Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix had a heated sideline exchange with coach Sean Payton in the third quarter of Sunday’s 34-18 win over the Las Vegas Raiders at home.
Payton addressed the incident during his postgame press conference.
“It’s part of the deal,” Payton said. “Listen, last year, all of a sudden I was — it’s just, there’s still a bit of Ferris Bueller in this player that we got to get rid of. Talking about Bo. And I love him to death. And so, sometimes it’s my love language, all right?”
Payton seemed to initially reference his sideline bouts with Russell Wilson last fall before switching the spotlight to Nix. The coach was later asked to explain the Ferris Bueller comparison.
“Ferris was kind of quirky doing his own thing once in a while,” Payton said. The coach went on to explain that the rookie flipped a play he wasn’t supposed to.
“Look, there are times where you send something in and then, ‘I don’t want it flipped,’ and it gets flipped — and so, it’s all good. He works his tail off and I am that way [too]. So it just is what it is.”
Payton on Bo and Ferris comparison. #9aports pic.twitter.com/uCVsiQj95D
— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) October 7, 2024
Nix had a funny initial response when asked about the incident.
“Yeah, well, he turned and looked at me and said, ‘I love you,’ and I turned and said, ‘I love you’ back,” the quarterback joked.
Nix went on to admit that he did flip the play and he, like Payton, downplayed the sideline incident.
“We’re just out there with great intensity and fire and we can have those conversations and move right back along and score another few touchdowns,” Nix said. “It doesn’t bother us.”
Nix finished the game 19-of-27 passing for 206 yards with two touchdown passes, one touchdown run and no turnovers. Sunday was the best game of Nix’s career, so that fiery exchange clearly did not have a negative impact on the rookie quarterback’s performance.
