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Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior WriterSep 22, 2024, 06:02 PM ET
- Jeff Legwold is a senior writer who covers the Denver Broncos and the NFL at ESPN. Jeff has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years, joining ESPN in 2013. He also assists with NFL draft coverage, including his annual top 100 prospects. Jeff has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999. He has attended every scouting combine since 1987.
TAMPA, Fla. — It took slightly longer than perhaps he had hoped it would, but the Denver Broncos won their first game with rookie Bo Nix at quarterback Sunday.
And the visibly happy, relieved 24-year-old was asked if he let it all soak in a bit.
“Well, I’ve got to,” Nix said after the Broncos’ 26-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Raymond James Stadium. “You only get this moment one time, it’s not easy winning games in this league. Our guys deserve this, our guys earned this.”
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After the Broncos won the pregame coin toss, Broncos coach Sean Payton made his intentions clear right from the start to stay aggressive with Nix despite the struggles of the rookie as well as the offense in back-to-back losses to open the season. Payton, instead of deferring possession to the second half as he and other coaches usually do after winning the toss, had the Broncos take the ball to open the game.
He had told two of the Broncos captains — linebacker Alex Singleton and kicker Wil Lutz — to tell the referee the team would take the ball if it won the toss.
“Usually he defers, but I guess he had whispered to Alex and Wil that he wanted to receive the ball,” wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “I was out there, but it still kind of caught me off guard because I knew what the first play was — we go over the openers the night before the game … so he elected to receive the ball I was like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s trying to set the tempo.”’
“I typically, like most coaches, will defer, but every once in a while, you want to send a little message,” Payton said. “We felt like we had a good set of openers.”
After he had said several times last week the Broncos would look closely at how often Nix had dropped back to pass in the first two games of the season — Nix was third in the league with 88 dropbacks combined in those two games — Payton then chose to set his rookie quarterback loose Sunday. On that first possession, Nix threw on four of the six plays in the drive, including the 28-yarder to Sutton to open the game.
Nix went 4-of-4 for 70 yards on the opening touchdown drive and added the 3-yard touchdown run to close it out for the score and a 7-0 Denver lead. He finished the day 25-of-36 passing for 216 yards.
“We have to pressure the ball, it’s coming out quick,” Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said. “When we didn’t get pressure, we didn’t tackle well … and that was the most disappointing thing — the tackling.”
Nix is still on the hunt for his first touchdown pass of his career, but he did not throw an interception Sunday — he threw four in the first two games — and was not sacked. As happens with a rookie quarterback each week he plays, Payton was asked about Nix’s growth’ after Sunday’s win just before he quickly swatted the topic away.
“No, no, no, stop, stop … he’s won and won and won and won [in college] and honestly I haven’t seen him flinch,” Payton said. “… He hadn’t flinched, we had a good plan, and the players did a good job.”
“Man, it was huge … watch him go out there and find his groove,” Sutton said of Nix. “… It’s only his third week, I think I’ve spoke at length that it’s still early for him … I think we got to see a really good glimpse of where he could be and where he could take this offense with him at the helm … we can only go as far as he takes us.”
It all led to a 17-0 Broncos lead early in the second quarter and 20-7 at halftime. And with the Broncos defense doing its part — seven sacks of Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield to go with an interception and a fumble recovery — Payton leaned more on the run game in the second half. Nix attempted 12 passes in the second half, compared to the 24 before halftime, as the Broncos had 90 of their 136 yards rushing yards in the second half.
“Came out early and threw the ball and then late in the game we had to run the ball and everybody in the stadium knew we were going to run the ball,” Nix said. “… Complete offensive game, I thought.”
The Broncos will remain in Tampa until Monday morning before they head to the Greenbriar resort in West Virginia where they will go through their usual work week. They will practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the resort before the head to New Jersey for next Sunday’s game against the New York Jets in MetLife Stadium.
