Ugly wins are still wins. That’s precisely what the Denver Broncos achieved beating the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Had it not been for a ferocious fourth quarter effort by the defense, the Broncos may very well have lost the game to a beat-up, hapless, and winless Chargers squad.
Broncos Country will be content with the victory. 3-2 at this juncture is much better than 2-3. However, the struggles on the offense and quarterback Bo Nix still linger. That’s still a huge cause for concern with no
clear solution in sight.
Despite a change in play calling, the offense still failed to operate at a high level. Their only saving grace was being able to score several times on short fields off turnovers forced by the defense throughout the game. Was that enough to win? Yes, but it certainly isn’t good enough to beat the best teams in the NFL and be contenders moving foward.
Another game, another sluggish performance by Bo Nix. The third-year signal caller went 16-of-27 for 123 yards and 1 touchdown with one lost fumble. The Broncos converted just one third down out of twelve attempts the entire game and averaged just a little over four yards per pass.
After the game, Head Coach Sean Payton talked about Nix’s performance and what he and his teammates can do to help set him up for success.
“I would say this. I think the one area, I think obviously there’s a lot been said about his feet. I think he’s settling that down. I think it’s important from a protection standpoint, that early in games we provide that clean pocket so that clock doesn’t get juiced up a little bit,” stated Payton.
“I think after four weeks there’s a handful of things that collectively — and you know, it starts with me — where it’s like, all right, let’s focus on these details. And I think the byproduct helps the quarterback. Obviously, the hardest thing to do in this league is play that position if you’re not rushing the ball,” added Payton.
Against the Chargers, the Broncos made it a priority to run the football. In prior games with Offensive Coordinator Davis Webb calling the plays, the run-to-pass ratio was drastically different. In this matchup with Payton dialing up calls, they toted the rock 29 times and gained 106 yards.
Even though that’s under four yards per carry, Denver’s emphasis on the ground game helped them control the pace of the game. They decisively won time of possession battle which proved to be big factor in their road victory against a division rival. Even with less of a burden on Nix’s shoulders, the aerial attack failed to take off.
There were missed plays down the field and meat left on the bone. On one particular occasion, Jaylen Waddle looked visibly frustrated with how the offense was performing and showed his frustration on the field, as well as on the sidelines. With nearly a third of the season over, the Broncos’ offense appears, especially the play of Nix, to have regressed in all facets compared to seasons prior.
Nevertheless, Payton was steadfast in his commitment to Nix after the game. Even though things haven’t gone as planned thus far, he remains optimistic his hand-picked quarterback from the 2024 NFL Draft can revert back to prior playing form.
“Like I said to him ‘man, you’re the guy we want here. Let’s go. You’ve done a ton of things well.’ But I think there’s a lot that goes into that. In that old TBS series The Bear, where they say, ‘just let it rip.’ I want him to make sure that we can let it rip.”
