It’s safe to say that the Denver Broncos are in desperation mode, after an 0-2 start featuring subpar performances from rookie quarterback Bo Nix. As of Week 2, the team has a lot of questions to answer. Meanwhile, Nix has kept his head up through the setbacks, and he gave an insight into his mindset, including how he handles mistakes from his teammates.
Asked about his teammates dropping his passes, Nix was forthcoming.
“When I miss a pass, they don’t come up and harp on me,” the rookie said in a press conference, via Andrew Mason on X, formerly Twitter. “So I think I gotta treat them the same exact way. And, yeah, we’re professionals, and we have a high standard, but we’re allowed to mess up, too. And we make mistakes.”
The Broncos’ slump
Nix also praised his teammates’ work ethic despite their struggles.
“But those guys, I see ’em work every day. I see ’em, you know, continuously show up, make plays in practice, make plays in games. So I’m not gonna get too uptight about one play,” the quarterback added. “And now if there’s something that I can do to help them, I’m definitely always there for them.”
What do the Broncos need to succeed, according to rookie Bo Nix? He acknowledged that the team still had plenty of work to do.
“But I definitely think it’s a work in progress,” he continued. “And we–all 11 of us on offense–have things we can improve on. And sometimes a drop is seen on national television, but you didn’t see the inaccurate throw or you didn’t see somebody that might have messed up within the play. So, sometimes that is made bigger than what it is. I think it’s just a mistake that everybody makes, and we just got to continue to fix 0ur mistakes.”
Still, Nix’ underperformance didn’t miss the notice of NFL fans and insiders. One report even suggested that the Broncos should bench Bo Nix due to his disappointing play for two games, which made it clear that perhaps the young quarterback was in over his head in the early stages of his pro career.
Moreover, another loss would certainly put Sean Payton on the hot seat and seriously jeopardize the Broncos’ playoff hopes. They’ll also have to deal with the resurgent Baker Mayfield, who led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a hot 2-0 start.
At this point, the fans might already be looking sideways at Payton for naming Bo Nix as QB1 and team captain over veterans Zach Wilson and Jarrett Stidham, who’d expressed disappointment at the move.
