Denver Broncos Fans Flip Script on Bo Nix After Tampa Bay Road Win | Westword
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Broncos Fans Ask "What the Hell?" After Road Win Over Tampa Bay

Coach Sean Payton was in "WHOO-HOO!" mode after the Broncos' road win over the Bucs.
September 23, 2024
Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix looked more comfortable against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 22 as opposed to his first two NFL outings.
Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix looked more comfortable against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 22 as opposed to his first two NFL outings. Mike Carlson/Getty Images
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Two weeks into the 2024-2025 NFL season, Denver Broncos fans optimistic that first-year quarterback Bo Nix would follow in the footsteps of John Elway and Peyton Manning thought they knew what to expect from the Men of Orange.

The occasional inaccurate deep shot. Intermediate routes that were off-target nine out of ten times. Scads of check-downs netting two yards max. And the sort of general offensive ineptitude that would result in one soul-grinding defeat after another.

But something happened on the way to predictability: During the Broncos' face-off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road September 22, Nix and company looked surprisingly competent, moving the ball with alacrity and minimizing cringeworthy botches that marked their previous losses to the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The result was a 26-7 victory that inspired dedicated Bo-Ners to spew superlatives like an uncapped fire hydrant, leaving doubters with bruised chests from dropping jaws.

Why the turnaround? There are no easy answers. But head coach Sean Payton, whose record against the Bucs while at the helm of the New Orleans Saints left him even more cocky than usual, allowed Nix more rope than in the previous two contests — and to the surprise of pretty much every pro-football pundit, the onetime Auburn/Oregon hurler didn't hang himself.

Not every Nix toss was a thing of beauty, and several could have been picked off but weren't. Yet he showed that he can actually get the ball to receivers Courtland Sutton and Lil'Jordan Humphrey beyond the line of scrimmage if the O-line gives him a little bit of time — which, despite another painfully erratic performance by Garett "Holds" Bolles, they mostly did. And Nix's timely runs demonstrated an understanding of the game that should serve him well as he moves into a future that doesn't look nearly as bleak as it did las week.

Granted, Tampa Bay isn't a juggernaut. But the outfit has been on the upswing of late, making the playoffs in 2023 and starting out the current campaign with two straight wins, the most notable of which was a triumph over the Detroit Lions, a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Moreover, QB Baker Mayfield, a former number-one overall draft pick whose initial stints with the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams had been underwhelming, has occasionally looked like the sort of swashbuckler he'd been at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a Heisman Trophy.

No wonder Broncos Country was prepared for another loss on Sunday. But Nix overturned assumptions at the outset. He completed his first pass to Sutton for 22 yards — not quite an explosive play, but a helluva lot better than the sparklers he'd been waving — followed with a six-yarder to Nate Adkins, and then a hookup to Josh Reynolds that netted another 31 yards. And when Denver neared the end zone, something even more shocking happened: Nix ran into it, scoring a touchdown instead of settling for the usual field goal.

True, the Broncos' next possession was a familiar three-and-out. But after a beneficent Mayfield chucked an interception that gave Denver the ball at the nine-yard line, the offense managed to cash in again, albeit belatedly, via a fourth-down pitch to Jaleel McLaughlin that evaded disaster by inches. Suddenly, the Broncos had put fourteen points on the board — one more than they'd managed in the two previous jousts to date.

The next three quarters didn't go quite as well. The touchdowns were done for the day, leaving Will Lutz to score Denver's final twelve points by way of four separate kicks. But the defense proved stout on every Buccaneers drive except one — a six-play, 67-yard march in which Tampa Bay rookie Bucky Irving looked like a budding superstar. But Mayfield only passed for 163 yards over the course of the afternoon and didn't have nearly enough magic to make the Broncos disappear.

For his part, Nix completed 26 of 35 passes for 215 yards — fairly pedestrian numbers by modern NFL standards, but downright spectacular in comparison to his totals against Seattle and Pittsburgh. Better yet, he seemed to know what he was doing most of the time, or at least appeared to, which is half the battle, leading to a post-game celebration that looked as if the locker room had been hot-boxed.

That's what victory smells like.

Afterward, plenty of commentators on social media rushed to anoint Nix as the Third Coming of Broncos quarterback greatness — a premature but understandable reaction. Others were simply gobsmacked by what they'd witnessed. Whether Nix can build on his success next week against the New York Jets, led by Aaron Rodgers (who many dreamers thought would be coming to Denver a few years back) and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett (among the worst Denver head coaches ever) is unclear. But for one week, at least, hope is alive.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.
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