw] him this summer over in Las Vegas and said a couple of words to him. I’m excited to play these guys, man; [a] division game is always tough. It’s the Broncos!”
