Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix struggled in his NFL debut on Sunday, a 26-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Was it rookie jitters?
“No,” coach Sean Payton said after the game. “I didn’t [see jitters]. I thought he seemed calm, poised. I thought that part of it, I felt like he was very comfortable and ready.”
That was the first of five times that Payton came to the defensive of Nix in his post-game press conference. The veteran coach believes the quarterback was let down by his teammates on Sunday.
“I think this: I don’t know how many balls we dropped, and so I’ve said that before, for any quarterback playing, we’ve got to be more effective running the football. If [you] take away his scrambling yards, I think we’re like somewhere [around] 60 yards rushing to their 140, so not nearly good enough.”
Nix ended up leading the team with 35 rushing yards. Javonte Williams had eight carries for 23 yards (2.9 yards per carry) and Jaleel McLaughlin rushed 10 times for 27 yards (2.7 YPC). Getting no support from the ground game made things harder for Nix, and his wide receivers struggled as well.
“I think part of being a young player is he’s a fairly confident — I don’t want to say kid, but, yeah, I felt the whole time, he was into it, competing,” Payton said. “We just got to be better around him and that’s my impressions from just watching it without looking at the tape.”
Nix finished the game 26-of-42 passing for 138 yards with two bad interceptions. He rushed for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter that drew the game within one score.
“We’ll watch the tape, but he gave us a chance,” Payton said. “Our protection was average at best and I believe this. At one point in the game, I came to the bench and talked to the receivers and said ‘Look, let’s go,’ you know? I don’t know how many drops we had, but, man, let’s help this guy.”
Yes, Nix made mistakes. He made poor decisions and threw inaccurate passes, but the quarterback never quit, and the Broncos had a chance to come back late in the game. Going forward, Payton wants to see teammates step up.
“[W]e have to be better around him,” Payton said.
