When it comes to the past season and change of Denver Broncos football, it's that the second half is where the Mile High Magic starts to happen. The Broncos won 11 one-score games in 2025, and their first two wins of 2026 came largely on the back of late-game comebacks.
In fact, the Broncos have only scored 10 of their 60 total points in the first half of games. No matter who has been behind the headset, either Sean Payton or Davis Webb, Denver has struggled to start fast. Payton addressed the issue after their Week 3 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
“That’s the $6 million question, honestly, and I think that we’re trying to sort through this first quarter [slump],” Payton said.
Payton specifically targeted quarterback Bo Nix, and how the coaching
staff as a whole can unlock their second-half potential from both sides of the ball. When the offense hasn't been able to start early, the Broncos have been put in a spot where they need to play catch-up, as the defense has given up 40 total points in the first half of the first three weeks.
"Obviously the moments aren’t too big and (Nix) moves and escapes and makes plays and it leads us to that first part of the jigsaw, which is, we have to find a way to play better earlier," Payton said. "Now we’ve had a couple halves that have been real low-scoring halves, like Week 1 and then this week. We just have to — because I think it’s more difficult to play defense if you look at time and possession. So that area needs to get better and so all of us.
"Obviously, it starts with me or it starts with a group of us before it ever gets to Bo and that was one of our big points of emphasis coming into this game was just, we knew kind of the type of offense they had and we felt starting that was going to be important for us and yet it didn’t happen. So I’m pleased with how we responded, but you asked a great question, and we can’t — it’ll cost us in bigger games. I just believe that against teams that are playing better later in the season and I’m talking about ourselves, whoever it is, it’ll be something we’ll be frustrated about later if we can’t clean it up.”
"That's the $6M question" 😂
— DNVR Broncos (@DNVR_Broncos) September 28, 2026
Even Sean Payton doesn't understand why Bo Nix starts so slow, but is so clutch almost every game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OvjqOGRxbp
Nix knows that even if the team doesn't get off to a quick start, the Broncos have a belief in their never-give-up mentality late in games. Denver has been one of the most clutch teams in the NFL when it comes to late-game heroics, and Nix has been the captain of the ship.
“I think as a team, we keep ourselves in the game at the end," Nix said on Sunday. "I guess it’s just a belief at the end of the game that we’re going to go out there and do it. Usually we have good momentum and it’s carried us into the second half, or in that case the end of the game. For us, once you’ve done it once, you feel like you can do it again. It’s just kind of where we are.
"We have a great belief that fourth quarter, end of game we’re going to have the ball last and no matter what, we’re going to go down and hopefully do whatever it takes to win the game or if not, tie the game and let our defense go out there and keep the game going. I think it’s just an overall belief, a team belief. When we get in the huddle, you don’t see any flinching in anybody’s eyes.”
The Broncos have always been a slow-starting team, but they are trying to change the narrative. Their next opportunity to try and flip the script will come in Week 4 against the San Francisco 49ers.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Sean Payton chimes in on ‘$6 million question’ on Bo Nix’s slow starts
