Bo Nix helped the Denver Broncos survive Thursday night, but the way the offense crawled to the finish line drew a sharp response from one of the voices on the Amazon Prime Video broadcast.
Denver edged the Seattle Seahawks 17-14 in overtime, and Nix was the quarterback who guided the win. Still, the box score was ugly: 107 passing yards, no touchdowns, and 17 completions on 27 attempts.
He did account for both Broncos touchdowns on the ground in the second quarter, but the offense never found much rhythm after that. In the second half, Denver punted six times, including a three-and-out after intercepting Sam Darnold with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter.
Former quarterback and current Amazon Prime Video analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick did not hide his frustration after the game.
"They were in four-minute mode with their second-half start. It was really frustrating to watch, and part of it, for me, is Bo Nix.
He's not playing competitively. It's almost disrespectful to the QB position how he's playing football."
When Charissa Thompson asked him to expand, Fitzpatrick doubled down.
"The guy doesn't wanna throw the ball. That's fine.
He's throwing to the flats; he's throwing behind, but he has no trust from his coach. ... I can only imagine how (head coach) Sean Payton feels.
Sean Payton, (offensive coordinator) Davis Webb, everybody that blocks for (Nix) - he's not competing right now. It's not good enough."
Nix, for his part, acknowledged the Broncos’ issues on offense after the win. Asked about the team’s struggles to move the ball, he pointed straight to the lack of explosive plays.
“I just think we’re really, for some reason, struggling to find those explosive plays. And that’s what makes an offense really spectacular - finding explosive plays, and right now, we don’t have those.”
He also said the Broncos need to figure out why the vertical passing game has stalled.
“I don’t understand why we can’t really push the ball vertically right now, but defenses are just sitting back there, hanging out. So, we’re just going to keep running the football, hopefully find ways to get more out of it. ...
We’re definitely capable, we’ve shown it. I don’t know where the disconnect is right now.”
Denver now heads to Arizona to finish its NFC West stretch against the Cardinals on October 25. Kickoff is set for 2:05 p.m. MT on CBS.
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