Bo Nix helped the Broncos get the result they needed Thursday night, but the performance left plenty of people cold.
Denver escaped Seattle with a 17-14 overtime win, and Nix’s stat line never really warmed up: 107 passing yards, no touchdowns, and a 17-of-27 night through the air. He did finish off two rushing touchdowns in the second quarter, but the offense otherwise spent much of the game stuck in neutral. 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.
That was enough to draw a blunt critique from former quarterback and Amazon Prime Video analyst Ryan Fitzpatrick on the postgame show.
"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 host Charissa Thompson asked him to explain further, 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, sounded fully aware of the Broncos’ issues after the narrow win. Asked about the offense’s trouble generating yards, he pointed straight to the lack of big 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 added:
“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, facing the Cardinals on October 25. Kickoff is set for 2:05 p.m. MT on CBS.
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