Broncos’ Bo Nix, like Tim Tebow, becomes easier to like than explain

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – The Oregon Duck looked like a fish out of water.

Bo Nix was unable to gain the upper hand. His throws were as slippery as the ball in his right hand, falling oddly in all directions.

Did he consider putting on a glove as he became the first NFL quarterback since 1991 to complete three passes in the first half and throw for negative yardage?

“I didn’t do it,” Nix told the Denver Post as the locker room emptied, the smoke clearing from Club Dub’s celebration of a 10-9 upset victory over the New York Jets. “I’ve never worn one before.”

That’s the problem with Nix. He is comfortable in his skin. He knows who he is and what he can do even when the game he loves mocks him. He reminds me of Tim Tebow. In a good way.

Through four games, Nix has been easier to appreciate than explain.

On a rainy, humid, miserable Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, Nix made the idea of ​​the forward pass seem like a foreign concept. Tebow already won a game in 2011 in Kansas City with two successes. Nix won Sunday when he didn’t complete a pass beyond the line of scrimmage until the third quarter.

He’s not Tebow. Let’s be clear. Tim’s favorite receiver was the ground, leaving those who actually ran the routes jealous and confused. Nix connects with receivers, but for long stretches in Seattle and against Pittsburgh and the Jets, it was for little yardage. Or worse.

But surprisingly, astonishingly, consistently, Nix fails to lose confidence.

“He won’t flinch. He doesn’t flinch. It doesn’t matter what the situation is,” right guard Quinn Meinerz said. “We know the pieces will take care of themselves. We will all continue to do our jobs. None of us care (bleep) about statistics. I never would have known he had a minus-7 yard pass. All we care about is winning.

This is where the Tebow comparison comes in. Tebow always thought he would pull out a victory even when the offense stumbled, faltered and stumbled for 58 minutes.

Nix also possesses unwavering mental strength. He’s centered, a 24-year-old mature beyond his years. And like Tebow, Nix is ​​deeply religious. The Scriptures tell us that faith is believing in what we cannot see.

Nix was clearly blind to the odds stacked against him. Midway through the third quarter, the Broncos led 6-0. Nix was 8 of 19 for 16 yards passing. Denver had converted a third of the bet.

The Broncos defense displayed a cowboy mentality, while the offense remained curling fluid. Yet there was no panic in Nix. He should have had sweat running down his face and pterodactyls floating in his stomach. But when it seemed like there was only a narrow path to an upset — a pick-six, a scoop and score or a special teams touchdown — skill emerged.

Facing third-and-11 from his own 24-yard line, Nix stood firm in the pocket and delivered a 29-yard strike to Courtland Sutton. I could practically hear him exhale from the press box, six stories above the soggy turf.

“You’re back out there, you let him develop, you tear him up and you trust that he’s going to get there,” said Nix, who completed 12 of 25 passes and was not sacked for the second consecutive match. “And sure enough, he gets there. This almost turned the situation around.

The turns in this match were more like NASCAR circuits, bringing us back to the starting line. But that completion became the moment the offense showed it was capable of doing just enough.

Five plays later, Nix made personal history by recording his first touchdown pass – an 8-yard lob to a wide-open Sutton in the back of the end zone. Nix and Sutton combined to create one of the strangest stat lines ever created. Sutton caught three passes for 60 yards. Six other players caught nine passes for zero yards.

There are only ugly losses. There are no ugly victories.

“Three cities, two wins, it’s crazy,” left tackle Garett Bolles said of the Broncos’ trip to Tampa Bay, Sulfur Springs and East Rutherford. “It doesn’t matter what it looks like. We did it.

And that seems to be the lesson with Nix as the lead actor in “The Rookie.” There were more scribbles than Picassos. Payton, however, trusts him. On Sunday, he said with a straight face that he thought Nix “played well,” citing the gloomy weather for the miserable numbers.

“I wish you could go out to dinner with him,” Payton said of the kid he sees backstage.

Nix is ​​not finished. With the opportunity to run out the clock, he left the gnarled defense to make one last stand, resulting in Greg Zuerlein’s missed 50-yard field goal.

Two scoring streaks won’t win many, if any, games in the future. On one, Nix completed two passes. When possessing the green light, he did not have one. Where did you, Joe DiMaggio and Tim Tebow go? Our nation turns its lonely eyes towards you.

This doesn’t make any sense. And that’s OK. A quarter of the way through the season, it’s Bo Nix.

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Passing grade: Where Bo Nix’s performance historically ranks among winning Broncos quarterbacks

Is it rare for the Broncos to win a game when their quarterback performs like Bo Nix did Sunday in New Jersey? Consider this: In the franchise’s 65-year history, the Broncos have only won six times when their starting QB threw for 65 yards or fewer while attempting 15 or more passes, and three of those came in the AFL. Here’s a look at each:

QB	Opponent	Date	Comp.-Att.-Int.	Yards	Rating	Result
Craig Morton	to the New York Giants	October 26, 1980	7-19-0	65	47.0	F, 14-9
Commentary: Otis Armstrong and Jim Jensen combined for 198 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns in the Meadowlands.
Bo Nix	at NY Jets	Sunday	12-25-0	60	67.9	F, 10-9
Commentary: Nix’s line in the first half – 7 of 15 passes for minus 7 yards – was exceeded by his first career TD pass in the 2nd half.
Charlie Johnson	in Baltimore	November 10, 1974	9-16-0	60	85.4	F, 17-6
Commentary: The Broncos defense produced 5 takeaways, negating Baltimore’s 323-171 advantage in yards gained.
Steve Tensi	at NY Jets	December 3, 1967	7-16-0	59	74.7	F, 33-24
Comment: One of three wins in the 1967 season, and that was because the defense produced 6 takeaways.
John McCormick	in Boston	September 24, 1965	8-16-0	55	58.1	W, 27-10
Commentary: McCormick went 3-3 as a starter in ’65 despite a 40.7 completion percentage and 14 INTs.
John McCormick	in Houston	November 14, 1965	5-28-3	20	11.9	F, 31-21
Comment: As bad as Bo Nix’s first half was, nothing touches McCormick’s game-wide average of 0.7 yards/pass.

Originally published: September 29, 2024 at 5:50 p.m.