ENGLEWOOD, Colorado. The Denver Broncos lost a wild-card playoff game 31-7 in 1983 while traveling to Seattle. On that particular day, a rookie quarterback by the name of John Elway played.
For the two-time Super Bowl champion and eventual Hall of Famer, things went really nicely.
Despite losing his first playoff game by the same score (31-7 to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills), Bo Nix, one of Denver’s most talked-about rookie quarterbacks since the Elway era, has written the first chapter of what he thinks will be a similar book.
Growing pains (two consecutive defeats to begin his career), lessons learned (a confrontation with coach Sean Payton on the sidelines), bumps (four games with two or more interceptions), and bruises (playing through a spinal fracture) have all been part of Nix’s season. He led the Broncos to their first postseason participation in nine seasons, making it an impressive first season.
Get some sleep now. Quinn Meinerz, the guard, is essentially giving the command.
According to Meinerz, that is what he needs at the moment. should take a little break and rejuvenate as the upcoming season will arrive soon.
However, Nix stated that there is much to do to advance and prevent any kind of sophomore slump, so there won’t be much downtime. He was the sixth quarterback selected in the NFL draft and one of two rookie quarterbacks to lead their clubs to the postseason. The other was Jayden Daniels of Washington, who was selected with the second overall pick.
Finding strategies to keep the offense on the field for longer is one of Nix’s major concerns.
Nix was sidelined by Allen’s ball-control offense during the playoff loss at Buffalo. The Broncos possessed the ball for slightly over 18 minutes (2 of 9 on third downs), while the Bills had it for almost 42 minutes (8 of 15 third-down scenarios converted).
This offseason, I’ll be doing a lot of self-scouting,” Nix, a University of Oregon product who also played at Auburn, stated.
Nix had an incredible season that will go down in the franchise’s history books. He has more passing yards (3,775 yards) and touchdowns (29), more than any other Broncos rookie, surpassing the records of Marlin Briscoe (14 passing TDs in 1968) and Mickey Slaughter (1,689 yards in 1963).
Furthermore, Nix’s 10 victories surpassed Elway’s (1983) and Drew Lock’s (2019) record of four, making him the most by a Broncos club starting a rookie at quarterback.After replacing Jake Plummer in 2006, Jay Cutler, another talented rookie quarterback for the Broncos, finished 2-3. In his fourth season, Elway led the Broncos to the Super Bowl. In addition to winning after the 1997 and 1998 seasons, he would play in five Super Bowls.
The Broncos don’t worry about or look for a signal caller as they start the summer for the first time. Since Peyton Manning led the Broncos to their final playoff victory in Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season, they have experimented with a variety of quarterbacks, including Russell Wilson, Trevor Siemian, and Paxton Lynch.
Finally, it appears that they could have discovered a long-term cure.
According to tackle Mike McGlinchey, (Nix’s) future progress will only increase exponentially.
Nix, who turns 25 in February, showed that he is a resilient person. He suffered a transverse process fracture of the lumbar spine on Monday. He led the Broncos past the Browns in a shootout a week after getting hurt against the Raiders on November 24.
Nix declared that he would not miss his first Monday night game. We were lucky to have an off week the next week after I received treatment for it. Then it kind of disappeared. We all play with annoyance, but it was annoying.
That left an impression.
“Whether it was playing in his first game or playing injured, he never flinched all year,” Meinerz said. That demonstrates his resilience.
Standing up to Payton also left an effect. When the Broncos offense went to the sidelines during a victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on October 6, there was a rift between the two.Payton claimed that he wasn’t pleased with Nix for flipping the play call. Payton yelled at Nix as soon as he left the field, and Nix immediately returned the yell.
According to Nix, that just served to strengthen their bond as quarterback and coach, with Payton always there to support him.
Nix went on to say that was one of his most remarkable qualities. He never put me under the bus despite a lot of things that happened this year, including rookie this and rookie that. It means a lot to have a coach that supports you and gives you encouragement like that.
— AP Sports Writer Pat Graham
