Good morning, Broncos Country!
For the first time since January, Bo Nix will be a full go on a football field. With the Denver Broncos training camp set to start in a few days, it’s the first time Nix will be a full-go since the infamous gut punch.
Not that anyone needs a reminder, but the Broncos had just recorded one of the best wins in franchise history after beating Josh Allen and the favored Buffalo Bills 33-30 in overtime. Broncos Country was giddy and in an absolute party mood. It was 30 minutes later that the news of Nix
breaking his ankle hit, and the vibe swung to despair.
All eyes will be on Nix when he steps foot on the practice field and will remain on him through the rest of training camp and the preseason. No amount of words will fight off the narrative battle and the questions of Nix’s ankle until people see.
Still, Broncos head coach Sean Payton and Nix have done what they can to dispel those questions. Namely, that Nix will somehow be limited now, and he won’t have the same mobility because of the ankle injury.
As Payton said to the media in the middle of June:
“I think I mentioned this last week, and I think this is important. I don’t think when he’s fully recovered, and he’s out here participating (that) you’re going to see someone that doesn’t move. All of that, some of his superpowers, his ability to move and not get sacked, find throws — I don’t think any of that will be impacted at all. I think he’s working extremely hard on this recovery. I think he’s more than ahead of schedule.”
Nix took the will he be the same QB and mobility question and flipped it on its head.
“Well, my concern is they say it’s back healthy, as good as new, and I hadn’t really been like that in a couple years,” Nix said to the media in June, laughing. “So my concern is maybe moving around a little bit better.”
This also isn’t the first time Nix has dealt with an ankle injury in his football life, so he knew what to do and how to approach it.
“When I had an ankle injury in high school, we won the state championship,“ Nix said to the media. ”When I had an ankle injury in college, we went and won a lot of games at Oregon. Now I expect it to be the same thing. For me, it’s just another bump in the road. It’s another thing, but one thing I don’t necessarily worry about right now is my health. We play this game long enough, you get hurt, and you get bumps and bruises. We have great medicine nowadays and great training to where you get back on the field.
“You look at some of the worst injuries you could get, and guys are playing the next year and feel stronger and better than ever. I think just where we are as a culture and a society, we just heal fast. We have a good operation of getting back healthy. I don’t worry about that at all. I think it probably won’t be the last time I’m injured and miss a couple games, but hopefully that’s not the case. Just take it however it comes and take it day-by-day. For right now, just getting back healthy and getting back to where once this season comes, it’s just right in the past for me, and I don’t even think about it.”
Yes, all eyes will be on Nix as he steps on the football field as an active participant for the first time since his injury in January.
What they see will be the quarterback who outdueled Allen for one of the best wins in Broncos’ history. And as Nix said, he may be even better.
